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Old 09-26-2019, 08:00 AM   #1
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My fuel tank broke loose.

Our coach has been driven in Winter weather being from Minnesota. As a result there have been corrosion problems that we fix as they become apparent. We have replaced the floors in two roadside compartments over the years as well as the hoses that carry trans fluid to the trans cooler, and we keep a sharp eye out for more.
We thought we had it all covered, but alas, we didn't.

A week ago I took the coach into town to fuel it up. It has an eighty gallon tank. After filling I left the station returning home but only got two blocks when I heard a very loud, what I thought, was an explosion. I looked in the mirror and saw debris flying from under the coach and quickly pulled over to the shoulder and stopped. I jumped out with my fire extinguisher and looked under the coach for the cause. To my surprise the fuel tank was hanging down and one end was dragging on the asphalt. The straps had broken. One corner had scrapped enough to wear a small hole and diesel was leaking.

I called my regular mechanic and he said he and his partner would get there as quick as they could. I then called 911 and told them that there was no fire danger, but I was stalled on the shoulder of a busy street, and perhaps they should dispatch a police car to park behind with the lights for protection. They agreed and very soon a city policemen was there. He was very nice about it and kept me company waiting for my mechanics.

The mechanics got there and with jacks they raised the tank back in place and secured it with nylon straps so that I was able to drive it the eight miles to their shop. Using a bar of soap they also got the leak stopped. Once there we lowered the tank out of the unit only to find that it was damaged beyond repair. The hole was right on a corner where no patch would work. Next we started a search for a used tank, but to no avail. All the ones they found were too rusty to use. Just more problems if we used them. Freightliner had one in Atlanta but it cost thirteen hundred dollars plus shipping. Also new straps were three hundred dollars. Ouch! What we did was strap a small tank in place and I drove it the mile home and put it in the shed.

In the end we ordered the tank from Freightliner and found out that if they shipped it to a dealer, the shipping was free. It will come in tomorrow to a dealer twenty miles away and I will go pick it up. We did not order the straps as my shop can make new one out of heavier metal for a lot less. On Monday morning I will take the coach back to the shop and it should not take too long to install it. Meanwhile my fuel was pumped into two barrels and will be pumped back into the new tank.

I am fortunate that I have a shop so close and that they are very accommodating. I took them to a very nice lunch the next day.

So here's the lesson. We thought we had the corrosion under control, but those straps were invisible to us unless we removed the tank. You may want to find some way to check yours.
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Old 09-26-2019, 08:20 AM   #2
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Lucky the pollution police didn't come along. We had a customer have a piece of a broken spring puncture his fuel tank. Long story short, he got a big fine for polluting the ground where the deisel ran out! A loader and dump truck had to come and load up all the dirt that had deisel in it and haul it away.
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Old 09-26-2019, 08:27 AM   #3
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The mechanics brought along some floor dry from the shop and most of the small leak was on the asphalt. One of them stayed there and cleaned it up.
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Old 09-26-2019, 09:04 AM   #4
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Thanks for the report. You were very fortunate in that the scraping on the asphalt didn't start a fire or cause an explosion. Unlucky in that it happened

Good luck.
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Old 09-26-2019, 09:41 AM   #5
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Thanks for the report. You were very fortunate in that the scraping on the asphalt didn't start a fire or cause an explosion. Unlucky in that it happened

Good luck.
Being that it was diesel fuel is likely what saved the day. Diesel fuel has a much higher flash point than gasoline. The fact that the fuel could be cleaned up on the road surface before it could get to the dirt at the side of the road saved lots of $$$ also.

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Old 09-27-2019, 06:29 AM   #6
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Sounds like you had an unexpected issue but you also had a very good response to what happened. Some people would have just watched the fuel leak out with no idea of what to do.
Good Job!
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Old 09-28-2019, 07:55 PM   #7
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Well thanks for the post.. I have a 2002 DL also, think i better make a good visual on the underside.. In South Dakota I went thru a long area where the State was applying brine for an impending snow storm, boy did that cause rust..
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Old 09-29-2019, 06:30 PM   #8
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A welding shop should be able to patch the tank you have.
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Old 09-29-2019, 07:18 PM   #9
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Kind of scary, makes you wonder what else you can't see is corroded, may be time to sell and move on, rust does not sleep.
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Old 09-29-2019, 07:34 PM   #10
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Wow...I thought i had problems. Never had a fuel tank fall off.

You have a good mechanic for sure.

My Workhorse dealer gave me his home phone number to call on weekends if I was in a real jam. It's nice to know there are people who still care about their customers.
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Old 09-30-2019, 05:53 AM   #11
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A welding shop should be able to patch the tank you have.
I agree--- form a piece to fit the area, even cut out the old corner and reform it and weld or silver solder in the new piece.
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Old 09-30-2019, 08:05 AM   #12
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There was a shop that would do that and also line the inside with ceramic, but the wait time was long and the cost was about the same as a new one.


Also the old tank showed quite a bit of corrosion so I want to replace it. Minnesota uses a lot of salt on the highways and there was a lot of corrosion that we had already fixed. Problem was those straps were hard to see so we missed that.
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Old 09-30-2019, 07:40 PM   #13
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Also the old tank showed quite a bit of corrosion so I want to replace it. .



Makes sense. Good luck!
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Old 09-30-2019, 09:36 PM   #14
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We live in Western Washington state and vehicle corrosion is basically nonexistent our here. I see pictures here on this website and see all the salt corrosion you get back east and in the Midwest.
Sad. We used to live in Wisconsin 30 years ago so I know what road salt does.
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