should I have car towed to repair shop? Danger of fire?
Well it sort of depends, but since you don’t seem to have confidence in your car skills to make a decision, I would go along with the idea of calling the tow truck. The driver should be able to make a better informed evaluation of the situation and prevent a small problem turning into a large one.
If you can tell us more about the situation, including any history, maybe we can offer better suggestions.
Like when did it start, does it leak all the time or only when the engine is running or ?. ? How old is the car? Has there been any history of fuel problems? Any recent fuel issues What precisely makes you think there is a problem etc.
I say go buy yourself some plumbers epoxy and slap it on there. I have used plumbers epoxy for just about everything on my car. Small holes in the floorboard, leaking power steering line and gas tank. It holds up great and dries in a few minutes. It is the same thing as JB cold weld but you get more for less because its not a copyrighted brand
When it comes to gasoline, I would not suggest buy yourself some plumbers epoxy and slap it on there. is not the safest thing to do. Gasoline is not nice to have leaking around. I once had a fuel line split, I am sure glad I was at home away from anything flammable and close to the fire station. I also happened to have an old army blanket closet by. Before that I once put a fire out for someone in a parking lot. I would not be surprised if he had used some sort of fix like you suggest.
yes but it all depends how bad the gasoline is leaking. Guess I should have wrote it a little better. If it is just a hole or two then you can patch it. If the tank is crumbling away as we speak then get a new one. I once saw a guy come into the shop with a buick roadmaster that was spewing brake fluid and gas, he didn’t want to pay to fix it so he kept on driving it. I wonder how far he got before the brakes went out.
Is there a danger of fire?
That depends on a few factors, such as:
Whether you ever park the car in your home garage or adjacent to your home.
It would be extremely unwise to park this car in a location that could lead to the destruction of your home.
Whether you ever park the car on the street or in a public parking garage where someone could toss a cigarette butt. It would be extremely unwise to park the car where there is the possibility of an errant match or cigarette butt landing in the leaked gasoline.
As long as you don’t ever park in either of those two types of location, there is not much danger.
;-))
Or, in other words–Yes, this has the potential to be very dangerous. Get it fixed right away.
Model year? Mileage? Maybe it’s not worth fixing…But it’s probably worth putting it up on a lift and finding out what is really leaking…Unless the gas is literally pouring out, you can drive it to a repair shop…
>Whether you ever park the car on the street or in a public parking garage where someone could toss a cigarette butt. It would be extremely unwise to park the car where there is the possibility of an errant match or cigarette butt landing in the leaked gasoline.
That wouldn’t actually be dangerous at all. The gasoline would extinguish the cigarette. Gas is pretty non-flammable in its liquid form except when it’s in Hollywood movies. It’s when you get the fuel vapors that it becomes a lot more dangerous. So parking it inside is a bad idea because vapors can build up. Parking outside isn’t nearly as dangerous unless it leaks enough to leave your fuel tank filled with lots of vapors and then an ignition source hits them. However, parking it outside is an environmental pollutant and it can stain your driveway, and should, of course, be fixed immediately anyway.