"McMike" (mcmike)
12/29/2016 at 08:47 • Filed to: None
7
52|
"McMike" (mcmike)
12/29/2016 at 08:47 • Filed to: None | 7
| 52 |
After not hearing from Donnie yesterday about locating a new tank, I took !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! suggestion and picked up some JB WaterWeld on the way home to see if it would work.
I dropped the WaterWeld off last night, and Donnie told me that the dealership wanted $2,000 to put a new tank in. I probably would have called the dealership too to see how much it would be. There are some repairs I would rather not do in the driveway in December - especially if it was my daily driver that I needed. Dropping a fuel tank is one of them.
I’m not sure what his
“fuckit, just go ahead and do it”
price is, but it’s not $2K.
He also said he called his insurance to see if he could file a claim. They said there’s a chance a repair that expensive could total a 2003 2WD Explorer.
I’m hoping he gives the WaterWeld a shot, and it works until he can get a tank ordered.
He asked me how much he owed me for the WaterWeld, and I told him all he needs to do is refill his Sam Addams row in my drink case, ‘cause he’s empty.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Original Post - My neighbor said to me as we stood in my driveway yesterday afternoon, enjoying the unusual 60 degree weather in the DC area.
“Yes, I do. I think it..... it might .. might be Donnie.” (as I point down the street...)
Not an SR-71
Just a minute earlier Donnie had driven by and pulled into his driveway. The only difference was that this time, he didn’t wave like he always does, and the neighborhood smelled like fuel. He was also running back and forth between his garage and his car with assorted containers in a panic.
I grabbed a catch pan and hurried on down to lend a hand.
OMG the fuel was everywhere. It was pouring out the car, draining down the driveway into the street towards the storm drain.
Reenactment
When got down there, the only container he had that was small enough to get under the Explorer was a litter box. When the litter box was full, he would slide it out, spill half of it while trying to pour it into the cooler while the tank continued to purge. Fuel had saturated his sleeves up to his elbows.
Things got a little neater when he started alternating between the two pans. He was able to relax a little.
After a few minutes, I asked him how much fuel he thought he had.
“3/4 of a tank (~15 gallons) when I turned the car off,”
was his answer. I took a look at the assorted containers strewn across the driveway, and said to the other neighbor,
“We’re going to need more cans....”
She ran home to get a can, then ran to a neighbor’s house whom was out of town and grabbed his. We eventually had enough containers, and the tank was finally empty.
Gasp, Gas Gash!
We asked him what happened, and he said he hit something in the road and smelled gas a few seconds later. He pulled over, saw the leak, jumped back in the car and hauled ass the last few miles to his home to his driveway.
I was hoping it was a puncture on a flat surface of the tank, so we might have been able to get some sort of patch on it until he could order a new one, but that hole isn’t going to be friendly to the flat patch I had in mind.
We ended up capturing almost nine gallons of it. I still smell like gas.
random001
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 09:37 |
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Man, that does not sound like a fun time. At all.
Additional comment, some days I wish I knew my neighbors enough to do things like this with them. It just seems like the only neighbors that regularly talk to me are the one house I really don’t like.
WilliamsSW
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 09:38 |
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Yow. That sucks. And he’s either going to have to R&R himself or get a tow, on top of that mess.
Must have been pretty big - I thought an Explorer would have enough clearance to avoid that.
TysMagic
> random001
12/28/2016 at 09:42 |
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was thinking the same thing, my neighbors are nowhere near nice enough to do this kind of thing. I feel they’d be more likely to toss a match at me than anything
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McMike
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 09:43 |
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I didn’t have the heart to ask him what he ran over. He was pretty pissed.
Told him to source one locally and I could pick it up on the way home from work today if he found one.
He’ll be able to fix it. He works on British cars for a living. I’m going to look up the procedure for a ‘03 Explorer now to see if there’s anything odd to the job.
Sucks that it happened in the middle of winter.
bob and john
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 09:45 |
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Eh, if it was a peice of steel and it bounced, dont matter how tall your truck is.
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WilliamsSW
> bob and john
12/28/2016 at 09:48 |
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That’s true. Bad break.
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WilliamsSW
> bob and john
12/28/2016 at 09:48 |
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That’s true. Bad break.
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WilliamsSW
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 09:49 |
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That’s great that you can help him out. Saves a lot of time.
And yeah, best to just help and not ask questions at that point...
smobgirl
> random001
12/28/2016 at 09:50 |
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The only neighbors I know bought my old non-running Civic - I’m pretty sure I’m shitlisted for life after that.
LOREM IPSUM
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 09:51 |
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What did youse do with all of those containers of fuel?
I probably would have just stuck a running garden hose under it and walked away... or parked in the street and just hoped the problem would sort itself out.
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WilliamsSW
> random001
12/28/2016 at 09:52 |
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This describes my neighborhood all too well, too.
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random001
> smobgirl
12/28/2016 at 09:53 |
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Ouch...
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random001
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 09:54 |
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I remember as a kid the neighborhoods we had were all very friendly, and you had neighbors you could count on and count as friends. What changed?
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random001
> TysMagic
12/28/2016 at 09:54 |
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That’s not good...
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McMike
> LOREM IPSUM
12/28/2016 at 09:55 |
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Well, the cooler he used was dusty and dirty, so there’s nine gallons of fuel I probably would even put in my lawn mower without straining it.
I’ll going to try to talk him into straining it. He’s going to need something to put back in that tank once we replace it.
He did get a garden hose (after he turned the water back on and reconnected it - remeber, it’s supposed to be winter), and rinsed off the driveway and tried to dilute what got in the grass. We’ll know by this weekend of the grass survived.
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McMike
> TysMagic
12/28/2016 at 09:58 |
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The neighbor that ran to grab the gas cans came back on her first trip with a empty 2.5 gallon can and three beers.
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TysMagic
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 10:00 |
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I want that with my neighbors
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TysMagic
> random001
12/28/2016 at 10:02 |
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right? I think our neighbors think we’re really odd. We’re rather young for the area and don’t have any kids versus the majority of the hood consists of families and middle aged folks.
That being said, my wife and I have day dreamed about selling the house and moving back to a condo to be closer to the city life and people our age
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WilliamsSW
> random001
12/28/2016 at 10:04 |
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I feel like we could all write a really long essay on what caused that, but those neighborhoods do still exist in some places, at least— like McMike’s.
Personally, I think it has a lot to do with couples that are not only both working, but working longer hours, too. That, plus kids don’t just play in the yard/street like we did. Yes, I’m old.
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random001
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 10:23 |
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I see your points. I’m old, too. Well, old enough that video game consoles didn’t exist until I was ten, so that has something to do with it.
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random001
> TysMagic
12/28/2016 at 10:24 |
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We’re about right on track, mid-30's, two kids. But people just don’t come out and have sidewalk talk like I remember “back in the day”.
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WilliamsSW
> random001
12/28/2016 at 10:26 |
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Then we must be around the same age. My first car was a ‘65 Cutlass, and it wasn’t quite 20 years old at the time, so you can do the math...
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random001
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 10:33 |
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I’ll hit 38 in January.
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WilliamsSW
> random001
12/28/2016 at 10:39 |
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Ah- I was thinking of the Atari console that came out when I was about 10.
Anyways, yeah, I grew up playing in the street all day, and we knew virtually all of our neighbors on the block. I can’t say that now...
MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 10:55 |
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This definitely feels like the level of shenanigans that would happen in my neighborhood. Last night i helped my neighbor get a new fridge in his house. He didnt measure right so he ended up having to take the doors and drawers off thr fridge on his front porch hahaha. (It was about a half inch too wide). To make him feel better (and to get his wofe to be a bit easier on him) i told them the story of when i bought and installed a dishwasher only to find out the handle stuck out too far and the drawer near it wouldn’t open. Had to return and get a new one. Store was pissed.
deekster_caddy
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 10:59 |
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Love this - this is what my neighbors would most likely do to help out, albeit while I did all the gas catching...
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McMike
> deekster_caddy
12/28/2016 at 11:21 |
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There wasn’t much to do once we got him better containers/pans. I held the funnel while he filled the cans, etc..
No reason for both of us to be covered in fuel. :)
After getting cleaned up, he came up the the house (where five of us had gathered) and hung out and drank the rest of my Samual Addams. (only had two in the case).
I just hope he was able to source a tank today.
shop-teacher
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 11:23 |
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I knew we were moving into the right kind of neighborhood, when I saw that kids played in the front yards, running up and down the street. My neighbors are great. One of them is a bit of a whack-job, but even she is pretty nice.
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McMike
> TysMagic
12/28/2016 at 11:23 |
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She knew what was important before making a second trip.
Funny thing is, a lot of the clean gas went into an out-of-town neighbor’s gas can, and then we put it back behind his house.
He’s going to wonder where the hell all the gas came from.
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WilliamsSW
> shop-teacher
12/28/2016 at 11:27 |
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Good call on your part, then. 1 whack job per block is a pretty good ratio really- as long as she’s the nice kind.
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shop-teacher
> WilliamsSW
12/28/2016 at 12:01 |
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Yeah, I’ll take it.
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LOREM IPSUM
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 12:15 |
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If push comes to shove, this stuff actually works very well.
http://www.jbweld.com/collections/automotive/products/autoweld
XJDano
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 12:18 |
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I’m sure you can get it up on ramps and weld that back in an afternoon
/s.
The only gas leak I had was a pinhole that I plugged with epoxy, left it like that until it got parted out
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McMike
> XJDano
12/28/2016 at 12:22 |
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He has access to a lift/shop, so he could replace it in a few hours on a weekend or at the end of the day. Might see if I can track down some plastic putty to use as a bandaid until that time.
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XJDano
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 12:25 |
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I used Quik-steel.
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McMike
> LOREM IPSUM
12/28/2016 at 12:28 |
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Except that it’s a plastic tank.
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LOREM IPSUM
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 12:43 |
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Steel reinforced putty would be an upgrade then, no? ;)
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McMike
> XJDano
12/28/2016 at 12:52 |
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Even for plastic?
I’m reading that polypropylene is a bitch to get anything to adhere too, and plastic welding is the only thing that works.
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McMike
> LOREM IPSUM
12/28/2016 at 12:55 |
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If it will stick, then sure yeah, metal rules \m/.
However, I’m reading that most plastic patch/puttys don’t like sticking to polypropylene.
Meatcoma
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 13:25 |
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jb weld ‘waterweld’.
I used this on my lawnmower gas tank around a leak in the bottom where the shutoff valve was. Has not leaked since.
http://www.jbweld.com/products/waterweld-epoxy-putty
Ideal for repairing plumbing, fuel tanks,
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McMike
> Meatcoma
12/28/2016 at 13:31 |
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XJDano
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 14:48 |
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My 93 XJ had a steel one. Haven’t had to try it on plastic.
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Meatcoma
> McMike
12/28/2016 at 14:57 |
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never one to disappoint.
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McMike
> Meatcoma
12/28/2016 at 15:07 |
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I couldn’t help it. I first read it as “Waterworld” and couldn’t get that image out of my head until I shared it.
Thanks for being there.
AuthiCooper1300
> McMike
12/29/2016 at 09:08 |
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If $2,000 is too much... what about trying to find a second hand one in a scrapyard? Maybe a smallish, friendly garage would be able to fit for a lot less than what the dealership was going to charge?
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McMike
> AuthiCooper1300
12/29/2016 at 09:17 |
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He’s a British car mechanic, he can do the work, and even has access to a bay at the shop.
If it were me, I would have the car towed to work, source a tank (new or used), and knock it out after hours.
I was just shocked at the dealer quote.
No
Fucking
Way
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AuthiCooper1300
> McMike
12/29/2016 at 09:52 |
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Agreed. That is way overboard!
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McMike
> AuthiCooper1300
12/29/2016 at 10:08 |
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I just looked up prices for new tanks, and they are $1200-1500.
DAMN
I once drove 90 minutes to drop off a Jaguar fuel tank to have it cleaned and restored because replacements were like, $700. Who knew plastic Explorer tanks were that much?
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AuthiCooper1300
> McMike
12/29/2016 at 10:30 |
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Maybe second hand is the way to go (after properly cleaning it, of course). As you said before your neighbour may have his reasons not to do it himself right now.
However, it would be interesting to see how the JB Weld repair goes – for future reference, so to speak.
An old rallying trick I’ve heard about for steel tanks (obviously for small holes, not big gashes such as this one) is to use... soap! There must be some sort of chemical reaction that hardens the soap in the area exposed to the petrol? I dunno. Of course that is basically a get-you-home trick, and probably wouldn’t be much use is the road is wet.
Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
> McMike
12/29/2016 at 10:33 |
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Just make sure it will handle BTEX(Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylenes), which are chemicals found in gasoline that break down certain plastics over time. Some things actually label whether it is BTEX safe.
Nick Has an Exocet
> McMike
12/29/2016 at 11:26 |
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If they’re going to total it, it’s worth trying to fix it with water weld then work a deal to buy the car from the insurance company at a discount. Something tells me that he won’t mind having a working [salvage title] car and some cash in his pocket.
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shop-teacher
> McMike
12/29/2016 at 11:57 |
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Hopefully the stuff works, at least long enough to get to warmer weather. Its definitely worth a shot.