Before I F it up…

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Orlando, FL
So I noticed a small fuel leak from my chainsaw coming from under the fuel cap. I figured it was the gasket, but nope. Seems somewhere along the line I nicked the lip that seals the tank to the gasket. Pointing at it here with my knife…that I did NOT nick the lip with, mind you.
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Seeing as it’s part of the housing it’s not like it’s an easy piece to just swap. My best thoughts are to remove the entire lip, or somehow build up and level off/fill in n the lip.

I’m concerned I’d screw it up even further by trying to… well… do either of those to it.

This thing is 30 years old and probably impregnated with 2 stroke at this point. So not sure if anything is going to stick to it.

The gasket is integrated into the cap, but I also thought about a thicker fuel resistant close cell foam of some sort.

Looking for other ideas.
 
use a solder iron to correct it?
 
Plastic welder with a smoothing tip. It'll melt that plastic just enough to basically restore it like new if you're careful enough.

A plastic welder is just a good tool to have handy anyway. They're pretty useful and fairly cheap.
 
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justjeepin86 said:
I say you remove and smooth the burr area. Get a new cap and roll on. I bet it seals.
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That is my first thought.
ghost said:
Worth trying that. If it doesn't seal 100% maybe some JB weld as a new lip?
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And that is my second thought :D

I'm guessing its a Stihl by the colors. There should be an o-ring on the cap. If you tighten em hard enough, it will seal without it, haha. But the o-ring should seat down below that nick. If it doesn't, you could also get a square profile seal and replace the round o-ring, and that would probably take care of it. But if its a 90's Stihl, you could also just sell it to me. ;)
 
jeepinmatt said:
That is my first thought.

And that is my second thought :D

I'm guessing its a Stihl by the colors. There should be an o-ring on the cap. If you tighten em hard enough, it will seal without it, haha. But the o-ring should seat down below that nick. If it doesn't, you could also get a square profile seal and replace the round o-ring, and that would probably take care of it. But if its a 90's Stihl, you could also just sell it to me. ;)
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‘94 model 021. Love this little bastard! I just pulled the carb, and it was clean as a whistle. Sprayed everything down, adjusted the mixtures and it’s a two pull full choke, 1 pull run. ALL OE parts. Even the filter.
 
They have many formulas. Some concrete competeing. Some friendly for gas tank repair. Etc. Usable small doses.
I keep these around like i do my toilet paper

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Well, I am halfway disappointed that one of you didn’t suggest open flame heating the plastic to manipulate it, but I did get it sealed.

Used a soldering iron to melt it back into shape and weld it. Then took some 1000 grit and sanded it smooth.
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It did still leak when I turned it up, so I pulled the cap and checked the gasket. Still pliable but I could see an impression where the nick was pressed into the gasket, so I flipped the gasket over.
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Recapped it, lifted it up and it didn’t leak…from the cap…anymore. But it did leak from the vent tube.

Popped it off and pulled what I expected to be a 1 way valve out of the tube. Nope. It was just a small threaded rod with a flat head slot in it to screw it into the tube.

It was a loose fit, so I trimmed both ends of the tube and reinstalled everything.
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Still drips a little, and I don’t recall it ever doing that before. Might run by the local hardware store/ Stihl service center and see if they have a new one. This will be the first part aside from the spark plug that has ever been replaced on this thing.


P.S. $8.25 vent tube fixed the last leak.
 
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