We drained the fuel this weekend and now i have a slow leak coming from the drain plug. I did a search but not much. Any ideas how to fix it or should i replace the tank

One thing that look a little odd to me was where the drain plug goes there are 3 very small holes in the first thread going into the tank. The holes are symetrical so i assume they should be there.

 

Anyone???

 

new drain plug gasket or some sealant?

 

there might be some gas resistant sealant that goes on there.

 

Not sure how it seals to the tank stock, but I'd find a copper crush washer to go between the plug and the tank. That will solve the problem 100%.

You can probably get one at a parts store that's designed for an oil pan drain plug.

Fooling with any sealant would be a gamble, gas reacts poorly with so much stuff. A good ol' crush washer would be foolproof.

Dale

 

That or some teflon tape. That's what happened to me a couple weeks ago and that's what I did to fix it. For those kinds of connections, I wouldn't use any sealant other than the tape. It's fine for this application.

 

ha, i was thinking that! thank God for the search button...and thank you Dale for confirming.

 

There is supposed to be a crush washer there.

 

^^yeah, i drained mine and now it's leaking. i guess to make it seal i had to either tighten in the same position or use a new one (don't wanna buy OEM and pay like $5 for a crush washer)

small drip leak but any leak worries me. thanks again guys.

 

hmmm ...

5$ vs. me leaking gas & potentially causing a car fire that destroys my property, endangers myself and others around me .




.... let me think about that.

 

You don't need to buy it from mazda, just take it to the hardware store and find a crush washer that fits, they're like $1. It's just a threaded metric bolt, M10 if I remember correctly.

 

You can always anneal the old crush washer(assuming itis copper).

 

My leak is fixed....

 

Nice work!