Fuel Stolen - Replacement Tank

[philos]

Hi guys!

Been a while since I posted here but was awoken by the local constabualary this morning to discover I am one of 6 people who had their petrol tanks drilled (4mm) and a hose inserted and a near full tank drained. I believe that my tank is a plastic one (CLK 320 Sport W208) and I have tried the web this morning to find a replacement but no luck.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a replacement or repair?

My local garage (German specialist) recommends that as the the hole is so small it can be repaired with QuickSteel Plastic Tank Repair and that it is permanent - not MOT failure. They even emailed me pics of tanks they have repaired and it looks brilliant plus only £35 to do it for me! Anyone had any experience of this?

Many thanks!

 

[turbopete]

ive never used it, and i assume that your tank is under the car, rather than inside it between the boot and the rear seat like my 210 is. however i think your thanks should go to the government for ripping off motorists so much with their extortionate fuel tax regime that someone actually deems it worthwhile to scramble about under cars, drilling holes in fuel tanks and stealing your fuel! if we werent ripped off so much, it wouldnt be worth the effort of these scumbags. Thanks from me too Mr Brown and co.


sorry for the rant but it really annoys me.

 

[philos]

Sigh! I totally agree! The women who's Audi was parked behind mine was devastated as she was trying to get her daughter to hospital and car was not going anywhere, distressing....Police officers who visited said that it was a growing problem here in SW London and that in the last 2 weeks over 20 cars had all been done! One gang were caught (Eastern Europeans was all he would say) back in July who were drilling tanks and then selling it on for 55p per litre in plastic jerry cans to fellow countrymen working here...read into that what you will.
The tank is under the car just in front of the rear wheels, below the rear seats - have

Googled and found really positive results for QuickSteel Plastic Tank Repair but repsect the opinions here more.

 

[Silver_Star]

If it were me I would get it repaired, at the end of the day it is £35, a new tank is going to cost well over £150 plus there is a fair bit of labout involved. I would be supprised if you saw change from £350. It is worth the gamble if it doesn't work you won't have lots much. Provided it seals and does not leak will be fine.

In addition who is to say after forking out on a new tank the barstewards are not going to strike again? Just out of interest was the car parked on your drive or on the road?

 

[Silver_Star]

I don't know if this will fit your car or not but may be work looking into.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mercedes-C-CL...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item2ea7a1c465

 

[roadhog]

I can't say I've ever seen that repair mentioned on here but then yours is a fairly unique situation (unless living in SW London it appears).
If your garage recommends it I would give it a try. You can always take it back there if it turn out to be rubbish. At £35 you've not got much to lose.

 

[kth286]

Is it worth fixing a plate underneath the tank ? Does merc offer this option for rough ground ?

 

[geezer255]

We've been using some stuff called "Q BOND" for plastic and metal repairs and had some great results, there are quite alot of compounds on the market that should do the job, even get some stuff from B&Q, I would test a piece on something else first though and see how it reacts with petrol before you put it on your tank

 

[bigasotonuk]

I had a similar thing happen to me, I sealed the hole with a large self tapping screw, I litrally just screwed it into the hole on the tank, though this was with a steel tank, it might work better with a plastic tank as it would be a bit thicker.

 

[television]

I would have thought to as Andy that a large self tapping screw would do the job with a washer and sealant

 

[rf065]

Would the petrol not attack the sealant over time? Depending on what is used.

Russ

 

[television]

Would the petrol not attack the sealant over time? Depending on what is used.

Russ

A rubber washer then,, you could put hematite blue on the screw thread

 

[*Thumper]

F%^$ing scum !!!!!!!!!!

 

[turbopete]

F%^$ing scum !!!!!!!!!!

you read my mind!

 

[Xtractorfan]

The two pack epoxy that they use for sealing the hole is excellent and will work perfectly..If you are in any way mechanically minded or a diy'er you can buy this stuff from filling stations or diy stores, just mix it up and plug the hole ..follow the instructions..works very well..

 

[philos]

*** update ***

Morning all!

It's erm...02.17 Sunday morning and just thought I'd post an update - have just returned with a couple of neighbours from the street where my car is still parked as some guys were spotted acting suspiciously about 40 minutes ago. A large white transit van drove off before any of us got there but another car (2002 Audi A8) had been drained in the same manner but this time they were disturbed by people coming home from Halloween party. A long piece of clear pipe and an empty plastic petrol can were found near to where the van was parked and local constabulary informed...I await their arrival shortly for a statement (better put kettle on). Currently my neighbour is checking all the cars parked in the two roads behind our houses.

This might sound a tad daft and maybe the adrenaline is still pumping but please be aware if you are in London or the M25 that this is a growing problem, particulalry for Merc, BMW and Audi drivers - I did a lot of research on this topic today, Googled, went to my library and checked council records online, really got into it....the police report this under a general "Vehicle theft" category so it's hard to get exact figures for growth of this crime but I was able to see a pattern from the news clippings for preferred tagets. Mid to large size German cars after 1994, 2 litre or above and residential street parking, night time activity - this was just my reading of the data I was able to find. There were however some brazen daylight thefts in car parks and council offices of small city cars as well and recently, Nottingham seems to have been a particualr "hotspot".

Anyway, at risk of becoming an anorak on this, if like me you are forced to park in a residential street, be aware and maybe park under a street lamp if you can or on the opposite side to your fuel tank so that "they" would have to be in the street to get at it. All of the vehicles done last night (not sure about the Audi tonight) were parked nearside kerb, slight camber inwards to kerb and all our tanks were on nearside rear of car. Simple job, lie on pavement and not seen, I myself was between two trees and no street lighting...but that's all that was available when I needed to park.

After coming on here this morning and asking about replace/repair, I found a really helpfull chap at this website: http://www.repairproducts.co.uk/
He has all sorts of amazing repair kits and if you live in SW London and call first you can drop by his house to collect. For £8.99 I've got my own QuickSteel Plastic Tank Repair kit and will have a go at fixing it myself and will let you know how I get on.

Errr...re-reading this I realsie I'm rambling - off to make tea for plod and then bed and wake up to watch Lewis win race!

Night all and thanks for all the help online today!

 

[television]

Thank you for the above sad news.

On a serious side a metal grid could be mounted under the car/ Tank, this plate could then be wired to the cars alarm, and if anyone just touched the plate / grid the alarm would go off, the fact that the one draining the fuel was lying on the ground would make this 100% effective

 

[turbopete]

Thank you for the above sad news.

On a serious side a metal grid could be mounted under the car/ Tank, this plate could then be wired to the cars alarm, and if anyone just touched the plate / grid the alarm would go off, the fact that the one draining the fuel was lying on the ground would make this 100% effective

or it could be wired to the mains. that would shock them! better yet, catch them and then next time we need a carrot to test the viscous clutch on the fan, we can use their 'man veg' instead!

 

[esterill]

This doesn't help the current situation but it does illustrate that the problem is not new. Back in the 70s we lived in East Africa. A common problem was petrol being siphoned from cars. My father had a gadget that slipped into the filler pipe and was partially filled with a powerful emetic. If you were a victim of theft, you would find an abandoned bit of pipe and a nasty mess near the car. But a full tank of petrol.

BTW, are the thieving bastards still removing catalytic converters from large cars for the precious metals inside?

 

[turbopete]

quite probably. another reason not to buy a 4x4! they dont even need a jack to rob them off 4x4's!