Rusty underslung gas tank

I eventually bit the bullet and crawled underneath the van this morning, just to check you understand. There is evidence of some rust on some brackets, quite a lot of rust on the rear springs and on on the tow ball attachments, used for a bike rack. During the last service I was told that this was cosmetic and I shall have another go at the tow ball attachments. However what is worrying me is that the underslung gas tank is showing a lot of rust on the front edge and the driver's side end. How bad does it have to get to be a problem? Is it safe? Has anyone got any experience of repainting / replacing this item? The van is due an annual conversion service would this problem be considered then?

Strange that my Sussex Duo is a 2010 and tank is rust free. Has yours lived by the sea?

How old is your van please?
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Richard

We have lived in Wensleydale for nearly seven years and North Manchester before that.  No sea other than holidays but I suppose much road salt, although I have regularly washed it down underneath. The van was bought new in 2011 from Marquis. There lies another issue. As we were being taken through the handover the technician opened the toilet door to find water coming in from a badly fitted skylight. We should have walked away then but after some bartering we bought it.

Hi Pootler

You can't be too far from Thirsk, so I would strongly recommend a visit to Autogas2000.  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

They are actually at Carlton Miniott, and Chris Wise (the owner) is as straight and honest as they come. If he says it needs replacing, then you can be sure it does - but if it only needs a scrub and a coat of bitumen, he will not try to con you into spending more than is necessary.

Hope this helps.

Dave

that sounds of interest. Thanks

That's known as Carlton Miniroundabout in our household Dave and it does actually have a mini roundabout.  Not too far from where we lived for 15 years at Burton Leopard, just up the road from Bishop Monkfish. A bit further on and nearer Kanarsburg is the village of Scotton, where Guy Fawkes grew up.

As a follow up and of possible interest to others. I contacted Autogas 2000 in Thirsk and had a conversation with a very helpful lady. She suggested that a tank and the appropriate hoses has a lifespan of around 10 years. Also they would not fit a tank without some form of extra protection to it in the form of something like 'stone chip paint' [ my words] which they would suggest we check every year for security. It is possible that I might be able to clean up my tank and repaint it thereby extending the life somewhat. To replace the tank, hoses and gas with fitting is going to be in the figure of £500 pounds. So I'm off to get some stone guard paint and under the van I go.
It could be worth checking your own vans and doing some more research.

pootler wrote:As a follow up and of possible interest to others. I contacted Autogas 2000 in Thirsk and had a conversation with a very helpful lady. She suggested that a tank and the appropriate hoses has a lifespan of around 10 years. Also they would not fit a tank without some form of extra protection to it in the form of something like 'stone chip paint' [ my words] which they would suggest we check every year for security. It is possible that I might be able to clean up my tank and repaint it thereby extending the life somewhat. To replace the tank, hoses and gas with fitting is going to be in the figure of £500 pounds. So I'm off to get some stone guard paint and under the van I go.
It could be worth checking your own vans and doing some more research.

Depends how old you are and if you are able to crawl under the van  I might get stuck, getting down is ok it's the getting up again
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Richard

Well I've cleaned the rust off as well as I can. I tried a wire brush attachment on a drill until I saw the first spark and thought better of that. So chisel, hand brush and sandpaper added to elbow grease. It has come up reasonably well with the ends, which are not covered by the metal guard, being considerably the worst area. I may well get the two straps holding the tank in place changed as one of them does not very good.
Following on to Richard's comment. At 66 and no longer being the most mobile getting under the van does not fill me with joy but I have about 500 reasons for giving it a go.

pootler wrote:Well I've cleaned the rust off as well as I can. I tried a wire brush attachment on a drill until I saw the first spark and thought better of that. So chisel, hand brush and sandpaper added to elbow grease. It has come up reasonably well with the ends, which are not covered by the metal guard, being considerably the worst area. I may well get the two straps holding the tank in place changed as one of them does not very good.
Following on to Richard's comment. At 66 and no longer being the most mobile getting under the van does not fill me with joy but I have about 500 reasons for giving it a go.

Well done, sounds like you done a great job.
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Richard

Sorry to keep on at this but! I've cleaned the tank up as well as I can within the limitations of access and machinery, repainted and then put on Stone Chip Shield. it does not look too bad, but what a palaver doing it. My question now revolves around the galvanised sheet that appears to be attached to protect the tank. It has a done a reasonable job on the main body of the tank but is about five centimetres short so has not protected either end, which have been quite badly rusted. My guard is 75 cms wide. If anyone is bored enough to go and check their guard I would be interested to see if mine is too narrow. I intend to source a replacement piece at 85 x 20 cms. If my guard is the same as them all, then I cannot understand how others have not had this problem. Maybe I'm just being picky or just downright unlucky.

You’re not the first person reporting this issue.
I often went down under, up close and personal on our previous van, a 2003 Duetto and despite what others have reported the Ford stuff mostly had very little rust, the A-S added parts had no rust proofing and it showed. It seems like your gas tank's rust fits my expectations. I'd already booked our Kemerton XL in for rustproofing, so thanks for flagging up this issue with your gas tank, I'll mention this to the person doing our rustproofing.

It would be wonderful when you bought a vehicle/motorhome that you were given a list of the common expected faults that the 2nd hand dealers and repair shops already know full well are common areas of failings that tthe manufacturers and dealers would prefer you to be ignorant of. Going back to our Duetto the dealers know full well that the wheel arches are a weak point regarding rust on an older Ford Transit based Duetto.

An idea, wouldn't a database of common faults, individual to each model of vehicle be useful to forewarn owners, they could then take remedial measure before the problem becomes more serious. Some faults are generic, some are more specific to each model of Auto-Sleeper. Come on ASOF.

I'll kick off, wheel arches on a 2003 Ford Duetto are prone to rust and need to be watched/protected, probably with mud flaps. A stitch in time...