Hello, fellow Volvo enthusiasts!

Rust has eaten a hole in my fuel tank. The pre-history of the issue is the following… Some time ago, I started to feel slight smell of gas underneath my car after a long run. Being under expression of the Forum’s article http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1047742, I decided to check the condition of the sending unit hoses on my old merry car. To my greatest disappointment, its condition was close what is described in the said article. The worst things happened after when I started to scratch rust around the sending unit ring – I made a hole in the gas tank. The hole is just near the sending unit ring and its dimensions are approximately 6 x 4 millimeters. So, I sealed the hole with the special putty for repairing fuel tanks and strengthened the seal with ordinary epoxy. I need advice from people who met the same situation.

1). How reliable is such a fix? I was not able to remove all the rust around the hole, hence the adhesion may not be strong enough.

2). Do I have to replace the fuel tank itself or I can put some putty or weld the hole in a shop?

3). If I need to replace the fuel tank, do I have to buy a brand new one or I can use something from a junkyard?

4). Since the sending unit is rusty too, do I have to replace the unit along with a new in-tank pump? Can I use the old in-tank pump because it works fine?

5). Is it worth fixing at all provided that my car is of year 1987 and has already had 253K? Maybe it's high time to gracefully retire my car?

I would appreciate any constructive advice.

Sincerely,
Dmitriy.

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240DL 1987 silver-blue wagon, 250K miles.