cleaning gas tank, fuel crud... sludge...

MYBAD79

MYBAD79

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I was going to paint the original tank today - I replaced this tank 15 years ago with a bigger plastic tank ... now apparently 15 years ago when I put this tank in a box I left some fuel in it.... not a good idea....

214ff0f07bac032.jpg

.

I dumped a gallon lacquer thinner in the tank, shook it up and after letting it sit for a while shook it again and drained it.... here's what i got:

214ff0f07bd061f.jpg

pretty nasty huh ?????

I'll fill it with 10 liter (2.5 gallon) gasoline and let it sit for a while, the lacquer thinner is getting kinda expensive at $18 a gallon....

Any other idea what's good and cheap to clean this crud ???
 
I have used kreme tank coatings on metal tanks before. It wasn't very expensive, either. I let the tank sit out for several days with the petcock and cap off.. then threw several 1" drywall screws in it and shook it vigorously until my arms were numb. Then you use the kreme system to neutralize the rust and plastic coat it. I have heard, however, that kreme is no bueno with ethanol so people were switching over to redkote.

http://damonq.com/Red-Kote.html
 
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there's not much rustinside the tank, just old gas sludge.....

I was able to reach in there with a long screwdriver and under the crud it's bright silver factory coating....

it looks like I'll have to add a gas filter in the line to the carb..... lol
 
I could tell you horror stories about the gas tank that came out of my 240z, thing sat in the desert for 14 years before I started working on it. Short version is that I had a local shop hot tank the gas tank FOUR TIMES and then I had to clean it manually with a rag taped to a rod a half dozen times before it got clean enough that it didn't plug my fuel filter every 3 miles.
I know your case is slightly different but you still want to get that sucker clean before you go putting it back on. In my case, the varnish and goo stuck inside the tank kept reconstituting every time I put gas in the tank. Whenever I ran the car, the goo would liquify, go through the carbs and then stick on the valve stems. Not a problem while it was warm but after I shut it down and it sat for a while, the valve would hang open. Nearly wrecked that motor because of it.
 
All that crap is due to ethanol, I had a '63 215 cu inch aluminum V8, the Landrover motor in a Olds F85, Mom's car....sat in the garage for 25 years,

gas 1/2 gone from tank, rebuilt brakes and carb, started her up and drove 6 miles to a gas station....filled it up.....and ran fine.....

25 y/o gasoline, stunk like whale pussy, but engine ran....not the best smoothest, but it ran, it smoothed out with a high test tankful....never did a thing to the tank, not even the sock, or any filters.....

:D
 
NEVER hear ONE positive comment about ethanol in gasoline, only about the TRUE costs, the stupidity, and the MPG losses....

TOPPED by all the stories of wasting all sorts of various engines, from weed wackers through lawn mowers through even some car engines.....

I start my lawn mower with a 1/2" electric drill, because it's such a mess to use that old pull starter, I started doing that on a series of lawn mowers just about the time ethanol came out....wasn't such a bitch before that crap....

:gurney::shocking:
 
How a thread goes from cleaning a gas tank to starting a lawn mower in 7 posts amazes me to no end.
 
If I recall correctly, I know someone who cleaned a old tank with solvent and some kind af abrasive media like you use to tumble deburr machined parts. Next time I see him, I will ask what he did. I know it cleaned the crap out of the tank.
 
big2bird said:
How a thread goes from cleaning a gas tank to starting a lawn mower in 7 posts amazes me to no end.
Click to expand...


i guess you missed the "smelled like whale pussy"


any way is the tank metal? i wonder if molasses with a high sulphur content would do any good. it will certainly etch the metal not sure what it would do to sludge though.
 
Guy here used to fill all his old blocks with deisel fuel and let them sit before he tore them down....maybe some in the tank and let it sit?
 
I have a gallon of regular unleaded in there, it's been sitting for two days and it seems to slowly dissolve the sludge....

If I shake rocks around inside the tank I am not sure that I will be able to get all rocks out of there - I am considering using ice cubes instead..... IF the sludge is not dissolved by the weekend....
 
MYBAD79 said:
I have a gallon of regular unleaded in there, it's been sitting for two days and it seems to slowly dissolve the sludge....

If I shake rocks around inside the tank I am not sure that I will be able to get all rocks out of there - I am considering using ice cubes instead..... IF the sludge is not dissolved by the weekend....
Click to expand...

:shocking::pprrtt::1st::1st::1st::p

~100f heat wave and so you funny as hell, I hurt my back fallin' outta my chair....

:beer:
 
MYBAD79 said:
I have a gallon of regular unleaded in there, it's been sitting for two days and it seems to slowly dissolve the sludge....

If I shake rocks around inside the tank I am not sure that I will be able to get all rocks out of there - I am considering using ice cubes instead..... IF the sludge is not dissolved by the weekend....
Click to expand...

dry ice?
 
1Michel said:
MYBAD79 said:
I have a gallon of regular unleaded in there, it's been sitting for two days and it seems to slowly dissolve the sludge....

If I shake rocks around inside the tank I am not sure that I will be able to get all rocks out of there - I am considering using ice cubes instead..... IF the sludge is not dissolved by the weekend....
Click to expand...

dry ice?
Click to expand...

I should have tried that when I had water in the gas years ago....

:lol::cool:
 
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