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What do you use to clean your old, rusty, gunky gas tank?


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Drain and remove tank. Remove the delicate sender. Three or four heaping double handfuls of mixed driveway gravel. Roll back and forth and end to end on the lawn for 15 minutes Most of the problem will be on the bottom 1/2 of the tank, not the top, thus the rolling. Don't be afraid to give it a shake. Dump out contents, rinse thoroughly with garden hose, leave in sun to dry for the rest of the day.

 

Yes, depend on how bad. Easy off oven spray foam will dissolve anything organic.

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A good radiator shop will be able to boil it out ( multiple times if need be), get all the rust solids, fuel varnish, and they will get EVERYTHING that these backyard methods leave behind unless you are intent on doing it yourself for as long as it takes.  

 

If your tank has rust ( and most do) the issue will continue unless you seal it.

 

Sealing a gas tank is not as simple as pouring in a can of sealant ( POR 15 is not the best IMO).

 

For proper adhesion of the sealant the whole interior of the tank needs to be treated with M.E.K. (methyl ethyl ketone) which is some nasty s!@#.

 

Then as soon as the M.E.K. evaporates you have to seal it, otherwise your sealant will start peeling inside of 6 months- 1 year.

 

Ever seen a peeling tank? It ain't pretty!

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I have a five pound bag of steel shot (for shotgun reloading) that I use, rinse, and re-use for tank insides. Put it in the tank with half gallon of solvent or diesel, seal the openings, and agitate the hell out of it for as long as you can stand. I have used the driveway gravel that Mike mentioned but like the steel shot better. Seems to get down in pinch-welds and corners better.

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It's actually pretty interesting the different methods used depending, of course like some of you said, on the condition of the tank. And, I think they're all valid- again, based on the condition.

 

A few years ago I used a liquid solution which was pretty expensive per bottle which consisted of orange (like the fruit) concentrated acid. You'd pour it in, add water, let it sit for a couple of days, empty, rinse out and bingo! I pressure washed it and tons of rust came out and it became very clean. But, I know that solvents (chemicals), etc. along with particles, debris, rocks or small flat metal objects can really scrape and clean out most of the stuff. I know there are those cheap, inexpensive ways to clean them very well which can take some days of patience and will result in good or better outcomes like the expensive treatments without the unnecessary high price tag. Those are the interesting ones.

 

I heard Coca-Cola can do the trick. Concentrated orange juice, also. I'm even thinking ammonia and even vinegar can also do something. Or maybe not. But, I wouldn't mind experimenting with them to see what happens. Lol

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A good radiator shop will be able to boil it out ( multiple times if need be), get all the rust solids, fuel varnish, and they will get EVERYTHING that these backyard methods leave behind unless you are intent on doing it yourself for as long as it takes.  

 

 

 

What rad and automotive shops use to 'boil out' tanks, heads and blocks is lye and hot water. If you read the ingredients on the Easy Off can (Drano works just as well) ... it's caustic soda... lye. So compare the cost and double trip to the rad shop vs. a can of EasyOff and some gloves, a jug of vinegar to neutralize the left overs if you have a septic field, and your time.

 

Do not use on aluminum parts, certainly not for any long time like over night.

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What rad and automotive shops use to 'boil out' tanks, heads and blocks is lye and hot water. If you read the ingredients on the Easy Off can (Drano works just as well) ... it's caustic soda... lye. So compare the cost and double trip to the rad shop vs. a can of EasyOff and some gloves, a jug of vinegar to neutralize the left overs if you have a septic field, and your time.

 

Do not use on aluminum parts, certainly not for any long time like over night.

 

Actually the radiator shop I use uses acid and hot water ( so I guess that would be diluted hot acid as opposed to diluted hot vinegar), it's the only place in the county that is allowed to do so and they do a very good job.

 

And they are set up to handle all the toxic chemicals that are required to do the job correctly.

 

I have no compunction about having someone else do this job for me and I get a lot of gas tanks cleaned and sealed..

 

Oh and contrary to internet wisdom, gasoline will not remove hydrocarbon varnish so filling a tank with "good gas" won't really do anything, except give you a tank of good gas for your engine.

 

Food items as hydrocarbon and rust solvents, that is just...no. I have read the one about coca cola and rust and even seen pictures and I don't get it. The acid in Coca Cola is phosphoric acid which is approved as safe as a food additive so that means it is weak which means it is not going to work better than good old fashioned muriatic acid which is available from your local hardware store.

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I get charged $125.00 for a boil out of 75-76 280z gas tanks and more for the sealing.

 

In Ventura County.

 

I see you're in the S.G.V.

 

There is a shop in Bellflower; http://www.orozcosautoservice.com/gas-tank-repair/

 

I have never used them but I am going to as I got a job my regular shop does not want to touch.

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^Gotcha. Cool. Thanks.

 

Yet, still I have about 3 tanks I need to clean and at $375 that could be used toward the next Datsun, whatever it may be. Hahaha. Still, the info here has been great.

 

My tank was working fine when it was idling til I gave it gas and it clogged the line. I assume it's the gas line.I noticed it's completely clogged. I drained the gas, looked inside tank and barely saw the gas line tip still had it's filter around it, but the actual bottom of the tank had the look of old, peeling paint, once it dried up.

 

I'm wondering if there is some other issues that could be going on at the same time that's preventing free gas suction by the gas pump.

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The place I used to work charges $130 to hot tank/ caustic soda/ 205degrees (kill old stinky fuel and removed under coat and paint ) and acid tanks/industrial grade phosphoric acid ( neutralizes hot tank chem and kills rust), then wash the parts with rust inhibitor(sort term purposes) to keep it from flash rusting prior to paint( inside is usually if you don't use shitty fuel or let it sit forever). If your tank has any rust holes you'll know for sure but now it's perfectly clean steel and can be welded easily. I did this to all 3 of my Datsun tanks and had no issues and didn't use a liner.

 

metaldipping.com located in Eugene, OR.

 

*Edited for more specific details

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Personally, I would never use a solvent & hardware for two reasons,

 

1) a lot of crap that sticks to the inside of the tank is bio, and solvent, not even something like carb cleaner will cut it.

I used to work for a company that serviced Texaco gas stations, and when a pump started surging while dispensing gas, it wasn't the in ground pump, but the valves inside the dispensing cabinet (what most people call the 'pump', as in pulling up to the 'pump').

They would get coated with a thick sticky substance, that would cause them to pulsate.

The company gave up trying to clean them, because any solvent they tried wouldn't cut the stuff.

Late one Friday, I was at a station a long way from home, with a set of 'pumps' that were surging badly, but I was out of valve kits.

Not wanting to drive 150 miles back on Monday, I tried Simple Green.

The crud came right off :)

So when I clean a tank now, I dump in a half gallon of Simple Green, or Purple Power (Home Depot), and lot of hardware, nuts, bolts, etc., and shake away.

Takes all the goo out.

Gravel, especially if it's the good sharped edged stuff is better, as it's lighter than steel, and easier to shake.

 

2) Steel bouncing on steel can create sparks, which is bad news for thinners like acetone,

Would only wish that results on my enemies....

Water based cleaners like Simple Green won't explode in your face.

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Water

Water comprises the majority of the liquid you see in your bottle of Simple Green. It provides the base for the product's cleaning chemicals.


 

Butoxyethanol is the main cleaning solvent in Simple Green. diIute with water 3 parts W to 1 part B. 

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