19 Years Old Gas Still In The Tank.

Need Some HELP I've Try-ed Steaming, Presser Washing And Soap And Hot Water & Even Solvent. What Do You People Use To Get The Gas Tank Cleaned Out??.Other Than Setting The M%$&%* F^&* On Fire.
Thanks For Any And All Help On This One.

 

You might try denatured alcohol, but your best bet is to take it to a radiator shop and have it boiled out.

 

I had one like that, I just emptied it out, let it dry real good, then bought a can of that gas tank sealer to coat the inside of it. Never had a problem since.

 

Beebees inside, tank in trunk of daily driver, beebees slide around and act as a gentle abrasive? Let me know if it works. Geeks use sand in this manner to shine their chainmail. Don't ask how I know.

 

a new tank after the fire , radiator shops can boil them out, but you will save a lot of grief with a new tank

 

Good advice,,take it and have them soak in their tank overnight,,,you will not regret paying now instead of later. HRP

 

Most radiator shops can clean and reseal them. Try find a reproduction tank, but if not I would go to the radiator shop and get a estimate on having it done. EPA is a killer on this stuff, some places have quit doing it. I think Performance Radiator may do it. I would call around. save a few headaches !

 

bought a bright shiney new tank for like 200 bucks for my chevy. mine would have cost too much to fix cuz I has rust holes in the top.

new tank and new fuel lines, one less thing to worry about down the line.

 

I got mine cleaned and coated. After the trouble would I have done anything different? Yep, bought a new one. Coating it was expensive.

 

Im goin through the same thing. I used about 1 gallon or 2 of carb cleaner in liquid form, six large nuts and 2 ft of chain, I plugged it with some rubber stoppers. let it sit for 24 hours, shaking it around when ever I could. even flipped it over to clean the top. washed out with hot water, and repeated. Im going to use Flat Ernies advice and wash it out next with tide and water, followed by denatured alcohol. Im going to avoid the acid wash and the sealer since there is no heavy rust in my tank. Hope that helps, but I cant take the credit, just good advice from other hambers.

Brad

 

i used muriatic acid.not sure on the spelling but its pool acid.i used it to clean the rust out of a lil peenut tank for a chopper.it works good just dont leave it in for too long or itll eat the metal.

 

I had mine tumbled at a local radiator shop. They used and bunch of steel nuts. I wouldn't coat it though. I have heard of horror stories of that stuff and ethanol. The last one, I bought a new one. About the same money in the end.

 

My local radiator shop has some sort of hot lye soap dip or some **** he leaves my tanks in for several days. Call a few rad shops in your area and ask about it

 

Methyl Hydrate ate ALL the gum and varnish out of my '41 tank. Also it is available in 5 gallon pails.

 

drop a chain inside and throw it in the back of the truck and drive around for a week. That'll get it!!

 

My car sat for 11 years with over half a tank of gas.. it was caked on the bottom. I tried the redneck gas and chain method and all it did was make a mess with big chunks coming loose after that and clogging up the intake. I took it to a radiator shop and they had to boil it twice.. but it was right after that. It wasn't super expensive, and less than a new tank for my particular car..

Get a new pickup screen or tube and sending unit and all the gaskets while you have it out.

 

We had a tank cleaned and coated at a locall radiator shop for about $110 and could have bought a repro one for $150. Should have checked prices first, new is always nicer to work with. Mike

 

Thanks To All Of You For The Feed back. But I Am The Radiator Shop For 75 miles from me And Yes The EPA Shut Us Down On The Boil Tank 8 Or So Years Ago. I'll Try Out The Last Persons Idea And I'll Check On A New Tank It's A 49 Chevy Aero.
Don

 

Acetone.

 

Acetone is supposed to work.

 

How about "Chevys of the fourties" ? They seem to have all the parts..
Thanks, Mike

 

Tanks incorporated (possibly unlimited) is having a sale right now!

 

the chain idea actually works, but if you go aftermarket, make sure you get it pressure tested for leaks before you put it in the car, ask me how i know!

 

http://www.cl***iccarautoparts.com/gastanks.html


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" summary="Visual layout of content" border=1><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=center align=left></TD><TD vAlign=center align=left width="100%">1949-1952 Chevrolet P***enger
NEW RELEASE Steel Tank per original design. Fits all p***enger models, except Wagon & Sedan Delivery. With filler neck. 3 year warranty. This tank not made by Spectra

</TD><TD vAlign=center noWrap align=left>GM49</TD><TD vAlign=center noWrap align=right>209.00</TD><TD vAlign=center align=left>each</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Found this by Google.. for your info. good luck with your Chevy..jdl

 

I cleaned the tank in my '36 PU after sitting 1/2 full since 1974. It had a layer of crud all over but no thick caked crud or rust. I used purple cleaner(like Super Clean or similar, they all have lye in them) mixed real strong in hot water, dumped it in and left it sit in the sun, taped the openings closed and sloshed it around 2-3X per day. I changed the cleaner solution several times when it got real dark. After 3 weeks of this, it was clean. I rinsed it out with alcohol to get the little bits of loose dirt out and bolted it back in the truck. Success! The tank was baffled, so I was afraid if I used loose hardware inside to help abrade it I wouldn't get it all back out.

If I had it to do over, I'd use POR-15's Marine-Clean. I think it would work faster but I thought I was saving $ by using the purple cleaner plus I could get it locally. I bought so much purple cleaner that I spent the same amount in the end. If you need to coat the tank, POR-15's kit works great, I've used it twice.

 

nice chevy... buy a new tank. 200 bucks and you are done. got mine from www.chevsofthe40s.com

 

Acetone won't touch the gum/varnish. I had a tank I cleaned a year ago - acetone was my first choice (I use it for a lot of stuff). No go. Denatured alcohol was the only thing I could find that would attack the gum/varnish.

I'll bet the carb cleaner of the old days would do it, but the modern stuff was a waste of time. The non-chlorinated brake cleaner (green can) worked OK, but expensive and slow going, so not viable for a tank - carb yes, but not a tank.

Something with lye in it would probably work, but I've got no experience with that.

 

We did it the lo buck way. Took to car wash sprayed the inside. Took it home filled a quarter way with drive way rocks . Shook it up with a few friends taking turns. Emptied out took back to car wash sprayed it out real good. Let it try good as new. The car was sitting for 27 years.

 

When we bought my first Ford, the old man and I dropped the tank and sloshed with acetone alone...Aside from the headache from the fumes (also the impending cancer), and the aching backs from me being 6 inches shorter than him at the time...We followed it up by coating with some store bought sealer, and I could never keep a working carb on her...

Years later when faced with the option of having the tank repaired and professionally cleaned and resealed or replacing the tank, completely...The costs of purchasing a new tank and peace of mind, FAR out weighed the perks of saving a couple of bucks...and the difference was literally only a couple of bucks...maybe a case of beer...maybe.

We recently bought a 69 Mustang for my mom and it had only been sitting for 6-10 years at the time we finally brought it home. The tank was in far better condition and worth salvaging...We used Acetone and some ball bearings to roll around in it...(Place it in the trunk of the daily driver for a week - far less back ache) and it seems to have done the trick nicely...

If it's been sitting for 20 years, drop it and replace it. Then, before you throw it back in and filler up, use shelack to harden the seals...otherwise, while your trying to figure out why the lady at the Shell station's eyes are slowly popping out of her head and her jaw has dropped so close to the floor that she cannot say a word....not even, "hey mister, I think you're about to blow us all up"...well...you get the point...that kind of humiliation will wreck a fine cruisin day faster than your wife calling you by your brothers name during a mid-day quickie.

 

I hate to give away the last of my good secrets......but.... If you have a small airport locally that can still sell to the public (in a can, as they are not allowed by law to put it in anything but an aircraft or a can), get yourself a five gallon can of AVGAS also known as 100LL (100 octane Low-Lead). I'm a pump jockey at an airport and a pilot friend tipped me off to the stuff when I was Cleaning a Model B Ford carb one day on break. the carb had sat for (50?) years and the bowl was covered with varnish. 5 min. and it was clean. Tried it at home on an antique gas can, an old lawnmower tank, a motorctcle tank that had sat for 15 years, and many carbs. It worked great every time, and very quickly. It won't do anything to rust but it will clean out varnish, gum and tar like a champ and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. The stuff goes for about $3.75 a gallon around here. Do not try to run it through a working tank and fuel system as the gum it dislodges and disolves can get stuck in places you don't want it. Luke.