Just bought a used gas tank and it needs a little cleaning. It will be installed right away, but not filled or used for awhile. Wanting to literally be a good neighbor and thinking of being environmentally friendly, any suggestions on cleaning the inside? I was thinking brake cleaner since it dissipates quickly and evaporates. Obviously, I could put some gas in there, shake it around a bit, but then I've got the leftovers...any ideas will be most welcome. 51FourDoor Wade
go to the pool store, get a gallon of muriatic acid. mix it 50/50 with water. put in a chain. do not breathe in! pour a 1/2 gallon in. shake the crap out of it. pour out the liquid. repeat 3-4 times, and rinse with water, thoroughly. as long as no leaks show up, install it, fill with gas, and use some Heet. That's what I did. I don't know what you should do with the leftovers, I used it for weed killer.
I've heard that if you fill it with rocks, chain it to the side of the tractor's back wheel, and go out and attack a field with a brush hog, it'll be clean by the time you finish mowing (just dump it and seal it)! ~Jason
You're not ready for rocks yet. You need to dissolve the goo. My Edsel that sat for 30 years has what looked like an inch of honey in the tank. I put a gallon of fresh gas in it and let it sit. Rinse. Repeat. The new gas will dissolve most of it. I didn't want to use acid which might eat the galvanized finish off the steel. I then put a few feet of chain in the tank with some soapy water snd sloshed it around. It looked like new in there.
I didn't use quite as strong a mixture but the muriatic acid cleaned the tank out "just fiiiiiine" on my 50 Chevy and the stuff is a great weed killer
the acid is $5 a gallon, so when diluted its cheaper than gas. and it makes a dandy weed killer. That's recycling. Just doing my part to save the whales.
I always take my tanks to the radiator shop have them vatted out if it needs sealed I let them take care of it .Its not that expensive mt 2 cents
Have a can on me! So true... since they came out with it in '58 - ten years shy of Berryman's 50 year anniversary. Here's the link: http://www.berrymanproducts.com/Default.aspx?tabid=169 ~Jason
Thanks for the additional suggestions. I talked to 3 radiator shops and none of them wanted to do a gas tank... 51FourDoor Wade
I know someone who would put broken glass and solvent in the tank and do this. Rocks may be a little harsh(dent the tank). If you dip the tank make sure you get it dried out as fast as possible. They rust fast. Jeff
Roofing nails work well. If you don't want to mess with acid, about the only other thing I've found that will dissolve gas varnish is denatured alcohol. Acetone, isopropyl alcohol, mineral spirits, naptha, etc won't touch the stuff, but denature alcohol will. It'll take a few sloshings, but you should be able to get it pretty clean.
I second the chain method if its a flipper.. i used approx 20"of chain and some gas..shake it and rinse..my Hudson tank is currently at the radiator shop gettting dipped and coated..planning on keeping this one for a bit ..
if you get a cheap bbq rotisserie(sp?) at a thriftstore or something, you can easily build a tumbler. just mount the motor to a sawhorse, mount the rotisserie bearing to another sawhorse, then figure out a way to mount the gastank to the pole in between. fill it a quarter full with gravel and let her run for a while.
Ok the redneck is comin out in me here.. To clean the tank from my 55 ford I used m.e.k. I took about 30 or so 3/8 nuts.. Placed them in the tank.. Poured a gal. of m.e.k. into the tank.. Placed an old towel onto the wifes washing machine.. Threw in a wet towel off center.. Placed the tank on top of the machine.. Duct taped the shit out of it to the machine ran it on the spin cycle a few times.. Bang!! Clean tank rinsed the nuts off and tossed them back into the bin.. poured the m.e.k. back into its container to use for cleaning really grungy stuff.. No waste
LMAO, that sounds like one of my stunts. I know I'm slow and my skull is thick as a watermelon rind but, what is m. e. k. again. I'm suer I just missed it some how. All I've ever used was muriatic acid with varied results. Once I had on old bike tank with rust scale and thick varnish in the bottom and being the patient individual I am I put a big ass glass filter in line and filled that mother up and rode it. I had to take the filter apart and clean it about once a month for 6 months but after that it looked like new inside.
Methel Ethel Keytone..(sp)..very nasty stuff..but it will disove just about anything or clean any residue off of parts. wear rubber gloves, and dont get it on your skin, or in your eyes. or mouth for that matter.. you can look up the M.S.D.S. on it on line..
what do you do if you tank is has bad corrosion on the inside?... like really bad? because i cant afford my fuel cell yet...
The ONLY way to properly clean and seal a used gas tank, plus you don't have to mess with chemicals and environmental waste: http://www.gastankrenu.com/ Why not let the pros do it? What you don't want to end up with is pinholes that will begin to leak after installation. My 2 sense. Patrick
Here are two methods that are under $80.00 start to finish. http://www.kanter.com/fueltank.html http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=FTRK&dept=11 I can not speak for the Kanter kit.. i have done two tanks with the POR15 , it has everything you need and great instructions. The only thing that I did different than the instructions ... I pre-cleaned buy soaking the tank fresh gas ,over night then rattled it with a length of chain. (10ft). We rigged a rope harness from a tree limb and shock the hell out of it then cleaned it out and followed the instruction given by POR15. Also we rigged up a plastic tube to the leave blower and ran it for 15 minutes. The inside of the tank was bone try. While you are at it get a pint of POR15 black or Silver and do the outside of the tank it will out last you and the car.
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