Have you ever looked inside of your gas tank?

I did and it was not pretty!

After 11 years and 101,000 miles - this is what the inside of my tank looked like:



Keep in mind I probably have gone through about 2,500 gallons of gas and it only takes a minute quantity of water in each fill up to get a considerable amount of water in the tank. That is why I think it is a good idea to pull out the fuel pump every now and then and just check/clean the tank.

Well, on to the clean up!

Phosphoric Acid converts iron oxide (rust) to iron phosphate - similar to how you "blue" or "parkerize" a gun.

It is available in several common household products - like CLR, or you can buy a more concentrated form that is marketed as a rust remover - like naval jelly and other products.

This is a $10 bottle of CLR, and I used less then half of it


I just poured it in and started swishing it around - note the color of the fluid in this next pic compared to the last



and here it is just about done


There are a lot of ways you can remove the rust - like using muriatic acid, but they just leave bare metal that can rust again. What I liked about the phosporic acid is that it leaves a coating on the metal that will help protect it.

You should have seen my fuel pump! (That will be another post)

John,

Thanks for taking the time to show this. Very educational!

<D>

Pulling the pump assembly is pretty easy - you don't even have to remove the tank:






There is a rubber gasket seal at the top - mine looked fine and I simply reused it. Once you get that breather hose disconnected the whole assembly should lift up and out

Very informative,I might just check out my tank over the winter!

I have a 1969 Yamaha CT1 that was parked with 1/2 tank of gas... I used steel bbs to take off the majority of the rust (above the gas line); the tank is going to get pulled and it is going to get CLF'd.

Thank you!!!

Mark

Great idea, My son's GS450 has some rust in the tank and I was waiting until I had some extra change to get some stuff I found on the net that was $100 a bottle. I will try the CLR stuff first.

Excellent way of doing it. Back in the 80s I bought an old Gold Wing that had been sitting a long time. The tank was rusty inside. I borrowed some of the "stones" out of his tumbler. I put them and some cleaning fluid in the tank. Jacked up the rear end of my riding mower and strapped the tank to the wheel and let it run for a while. Worked pretty well.

I've repaired a few gas tanks. I will count out a hand full of hardware (nuts, bolts, screws) and drop them inside the empty tank, then shake them about for a while. A paint shaker is handy for this!

After the inside surface is cleaned remove the hardware (confirming that you got all the pieces out!) and thoroughly rinse and prep with the acid etch. If the tank is in bad shape you can utilize a gas tank sealer. I like the Caswell product.

I recall at least one incidence of an 1100 gas tank rusting thru. Don't recall who, tho.

I just ignore both of mine, so far so good. :22yikes:

sirepair said:

I've repaired a few gas tanks. I will count out a hand full of hardware (nuts, bolts, screws) and drop them inside the empty tank, then shake them about for a while. A paint shaker is handy for this!

After the inside surface is cleaned remove the hardware (confirming that you got all the pieces out!) and thoroughly rinse and prep with the acid etch. If the tank is in bad shape you can utilize a gas tank sealer. I like the Caswell product.

Click to expand...

Instead of loose hardware, where you run the risk of leaving a piece behind, use a piece of chain instead. Find some that has about 1" links. You want it heavy enough to rub the rust off, if it is too light it will only ride over the rust and not really scrape it very much. Shake the tank from side-to-side, circular and figure-eight pattern to ensure you cover the entire inside of the tank. When you remove the chain you don't have to worry about anything being left behind. Don't forget to rinse well before putting back on the bike.

If the rust is sever they do have products that will coat and fix minor leaks.