Gas tank flushes??

[Nathan289]

Ok, I'm tired of dealing with water in Penny's tank.
So I dropped the tank to find out that the tank is fairly new. The tank looks like it was changed in the last 5 years or so.. New sending unit too..
The inside still looks new, but I have lots of moisture in there that isnt gas..
I've called the radiator shops.. one told me I'd be better off buying new.. Even though I explained that it isnt rusty just lots of water.. But who wants to take something to someone that really doesnt want to do it?
The other shop said that it's getting to cold and to call back in the spring?? since when is 50* too cold??

So what other ways can I flush a gas tank? I can buy the por 15 tank kit, but rather not spend $180 plus shipping..
I'm thinking buy a gallon of diesel fuel and slosh it around in the tank and drain it.. maybe that will remove the water?

Any Ideas?

Nathan

[pbrown]

Does it have the drain plug in the corner? Pull the plug and drain the fluid. Leave the sender and filler off. Then place the tank in a dry place with good ventilation to air out. Maybe use a fan to flow air through.

Blow out your fuel lines with an air hose to be sure they are clear.

Blow out the tank vent tube also.

[Luva65wagon]

If it were me I'd pick up a gallon of acetone and plug all the holes after pouring 1/2 of it in. Then I'd slosh it around and around to dissolve anything that's in there. Then I'd drain it out and do what Patrick said. Acetone is very fast evaporating and it reall should rinse out anything in there. Then if there's any doubt pour the 2nd half in after you drain the first half and do it again.

I don't get what those guys are saying. I think they just sdon't want to mess with gas tanks now.

[Nathan289]

roger,
you hit it on the nose..the one place I did find that was willing to do it wanted $150 to do it.
supposedly it has something to do with recyling the waste water..why most shops don't touch gas tanks..

I was either going to use por 15 marine clean and skip the metal ready and the sealer.. the tank looks really good inside.. and out..

But I like your acetone idea.. question is the film that acetone leaves isn't going to cause problems??

Nathan

[Luva65wagon]

FWIW, acetone is the solvent Loctite recommends before you glue things together because it leaves no residue whatsoever. I think, assuming this stuff is soluble at all in acetone, of which there is no guarantee, you will get it very clean this way. And then you can use the polluted acetone, like I do, to clean greasy parts and stuff. You should be able to prop the tank up on the fill flange and drain any fluid out first. It would then be residue you are trying to dilute and remove. Right?

[Jeff W]

My dad belongs to a group of old guys that restore airplanes. They use a gallon of WD-40 to clean the tanks on the old birds. After they drain the gallon out, they re-use the "waste" for it's original purpose. A gallon runs about $15

[redfalken]

WD-40...Water Displacement, 40th formula...that's what I would use. Acetone would work too but would raise the danger level!

Any WD-40 left would just mix with the first tank of gas and burn up. It's all hydrocarbons.

[Nathan289]

I'm thinking I'll use the Marine clean, becasue i'm being cheap and have it around.. I can then add the waste to my parts washer. Marine clean is water based like the stuff in my washer..

then I'll rinse it like the directions say and follow it with some wd40..

sounds good to you all?

then maybe I'll be able to get this car to run..

Nathan

[Luva65wagon]

Nathan,

Doesn't sound like you could go wrong with that plan. Whatever you use needs to be able to dissolve that stuff, so I'd put a little of that crud in a jar and see if what you plan to use mixes with it or just floats above or below it. If it will mix it will dilute and hopefully dissolve it as well. Enough of anything that mixes with it will minimize its existence when it's all drained out.

Good luck!

[Nathan289]

Well,
Looks like I wont be using the marine Clean..
After reading the instructions for gas tank cleaning. It says to follow with the metal ready and then the sealer..
They make it sound like you have to use all three products.. While I have two of the 3 products sitting on a shelf I don't have the sealer..

So a gallon of acetone will be purchased and I will go that route instead..

Nathan

[Alsprint]

Nathan, I’ve used the marine clean for a lot of parts that I haven’t sealed with por 15. It is a strong biodegradable cleaner, but dilutes well. I want to caution you to were gloves it can irritate the skin! The marine clean needs to be rinsed well and that brings you back to the start... drying out the tank. Blow as much water out with air or a shop vac. If you put the tank in a small area or "bagged if you will" you can get dry ease from an RV store or GI Joes. It is a chrystal that you place in the container it comes in and sucks the moisture out of the air into the tray. It works well and doesn’t cost to much. Al

[Luva65wagon]

It would help immensely to know what, if anything, cuts this stuff. Acetone may or may not. WD40 may or may not. Marine Clean may or may not. Obviously you want to get it clean as well as dry, which is what I thought Acetone would do that. Just don't smoke around it. :NERVOUS:

[Nathan289]

So, I ended up buying the sealer to go with the other two parts of Por15's gas tank kit.

The kit if ordered online is $79 and includes the Marine clean, Metal ready, Sealer, and some stabil..
Cheaper than what a falcon vendor sells it for..

Since I already had the marine clean and the Metal ready i picked up the sealer.

All the parts I bought cost me $75.

I'll follow the directions that Por15 sent me and fix this tank right and take all the guess work out of it..

Nathan

[kdda191]

Holy Cow Nathan.... What a mess! I still am sooooooo sorry!!!! I really am! How's it going anyway?

BTW, off topic here, but AC/DC Radio switched from ch29 to ch19 today. Part of the XM merger. We get that channel til 1/15/09!

[Nathan289]

Dan,
It happens.. oh-well.. ever look into your other wagon?
Not to bug you.. did you ever find the paperwork for Penny?

I haven't had much time to work on her.. I have the tank flushed with the Marine clean and rinsed.. I'm just waiting for more free time to finish sealing the tank

I'm hoping to get her running.. it ran well enough to break her in.

Nathan

[BPVan]

I figured I would open up an old post on this...

My bestest neighbor Jeff helped me drop my tank Sunday night as I was getting pick up problems and I have noticed some sediment come into the fuel filter. After draining what I think was about 16 gallons of fuel and sharing it with the '63 wagon and a friends car we got it out. I noticed a lot of sediment as I transferred the fuel from my catch pans to the gas container. Peeking inside there is a good amount of buildup from the past 40 years.

Long story short, I am debating cleaning vs replacing. This tank was custom made for the van in about '72 (I found the receipt when I bought the van) and is about 20 gallons, stock was 14. The sending unit is not working properly and I have not investigated why. From what I read its about $100 in chemicals and a weekend to clean up an old tank plus whatever the sending unit woes will cost to fix.

They don't make tanks anymore that fit these vans out of the box. If I replace it, it would be a 1969 Mustang 20 gallon tank that I would have to modify: move the filler tube and vent tube, see here http://mysite.verizon.net/samada/id3.html. I would also have to build new straps and get J hooks. I can get this tank kit with sending unit for $150.

Thoughts?

[doghows]

For what it's worth, I think most of those flush kits use a miratic acid to clean and etch the tank. Then they have some type of sealer that coats the clean metal? I have seen them in Eastwood and in the TP tool catalogs.
I have been opting for replacement stuff on my project but all my stuff is pretty old and rusty. So if I can't clean it and powder coat it, I replace it and then powder coat it?
Unfortunately I can't powder gas tanks because they are soldered and I melt that stuff... HTH

[MacDee]

I cleaned and resealed my tank many years ago using the POR-15 kit. My tank had a tiny rust "perforation" in the top surface and was getting gas fumes in the trunk. It's been eight or nine years now since I did that, and it's holding up just fine!

[Jeff W]

After thinking about this for a couple of days (and nursing the Spider Bite I got while helping) I think we should save what you have.

Pull the pick-up tube/sending unit assembly and see if we can identify what it is out of... get a new one or repair the old.

Clean the outside of your tank so it looks decent and bring it to an old radiator shop and see what they charge to boil it out.... they still do that right? If it looks clean they may be more likely to allow it in their tanks.

Let's seal that baby and get it mounted.

We should also form the fill tube a bit to get better alignment with the nipple on the tank.

[Luva65wagon]

I'd like to have those two days back I spent on the Ranchero trying to clean and seal it - most was spent on the cleaning and not the sealing part. And it didn't clean as good as they said it would. The tank was pretty bad. I just sealed in whatever was left. I used the Eastwood kit, which at $50 for the kit and two days effort, the $279 for a new one seemed the bargain.

You on the other hand have no replacement you can buy that doesn't also have a lot of work to be done. I like Jeff's suggestion to see if a radiator shop can do the stripping. The Muriatic acid part was not very much fun.

Whatever you do - do it safe.

And Jeff - a Spider Bite? :WHATTHE: Ask my Mom, I'm not a fan of spiders. She moves them to safety when I go down to visit. :o

[Jeff W]

And Jeff - a Spider Bite? :WHATTHE: Ask my Mom, I'm not a fan of spiders. She moves them to safety when I go down to visit. :o


I'm assuming spider... the mark is big, round, red and angry. I think it crawled up my sleeve while I was laying in Brian driveway under the van.

[Luva65wagon]

Well, let's hope that's all it was and something doesn't break out of your chest and take over the world.

[AGREE]

[BPVan]

Maybe we need a new member forum "The Infirmary" or "Hall of Pain" where we can highlight our restoration related injuries.