Best way to clean inside of a gas tank?

Hi all! I am in the process of repainting my gas tank and thought this would also be a great time to clean out the rust that has built up on the inside. I've read a couple threads on here that have suggested CLR or Evaporust, are these products okay to use in my gas tank? I just got my bike and I don't want to mess it up

 

how ever you clean it you will want to remove the petcock
you can clean the tank by putting a bag of fish tank gravel in it and tumbling it in a drier.
remove petcock remove gas cap , pour in gravel ,tape off with duct tape wrap in plastic,trash bag tape it tight.
put pillows or cushion foam in drier to keep tank tight in drier tumble comes real clean. you would want to do this before painting.

you can use phosphoric acid it will turn any rusted areas black and those spots will not rus again .I do not know the mixture for this.

or use electrolis to clean it out

 

Evaporust works well if the rust is not too deep, a little surface rust it'll clean right out. The good thing is it can be reused several times.
Don't know if CLR would do it, in my experience that is really more for cleaning rust stains than removing rust itself.

 

from www.xj4ever.com catalog of parts
Here are a few other good ways to de-rust metal products:

http://www.mopedarmy.com/wiki/Removing_rust_from_a_gas_tank

http://users.eastlink.ca/~pspencer/nsaeta/electrolysis.html

http://www.moreg.org.au/dissolving_rust.htm

http://www.htpaa.org.au/article-electro.php

http://xjbikes.com/forums/index.php?threads/32838

http://xjbikes.com/forums/index.php...val-no-frills-easiest-fastest-cheapest.48196/

http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html

 

I would add that if you will be painting yourself soon this will be fine. Once the tank is clean you need to get something in it really soon. I had my tank painted professionally and they had to clean and dry really well before prep and paint. By the time I picked it up, it has rusted pretty good on the inside and I need to run it through the tumble again. Not looking forward to that with nice paint on it now.

 

you can "fogg" the tank when i paint tank i put an expantion plug inthe gas opening and a metal plate over the petcock hole because you are not supposed to paint the area that the petcock sits on.fog spray or light oil.
you are correct you want to clean tank fogg and paint without delay

 

I like this gravel tumbler idea, I'm going to try it out.

 

I am sure I don't have to say this but when you put the tank in the dryer to tumble........NO HEAT....air tumble only

 

And don't tell your special lady friend what you're doing with her dryer

 

or when you take her extra pillows

 

First of all ... my wife would not be happy - grin. However, I am planning on painting the tank this winter (bright blue) so I am very interested in this thread. I didn't think about additional rust in the tank.

 

Here's my experience. I had my tank painted last year and tucked it away with no regard to it bring completely dried for painting. Pulled it out this spring and had this.



Did some research, liked the idea of the tumbler in the dryer but really afraid of wrecking the paint. Got WD-40 Rust Remover. At $25/gallon, its not cheap and you have to be creative in moving it to get all sides but heres what I had after a week of flipping etc.



Went in clear, came out like this. Its supposedly reusable until black. I'm hoping I can still use it for other things otherwise its an expensive but effective option.

 

That tank looks to me just like one that has been treated with phosphoric acid. I looked at the MSDS for the WD-40 Rust soak, and it lists oxides of phosphorous as a byproduct of the soak when it is in a fire. I think you may have overpaid for what you got. It does seem to do a good job though.

 

I wouldn't doubt, companies make good money on simple stuff we can make at home. It was a convenience thing. I had researched the phosphoric acid route and was planning to do that. Happened to see this at Lowes and a quick google search showed excellent reviews so I went for it. dump in, let sit, flip, done! With my schedule that helps.

As always, YMMV! Wanted to share my experience with it.

 

YMMV? What does that mean?

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

I cleaned mine out with Apple Cider Vinegar. Man, that stuff works wonders!

 

I've been using a 20 ~ 30% phosphoric acid solution for de-rusting stuff for years. Great for larger lumps too, like trailer chassis, gates, etc. Just knock the big loose bits off, brush it on, leave overnight, it turns the rust black, hose it off and let dry. It can then be overpainted with primer or just a couple of coats of Hammerite or similar if you like. I have a trailer chassis lying in the yard that was a rusty mess, treated with this about 7 years ago. It's been lying out in the weather since and not a spot of rust has re-appeared.
Never tried it on the inside of a tank, but will do so when I need to.

 

I have had great results with vinegar as well. Cheap and easy, just not as quick.

 

Best way would be to cut the bottom out, blast the inside and weld it back together. It will be like brand new.

 

Vinegar does not convert the rust. Any acid will clean the rust off, but only phosphoric will prevent it from returning.

(well, Hydroflouric acid will prevent the rust from coming back, but only by making the steel go away as well)

 

It really depends on how heavy the rust is.
~For light surface rust a good soak with white cider vinegar will clean things up nice. Will need a fogging coat after treatment. Great for a winter storage treatment!
~For medium flaky rust a 20% MSR (Milk Stone Remover) soak for approx 8-10 hrs. Will leave a phosphate coating to protect the surface.
~For heavy rust and pin holes. Seal pin holes and soak with 10% Muratic acid (Pool/Concrete Cleaner) to remove the deep embedded rust. Will require a sealer (POR15, Eastwood) after cleaning. Give the Kreme sealer to someone you do not like! They will hate you forever!
~Kreme sealer that has pealed. Only one treatment will work. MEK! Be Very Very CDC Suit careful!! This stuff is extremely nasty!!! Not recommended for home treatment!! You will be repainting afterwards.
~Make sure you flush and neutralize (baking soda) any acid based treatment!
~~ Remember! Acid into water! Not the other way around!

Every type of sealer will require a pretreatment. Eastwood Fast Etch and POR15 Metal Prep work good for this.

Any type of stone, gravel, chain, screw tumble treatment will only work on the surface. It will not work into the porous metal, or seams to remove the hidden rust! Why waste the time and effort??

Gas fumes in a dryer?? Really!!!

~Ghost

 

They look like the guys who told me to put AJAX in my Rice Krispies. Beats the heck out of a Bloody Mary morning!

 

When Chevy first came out with their 283 V-8, they had trouble with oil consumption due to rings not seating properly. The fix was literally to run the engine and pour ajax down the carb throat to scrub the rings and cylinder walls. Go figure.

 

Hello, ABIDE and everyone. I have been lurking for a long time off and on. You all seem like a good bunch of guys. I'm hoping to meet some of you one day. ABIDE, where would one buy Phosphoric Acid? That is your choice of rust remover, correct? And after your tank is treated with phosphoric acid there is no need to coat the tank?

 

Username is k-moe.

Phosphoric acid can be found at any store that carries cleaning supplies, or concrete and stonemasonry supplies (most big-box stores). Many farm supply stores also carry it.

 

K, k-moe. Sorry about the name change. Puter stuff just isn't my cup-o-tea. Thanks for the info. I can't find it now but I thought you wrote somewhere you didn't have to worry about coating the tank after using phosphoric acid. Is that true?

 

I think some folks don't line the tank after acid treatment. After research, I ended up using POR-15, which is a 3 step process. It uses a strong acid to first attack the rust, then after a rinse, a neutralizing solution. After another rinse and dry (involving a hairdryer), the epoxy coating is applied. I noticed there was a lot of flash rusting when I dried the tank. The instructions said, that's OK, the epoxy bonds to that. I've only gone 1200 miles since then and probably 10 fill-ups and it still looks great in there. Not enough time for judgement, so talk to me in a few years.
The point of describing this is that rust may easily appear on freshly cleaned metal. I don't know how that's avoided, so maybe someone else can comment on that.

 

Hi, dkavanagh, I lined a couple tanks years ago. I used some stuff called Metal Etch. It was in a GLASS bottle. My Dad had it and gave it to me. I have no idea why he had it. As soon as you rinsed out the tank the rust began so you hurried and dried it and lined it. The liner is still holding up after nearly 30 years. I thought if the phosphoric treatment didn't need a coating afterwards that would be great.

 

personally i won't buy a bike with a lined tank just because you don't know what's under there.
if you're going to let it set empty for awhile use something like this for the last rinse
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=877&PMITEM=411-1164
any machine shop would have a half cup of it to spare, some of it even smells good.
mix it 5 or 10% with water and slosh it around and dump it out

 

FOUND IT! Well, I guess it doesn't say you don't need a liner...

 

I used a Caswell epoxy liner. I don't think anything will take it off once it sets up. Harbor Freight has resin rust busting blocks. Put a couple of pounds of that in the tank before you put it in the dryer. Clean-up is easy and the resin doesn't cut good metal.

 

I've got to where I use the electrolysis method myself. I use distilled water and arm and hammer washing soda. A small battery charger with 2-10 amps is what I use. After I clean it I use Kreem kit to seal it. I've used this method on several tanks on motorcycles and cars and trucks. Xs650.com "rust removal from inside gas tank"

 

Before electrolysis, read this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement

I have come to believe abrasive, Metal Rescue, or Evapo-Rust are the safest methods.

 

Bringing this back to life as my tank has accumulated some serious rust sitting around since November. Has anyone used Metal Rescue? It's available locally and since I just got a new paint job I'm really not eager to chuck my tank in the dryer or use an acidic solution. Metal Rescue seems to be pretty safe but 1/3 of the reviews online claim it doesn't work.

 

Bell curves. All reviews follow bell curves.

 

So you're saying there's a chance.

 

I used the tumble dry method last night and worked well. Be prepared to have to fish the last few stones out ( I used DumGum on the end of a long flat head). 60 minutes and all the surface rust was gone, flushed with gasoline and fogged it HEAVY with wd40 .

 

Did you have a fresh coat of paint? I'm mostly nervous about dinging the sexy new gloss black.

 

Give it a few weeks to harden.

 

Oh heck no. My paint is JACKED.

 

Yes. Metal Rescue works.

Before putting your tank in the dryer, put it in a sleeping bag. Pack the dryer with pillows. Paint will be fine. I used resin rust cutting media from Harbor Freight.

 

Sure does. Skipped the dryer -- I was afraid because I'm clumsy. Here's a soak for about 12 hours. One half 6 hours, the other 6 hours.

 

Vinegar and let it sit for 3 days. Looks like new and doesn't cost much. Rinse with baking soda and water after (to neutralize the acid), then blow dry the heck out of if.
Best thing is that you can reuse it. Just make sure you remove the petcock (or use old one) and close the tank, the fumes eat paint.

 

I'm a huge fan of metal rescue. It's fast (one hour takes you down to bare metal), odourless, hand friendly, and reusable (which is good as it's kind costy at $30cdn/jug, but you only need one).

Vinegar works too, but takes several days and smells

Dryer tumbles work well, but are only necessary if you've got other stuff than rust in your tank. If it's just rust, then dumping in a jug of metal rescue, and rotating the tank every hour will leave you with a nice clean tank in no time.

Object will end up very dull grey and can discolor to black if you leave it in the metal rescue for a really long time - days - but cleans up fine with Scotch Brite.

 

I thought I would show you how I did it. With Arm and Hammer cloth washing mix and a battery charger. Any of these videos will show you how to do it. Takes a while but works really well.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=motorcycle+gas+tank+electrolysis+

 

Electrolysis may lead to hydrogen embrittlement.

Maybe it's nothing to worry about, but I err on the side of caution.

 

+1 Metal Rescue!

 

I went to Wal-Mart and I bought a quart of "Rust-Oleum Rust Dissolver". I'm going to use it for the first time tonight to get rust out of the inside of my tank. I'll post before and after picts and let you guys know what the results are like. If you guys want to read about the product and give me some advice on it, you can learn by finding it on Rust-Oleum's website and browsing through the automotive section.

I really hope it works!