Rust in a fuel tank

[woodlandfarms]

I have an 11 gallon tank on my Diesel tractor. Lately I have been finding bits of rust in my filter. Drained the tank, looked through the pour hole and yup, rust everywhere. Not sure why someone would make a tank without a coating but here I am.....

So, how to fix? The issue is access. I only have 3 holes (the out at the bottom a 1/2" for the outflow of fuel, I have two on the top of the tank, one for the sensor and one for the fill, neither more than 2" across.

Do I drain, wash and dump a bunch of Naval Jelly in the tank? Do I sand blast (no way to get the top). Do I dump a bunch of nuts in it and slosh it around? Or do I just coat it and hope the rust doesn't flake off.

Any ideas would be great. Oh, the tank is very verticle. Maybe 8" wide at the bottom and 4 at the top and 20" or so high.

 

[RNeumann]

I've heard good things about this-

POR-15 U.S. Standard Fuel Tank Sealer 4924 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

 

[Stimw]

A piece or pieces of chain will also work.

 

[Egon]

You could put some phosphoric acid plus single graded gravel in it and then do an extended shake. Flush it out good and do another acid flush and it should be good to go. Some of the cleaners dairy farmers use clean their lines has phosphoric acid in it. It may also be less expensive.

The best would be a place that can do a hot wash and then coat the inside.

 

[prichard]

Common on old motorcycles. The usual fix is clean out with acid followed by coating the interior with por15 or similar like rneuman linked to.

Edit: didn't see egon post. That's it.

 

[Al 2]

Years ago I had a small gas tank that had a lot of rust and crud in it. I tack welded some flat bar to the mouth of a cement mixer and bolted the tank to the bar. Put in some kind of solvent and gravel from the drive way and spun it around for a few hours until it was shiny inside and then flushed it out. Like new inside.
Al

 

[yankeerider]

I just dealt with that problem on my '30 Chevrolet and used the POR-15 fuel tank kit. The inside of the tank was so bad it was plugging the tank outlet tube. The POR-15 kit worked very well- two washes with degreaser and one with the phosphoric acid etch before sealing it. I was very happy with the results. If I was doing a diesel tank, though, I'd be inclined to not seal the tank, instead counting on the more oily nature of the diesel to leave a film to ****** rust development so long as the tank would be kept mostly full.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

This might be the time to look into removing that rust with electrolysis.

Once you have it clean, give it a quick bath with phosporic acid, then an epoxy coat and you're good to go.

 

[ultrarunner]

About 30 years ago I coated many with Fuel Tank Sloshing Compound sometimes called aviation sealer... worked like a charm...

Fast forward to ethanol and the sealer became a gooey mesh...

 

[RNeumann]

About 30 years ago I coated many with Fuel Tank Sloshing Compound sometimes called aviation sealer... worked like a charm...

Fast forward to ethanol and the sealer became a gooey mesh...

New stuff says it's good with ethanol. Ethanol has been tough on older equipment and most small engines today still recommend avoiding it.