Cleaning the fuel tank

[carlyla]

I would appreciate any views on whether specialist fuel tank cleaning solutions are worth using - or if taking the tank off and swilling round with diesel generates the same end result?
I have been getting black sludge blocking the fuel tank tap in recent weeks. This is on a 1985 Ford 1910.

 

[Keith01]

I have always had good luck by a bit of kerosene and a handful of lugnuts, or any sized nuts. Put them in the tank, a bit of kerosene as a solvent, close the cap then shake the whole thing. Gives a good workout! THe hardware agitates the gunk and the kerosene keeps it floating. After you collapse from exhaustion, pour it all out. Rust, tar, unknown gunk. Repeat a few times until it pours out clean, then fish out the nuts. Some people will wire them all together to make retrieving them easy, but I have good results with a coathanger and a magnet.

Good luck,
Keith in SC

 

[Ken Cunningham]

Brake cleaner will dissolve allmost anything.

 

[tinkertoys]

I used a pressure washer on mine worked real well.

 

[marimus]

Use a diesel fuel biocide to prevent its return. Have a look at ALGAE-X Diesel Fuel Treatments - Thats not one that I have used, but the picture and explanation sum up very well what happens. Brands we have down here (Australia) don't seem to correspond with whats available stateside.

Cran

 

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Carlya,
Im with Keith on this one ! When I restored my last tractor, a 49 Farmall Super A, I used a combination of mineral sprits and a box of 1/4" locknuts and then attached the tank to a very slow revolving motor and ran that thing tilted on an angle for a few hours. It cleaned the inside of the tank like it was brand new ! Then I just flushed the tank with copious amounts of water and let the whole thing dry in the sun !

 

[Lindy]

When I was restoring my '53 Ford Jubilee, the gas tank was a mess -- rusty, dirty, and some tiny leaks. Fuel flow problems and lots of junk in the sediment bowl. I tried the "loose nuts" method, but that didn't get me very far. There seemed to be a lot of baffles and such in the tank that prevented any decent cleaning.

I wound up going with a fuel tank restoration system from POR15. The kit cost like $68 from them.

It includes:
1. A cleaning solution to remove gum, sludge, varnish, biological growth
2. A solution to convert any rust to zinc -- this was really cool to see
3. A polymer solution that coats the inside of the tank. It dries like very hard, silvery fingernail polish. Epoxy-like, it seems to me.
4. A fuel stabilizer fluid

Worked great. Never had any more fuel problems with that old tractor, and the sediment bowl stayed crystal clear after that.

This may be more drastic than most people need, but I was very pleased with the results.

 

[john_bud]

I'm with Cran on this one. It sounds like you have a growing problem.

When water gets in diesel, alge grows at the water fuel interface and that is some slimy black gooy gunk.

Drain the tank, pressure wash it out and use some biocide for a full season.
jb

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Brake cleaner will dissolve allmost anything.

Brake cleaner would disolve gaskets and fuel lines as well wouldn't it?