Brew for cleaning filthy gas tanks

[itchy]

Have an old Neptune with a filthy fuel tank. Recall several times, several recipes appearing here for cleaning fuel tanks,
but up til now haven’t had to deal with that. Anyhow, any help on what I could use would be appreciated!

[2fast4me]

Go to the search this topic at the top off the page type in gas tank varnish.lots of info there. More answers will follow from others.

2Fast4Me

[Steve A W]

I had luck with E85, Let it soak then did the shake shake shake, with screws in it.

Steve A W

Member of the MOB chapter.
I live in Northwest Indiana

[b-morrison]

lacquer thinners, drywall screws and shake,let it sit ,shake.

[davesko]

I had good luck with organic apple cider vinegar and nuts and screws in the tank. Strapped it on a bicycle rim and spun it in my vise.

[itchy]

Wow! E85, lacquer thinner, organic applecider vinegar. Yay, with lots of nuts and screws. I can do this. This is over a gallon tank. Lots of
room for lots of nuts and screws. AND, will also check in search, with gas tank varnish. Thank you all for your help!. The filth – and strong
smell of this tank – haven’t seen it before! Thank you.

[amuller]

Depends on what’s in the tank. If organic stuff–dried up fuel, etc. you need a solvent. Acetone is probably the quickest and most aggressive. E85 will work over time.

If what you have to remove is inorganic–rust and corrosion–regular solvents won’t help much and you need acid cleaners and maybe agitation with stones or screws. Be careful with aluminum tanks–alkaline cleaners eat aluminum.

If you have both you will need both approaches in sequence. I’ve cleaned up 6 gallon tanks with a sequence of about six steps, which produces a good tank but is a lot of bother.

[jerry-ahrens]

I use Castrol Super Clean along with HOT water. If the tank is really dirty, I mix it 50/50. let it set for 20 mins. or so, dump it out and rinse with more HOT water… repeat if needed. Hot water is the key.
Caution: Super Clean will damage paint if left on to long.

[twostroke]

Granted….I’m not terribly ‘politically correct’ with use of solvents, etc…. (I’ve been known to use dirty lacquer thinner as fire starter, too…) I use regular old toxic, evil and nasty carb cleaner that you soak carbs in prior to rebuilding them. On small tanks I’ll fill ’em right up….with the remote tanks I’ll put a gallon or so….let it set a couple hours (overnight if they’re really foul), go after it with my hot-water power washer, and repeat if necessary. When it’s clean, get a small bottle of good dry-gas, put it in and shake the daylights out of it, pour out, and that gets rid of the residual water. You can go to Napa and get a Mac’s p/n 6402…it’s a gallon with a little dipping basket for about $20. Pour it back in the can after use (don’t throw it away…works just fine when it’s filthy) and use it and the basket to clean outboard carbs better than you’ve ever seen. I even use it to clean small parts & hardware. Great stuff. Don’t drizzle it on paint or decals, if you do, rinse w/water ASAP. Don’t get it on your hands…it’s caustic….and yer’ hands will stink for days.

Jim

I say "pardon me" a lot. I had a 20H, then raced open mod sleds.

[squierka39]

I tryed all kinds of earth friendly and not so friendly stuff in an aluminum tank with very old dry hard gas varnish. They didn’t work well, then I grabbed a can of oven cleaner spray, sprayed a lot of it in, let it sit about an hour, raised with hot water and some dish soap then lots of hot clear water. Came out nice and clean.

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