Good Evening Looking for ideas on how to clean a fuel tank? It dosent leak . Just has some surface rust and corrision in it from sitting so long. So it dosent needs sealer dumped in it. but most of the sealer kits call for a Muric acid rinse prior to sealer. Anyones thoughts on just using the acid and not sealer to clean the tank? Oh I also did a air pressure test for leaks and its solid. Thanks Kilroy was here!!!
Warning ! Never , EVER get suckered into using Muriatic Acid for rust removal ! it eats the GOOD METAL TOO ! . What you need is Phosphoric Acid , it's available cheaply in Lowe's Home Depot etc. in the flooring section of go to Wally Mart & buy any old toilet bowl rust stain remover and dilute it with water , 1 > 3 , pour it in and slosh it all 'round for a while , drain it out and your tank will be good as new . This works for many steel parts , doesn't damage the chrome wither . I've even used it to save some terribly corroded brass carby jets that were not available anywhere...
Tank cleaning I removed mine and hit it real good with my pressure washer which did a good job. I followed that with about 2 hours of soaking and sloshing with CLR and water. Came out real clean.
Radiator shops will dip/boil tanks. I have a local shop, I work with that dips/boils, leak-tests and mends tanks for less than $70.00 each. You might consider that option, in your area. Good luck.
There is two alternatives, first one is using brake fluid, pour two quarts into tank seal it up and shake about every four hours leave in tank 24 hours, and then check it with light and small mirror...second use molasses, mix with water 2 parts water / one part molasses, fill tank completely and seal it up leave it for about a week then rinse out, the molasses mix you can dump out in the lawn...the sugar in the molasses creates a natural acid that will disolve the rust and clean the metal...
