gas tank woes

[Donald]

The gas tank on my latest piece of equipment (pictures & details tomorrow) is not in great shape. No leaks but I drained a lot of rusty colored gas out with a few flakes of rust here and there. I am fixing how the water could get in. Bought a gallon of denatured alcohol and will add that and let it sit a day or two then drain that. I assume it will absorb any remaining water. Then flush with a gallon of fresh gas and then add fresh gas to try and start it.

The gas tank is 30" wide, 18" high and 6" deep (front to back). So pretty much of a vertical tank behind the driver.

When the weather is nice I plan to remove and seal the tank using a POR treatment (etch, clean, seal).

 

[gomes512]

Hate rusty gas tanks, especially with ethanol blended gas as they absorb moisture from the air when allowed to sit for awhile.

I treated the tank in one of my old Briggs engines about three years ago and it still has no signs of rust inside. Pretty happy with the job.

I partially filled the tank with old bolts, nuts and screws and shook it by hand until it hurt. This was just to get all the major flaking off.

I then treated with 50% concrete etching solution (from Home Depot) that is composed of phosphoric acid. Made sure to keep rotating the tank every 10 mins so the acid could do its work evenly. Took me about three tanks and a little over an hour to get all the rust to turn black and flake off and the steel to get a nice phosphate coating.

Washed with plenty of water to get out the acid and used a hose from my air compressor to dry the inside of the tank thoroughly.

Poured in some KBS coatings gold standard tank sealer and kept flipping to coat the inside completely and then poured off excess. Let it dry about a week and it was good to go.

No returning rust, no annoying flakes or yellow color no clogged carb (the carb clogging part was really infuriating).

Hope this helps, best of luck.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: gomes512
Hate rusty gas tanks, especially with ethanol blended gas as they absorb moisture from the air when allowed to sit for awhile.

I treated the tank in one of my old Briggs engines about three years ago and it still has no signs of rust inside. Pretty happy with the job.

I partially filled the tank with old bolts, nuts and screws and shook it by hand until it hurt. This was just to get all the major flaking off.

I then treated with 50% concrete etching solution (from Home Depot) that is composed of phosphoric acid. Made sure to keep rotating the tank every 10 mins so the acid could do its work evenly. Took me about three tanks and a little over an hour to get all the rust to turn black and flake off and the steel to get a nice phosphate coating.

Washed with plenty of water to get out the acid and used a hose from my air compressor to dry the inside of the tank thoroughly.

Poured in some KBS coatings gold standard tank sealer and kept flipping to coat the inside completely and then poured off excess. Let it dry about a week and it was good to go.

No returning rust, no annoying flakes or yellow color no clogged carb (the carb clogging part was really infuriating).

Hope this helps, best of luck.


Nice job!!

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: gomes512
Hate rusty gas tanks, especially with ethanol blended gas as they absorb moisture from the air when allowed to sit for awhile.

I treated the tank in one of my old Briggs engines about three years ago and it still has no signs of rust inside. Pretty happy with the job.

I partially filled the tank with old bolts, nuts and screws and shook it by hand until it hurt. This was just to get all the major flaking off.

I then treated with 50% concrete etching solution (from Home Depot) that is composed of phosphoric acid. Made sure to keep rotating the tank every 10 mins so the acid could do its work evenly. Took me about three tanks and a little over an hour to get all the rust to turn black and flake off and the steel to get a nice phosphate coating.

Washed with plenty of water to get out the acid and used a hose from my air compressor to dry the inside of the tank thoroughly.

Poured in some KBS coatings gold standard tank sealer and kept flipping to coat the inside completely and then poured off excess. Let it dry about a week and it was good to go.

No returning rust, no annoying flakes or yellow color no clogged carb (the carb clogging part was really infuriating).

Hope this helps, best of luck.


"Took me three tanks"?? Not sure what this means.