fuel tank cleaner

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Oct 29, 2011
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A couple weeks ago I acquired an old garden implement with a B&S 5S engine as its power. Other than it being very old and dirty it is a pretty decent piece. The problem is when the fellow parked it 50 years ago he didn't bother to drain the gas out of the tank and now it has a very nice layer of old sludgy gas at the bottom of the tank.

Does anyone have a recommendation of a solvent I could use before I start buying every random one on the shelf.
 
Pour a can of lacquer thinner in it. I used it for many years to clean carburetors. That was when you could actually tune a vehicle up and notice a difference.
 
If it is just old gas,solvents should work. My problem was rust and it would plug the intake tube. Had I been smarter, could have used a handful of pebbles or some nuts and bolts, and shaken it.
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When I've cleaned out tractor tanks I've removed as much garbage as possible with solvents. Then I throw in a couple handfuls of driveway rocks, strap it to the rear wheel of my mowing tractor, and go bushhog for an hour or two.

After that it's clean enough to be coated with a restoration kit such as POR 15.
 
Diesel fuel and BB's, an old motorcycle gas tank cleaning trick that works great. Swirl the BB's around and change fuel until it comes out clean, then remove BB's when done.
 
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