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rust in tank

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
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Anonymous

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Does someone know what i should do (if anything) about this? Right now its only alittle bit of surface rust that i can see but i am afraid of it getting more serious. I thought i saw something on this a few weeks ago but now sure. Any help would be great
 
If the rust is on the bottom of the tank, in the area of the fuel petcock and it is on the surface, chances are it is worse in the tank. I know first hand, my tank opened up like a spaghetti strainer with no warning one morning. I discovered 6 pin holes.
I was able to sand the area, apply an epoxy based patch, and it has been fine since.
If your tank is in bad shape, consider a used tank on eBay, if it is salvageable, a radiator repair shop might be able to clean and repair it. Consider coating the tank interior.

http://www.por15.com/cat.asp?id=6
 
Definately a good tank treatment is in order.Well worth the effort.

Starting tip:
Get a good handful of pea gravel, good hard stuff like granite.
Put it in your drained tank with the contents of a 3-in-one oil can. (Take the petcock out, and tape over the hole or you'll ruin your screen and likely your petcock)

Shake your groove thang. Rattle, shake, and jiggle that tank, letting that gravel sand off all the internal rust. get it all over, tip the tank, turn it over, etc. Thouroughly. I mean it.. If you get an audience, they should be laughing at you.

Drain it, and get them rocks out. I found a good cleaner like some of the Orange oil cleaners works good. Shop-vac out all the debris (Unplug the petcock hole and do it that way, works better than the fill hole) Wash it well, then treat it.

I have done many, many tanks this way and it works wonderfully. I keep a bag of granite pea gravel in the garage for it. (Mainly because I have absolutely no other use for the stuff...)
 
Try KREEM tank sealant, they make a kit that will clean out your tank, displace any water and then coat the tank with a rubbery layer that protects against further corrosion.
Try Dark Jedi's solution first to get out all the loose rust.
 
I remember Ron (Argonsagas) posting that he had a tank done by a rad shop for a reasonable price, and it came with a warranty, thats the route i would go.
John.
 
wrench said:
I remember Ron (Argonsagas) posting that he had a tank done by a rad shop for a reasonable price, and it came with a warranty, thats the route i would go.
John.
Click to expand...

Warranties are good :)
 
Substitute a handful of nuts and bolts and diesel fuel and you have my rust-cleaning method. Kreem definitely helps.

vini alesi
 
vdaliessio said:
Substitute a handful of nuts and bolts and diesel fuel and you have my rust-cleaning method. Kreem definitely helps.

vini alesi
Click to expand...

That could work, too! :D
 
The diesel fuel seems to "calm" the rust down. You can rinse it with a little gas afterward, before you use your Kreem kit, which also involves a rust-removal / passivating step and a degreasing / drying step.
 
hohensej said:
Thanks guys..think i am going to try that Kreem kit
Click to expand...
Not to scare you off but someone posted here not long ago, about using Kreem and having a explosion, fumes v a static spark? something like that, when you way up the cost of the Kreem, your time, the chance you might screw up the application of the Kreem kit??
I would go to a rad shop and get a price from them,
Just my 2 cents,
John.
 
Just did a little more searching and found POR 15 mentioned alot. How is this applied to the inside of the tank? You pour it in and shake it around to cover the insides? Sounds like this is safer and everyone likes it..plus it doesnt sound like it explodes.
 
If the surface rust is slight, I would leave it alone. Just make sure you keep fuel covering the area at all times. Exposing the area to air is what promotes rust. I've had a small patch of slight surface rust in my tank for 15 years, it's never gotten worse.
 
POR15 has been reported to do fairly well. I have no experience with it.

KREEM invariably produces a VERY bad by-product, which can be called a highly toxic gas than can either do you serious harm or kill you, if used in a confined space and you breathe that gas. There is no way to stop the gas production as it is an evolution of the chemical process.

Using it in a cold environment means it will not work well, or not at all. Work with in too hit an environment and it may not work as well, either, but the toxic gas/vapour production will be higher, thus the potential danger of using it will also be higher.

Kreem may, or may not, have some explosive properties. I don't know of these.


Frankly, I don't much care for the results anyone has achieved in using the dangerous process, but I have heard of it failing completely, often, and having to be done again. Obviously, if it fails once, and you re-do it, that must also expose you (and possibly your family) to the toxins a second time.

Why would you expose yourself to a known poison, and a potent one at that, when you can take your tank to a company that will clean it thoroughly, re-coat it, and give you a written guarantee, for about double the price of potentially killing yourself?

In my case Kreem was selling for $39.99....(plus tax) while a complete professional clean and re-coat, with 3 year written guarantee from Gas Tank RENU was $90. including tax.

I have spent enough time with highly toxic chemicals, and prefer to avoid them if possible. One might say the price premium between DIY with Kreem and the professional work with guarantee is 100% and this should be considered, whereas I say you must break it down to realistic terms and ask....is $40 worth your health, or, perhaps, your life or that of your child?

This is one area where it is, in my opinion, HIGHLY advisable to go the professional route.
 
with all that said... how much rust is enough to get the tank recoated? I had just a little on the top near the filler cap to sence i had the bike but was never afraid of it. This winter i am repainting and noticed i had a bunch of what sounded like sand in my tank. So i ( not really thinking) ran water through it to rinse it out. I then blew it out really good with air and then dryed with a heat gun. A week later i came back to it and noticed that rust had spread and that there was a fine surface rust as well. so this has me concered....should i?
 
hohensej said:
with all that said... how much rust is enough to get the tank recoated? I had just a little on the top near the filler cap to sence i had the bike but was never afraid of it. This winter i am repainting and noticed i had a bunch of what sounded like sand in my tank. So i ( not really thinking) ran water through it to rinse it out. I then blew it out really good with air and then dryed with a heat gun. A week later i came back to it and noticed that rust had spread and that there was a fine surface rust as well. so this has me concered....should i?
Click to expand...
That's a decision only you can make. Surface rust is just that. It is on the surface. It should not compromise the tanks ability to hold fuel. But if you found a lot of loose rust in the tank, then it sounds like it might be more than "skin" deep. Rust can form on a surface overnight. Ever leave a wrench or hammer outside? My own experience is that rust doesn't grow inside of a fully fueled tank. I'm not a scientist (but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night) so I don't know if gasoline is a rust inhibitor, or whether rust just needs a certain blend of moisture and oxygen to grow.
 
Tank Danger?

Tank Danger?

As a health and safety manager for a large environmental company, the last thing I want to do is downplay the hazards associated with handling chemicals. Having said that (and having used the product on two occasions), I can say that, if you follow the instructions (wear rubber gloves, use in a well-ventilated area, such as outdoors and not, say, your dining room), these hazards are manageable and nothing to be afraid of. I was unable to come up with a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) online for Kreem, but I will make it a project to do so and report back here.

If you are unsure about the hazards of any chemical, you should always ask for an MSDS and read and understand it throughly before using.

Frankly, from my recollection of the ingrediants in the Kreem kit (phosphoric acid, methyl ethyl ketone, waterborne resin?), there isn't anything remotely worrying about it if used in a well-ventilated area. But I will check.

None of this is to disparage the use of a good shop if you don't want the hassle and mess. Kreem actually does the most good with scabby old tanks like my old Yamaha 550 Vision (which always rusted out due to low points in the tank collecting water). For a tank that is just a little flaky, the radiator shop technique might produce a superior result.

And never forget folks, far and away the most dangerous chemical we deal with in motorcycling is gasoline-treat it with respect, and never bring it into your house-

Vince Daliessio, CIH
 
A really cheap and easy fix if it is surface rust is to use white vinagar mixed 50/50 with water. Fill the tank full and let it sit in about 24hrs and you will be suprised at how much rust it will remove.
 
For a Cadillac Fix...

For a Cadillac Fix...

...try this site;

http://www.gas-tank.com/bike.htm

The page that referred me also recommended sandblast media instead of nuts and bolts for cleaning the inside of the tank.

That is all,

vini alesi
 
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