Fuel Tank Cleaning

[Big_Kat]

I was just wondering what methods are out there for cleaning the inside of plastic fuel tanks. The reason I'm asking is the other night while filling the tank to my Husqvarna mower, there is a thin layer of black crud at the bottom of the tank.

-Cody

 

[chubbs1]

Just spray it out with a hose (w/ a pressure nozzle), if you are really picky you can swish around some distilled water after to remove minerals and just let it dry out.

 

[1 SX]

Might have to remove the tank & gas, and use soap and water, let dry, and reinstall. Did this on the Craftsman tractor with under seat tank. works well. I would not want to run all that in to the carb, or anything, or you might have more problems...

 

[Big_Kat]

That's the only thing logical I could think of. Heard some people use carb cleaner and thought that might be a little much for the plastic. Might as well through a bottle of heet in the tank to just be safe after cleaning? The fuel filter and fuel lines are going to be replaced.

 

[Big_Kat]

Originally Posted By: SL2
Might have to remove the tank & gas, and use soap and water, let dry, and reinstall. Did this on the Craftsman tractor with under seat tank. works well. I would not want to run all that in to the carb, or anything, or you might have more problems...


That was what I was thinking as it has kind of scared me to run it. I guess this will prompt me to clean out all the gas cans

.

 

[660mag]

Agree with some of the other guys. The only way to do it right is to remove the tank. There is a product called Industrial Purple sold at Home Depot. It's made by Zep. If there is any varnish in the tank it will make very short work of it. If There are chunks on the bottom you can add a fist full of washers in there with it as an agitator.

Does your engine have a fuel pump?

If so it's not a bad idea to replace the pulse tube at the same time.

 

[Big_Kat]

Good call on the washers, and it doesn't have a fuel pump. Thanks for the ideas/hints everybody

 

[Warstud]

Remove the tank and do a reverse flush to clean out the screen on the tank.

 

[Cujet]

I was going to suggest washers!

 

[Big_Kat]

Finally got around taking things apart, the crud at the bottom of the tank was lose. Here are a few pics.

To clean it all I did was dump the gas into an old gas can. Rinsed out the tank with water after the fuel had evaporated. Let dry. Filled it back up with 2.5 gallons of fuel and half a bottle of heet to be on the safe side. Started it up and ran as usual.

 

[boraticus]

In that situation, I would have just used a piece of tubing to siphon off the debris from the bottom, like a vacuum cleaner and strain the fuel through a paper coffee filter. Despite my attention to proper fuel management, I find I need to do that every so often due to [censored] coming out of the pumps when buying fuel. You'd think the pumps would have filters on them? If they do, they must be fairly porous.

 

[Big_Kat]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
You'd think the pumps would have filters on them? If they do, they must be fairly porous.


I have worked at a gas station for three years now and never have seen a maintenance invoice for pump servicing. So who knows...

 

[doitmyself]

I'm curious why you added HEET to your (I presume) E 10 gasoline?

HEET is an alcohol product designed to "absorb" excess water in the gas. It doesn't seem wise to increase the alcohol content of the gasoline even higher.

 

[Big_Kat]

i added the heet to absorb water left behind from the washing.... i do no use ethanol blended gas in my ope...