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DIY Gas Tank Flush

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K

karls59tr

Obi Wan
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I cleaned and flushed out my TR3 gas tank, in my back yard, a few years ago using a method I found on the Net. I want to do the same think to a TR4A tank. I believe I used muriatic acid...hot water ... then nuetralized it with baking soda. Anyone done this or have a link.I cant remember the whole process and dont want to create an explosion. :smile:
 
The more common DIY method would be a pre-wash with a strong caustic (something like ZEP from Home Depot). After that soaks for a while, you rinse the tank and switch to a phosphoric acid wash. The caustic cleaner will remove most of the varnish and deposits. The acid will attack the rust.

There are kits you can buy to line the tank. The kits will include these two basic cleaning components before you apply their liner material.

The most exotic cleaning DIY method I know of is to fill the tank 1/2 full with water and place it on a gas or charcoal grill. You leave the tank open and allow the water to boil for several hours. The boiling water and steam will thoroughly clean the tank. I've never done this (I use the chemical cleaners instead) but I believe you'll find several people in the Spridget forum who have used the boiling method.
 
I had a 1988 BMW that sat for 2-8 years. You could smell the varnish 5 feet away. It was real thick, and burned up any fuel pump we gave it.

We bought some marine cleaner, stuff designed to clean boat tanks and poured it in. Every day we would tilt the tank so the fluid could stir. I also took a toilet bowl brush and scrubbed whatever the brush woul reach. After a week or two, we poured it out and the tank was all shiney inside! And to think we were quoted several hundred for it's cleaning and all it took was a gallon of that. I think it can be picked up at most auto part stores near the engine cleaning supplies.
 
Karl: We used this on a replacement TR tank.

Eastwood Gas Tank Sealer Kit

Another quality supplier is

Aircraft Spruce



The original tank had lots of rust damage, to the point that fuel actually would weep through some of the bad areas that had become porous. This was beyond repair and dangerous! If you have a lot of scale you might consider putting some small lengths of chain in the tank and roll it around to loosen this material. Don't forget to remove the chain. You can fish it out with a stiff wire. After you clean all of this material out of the tank and etch the surface with acid (not supplied by Eastwood), you will pour in the sealer and slosh it around. The idea is that any remaining loose material will be held in suspension by the hardened sealer. It really works.
 
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