Cleaning the Petrol Tanks

[Doc MacKinnon]

As a few of you may (or may not) know- my MkII Pig sat in a garage for about 5 years with approx 2 gallons of unleaded petrol in each tank- with this turning into a foul smelling "paint thinner" like substance. Nasty, stinky stuff!

 

Both of the brass mesh fuel strainers were affected, and both tanks have alot of crud, slime and other stuff in them. However, cleaning each tank is a challenge for me as:

1- I'm limited by time

2- I'm the chief mechanic, grunt, painter, go-fer and everything else.

3- I'm totally new at this stuff. I'm a retired military medic- not a spanner monkey...

4- I'm cheap- the Missus won't let me have any money. (Last time she did- look at what I brought home....a Pig! :lol: )

 

According to my REME contacts, phosphoric acid was recommended for cleaning the tanks. So, I found a marine supply house that carried a fuel tank cleaner for boats, that had phosphoric acid in it, and was made for cleaning petrol or diesel fuel tanks. But when I went to get it, they no longer carried it.

 

So, today I was at the hadrware store and happened upon a Shower, Tub & Tile Cleaner that consists of- Phosphoric Acid. And it was less expensive then the marine supply house stuff.

 

I tried it on one of the brass strainers. Direct- from the gallon bottle into a plastic basin (yep- wearing rubber gloves!). Worked like a charm! The strainer no longer has the green slime and crud. (Now this was the least nasty of the two- the right tank strainer- as this tank had very little fuel in it. The strainer from the left tank is black with thick nasty slime.)

 

I'll keep you posted on how this goes.

[Doc MacKinnon]

From my earlier post:

Well, my experiment worked...at least from what I can tell.

 

I used a gallon of Zep Shower, Tub & Tile cleaner, as it contains phosphoric acid- as recommended by my REME contacts. I also added some Naval Jelly to give it a kick.

 

First I tested the Right Tank Fuel strainer- the cleaner of the two. Turned out great- I can see clearly thru the fine brass mesh, and it looks pretty darn good. Then I did the Left strainer. This one is ugly! Had caked on black, slimy crud, with gobs of sediment in the base of the strainer, and huge areas of rust in the layers of the brass mesh. I used the solution, let it soak for 10 minutes, with careful and gentle application of a brass gun cleaning brush. It took 2 soakings to get the bottom clean to where you can see thru it- however, the brass mesh on this one appears to be in 2 layers- the outer layer has small spots where the mesh is ripped away.

And it still has alor of rust deposits in it. But water now runs clear thru it.

I'll probably have to fabricate a new one...unless someone can guide me to a replacement.

 

Now to the Right petrol tank. I let this "witches brew" soak for about 4 hours, with shifting of the tank on it's side, then bottom, then other side.

I drained it, and the inner base looks 100% better. Still some crud on the sides of the baffle plates...

 

My next project is to re-hang the tank..after I repair the fuel line where the fitting to the banjo bolt broke off. I think I can braze/solder it on and then attach it to the banjo fitting when I reinstall the tank. However, the EMERS doesn't quite say how to hook the sending unit back up...

 

Rich