Topic: Gas Tank Rust

[motogotro]

What is the best way to deal with rust inside the gas tank.  I've heard of products like Kreme (sp?) but is there a way to neutralize the rust without coating the tank?  I saw one article on another site that recommended muatic acid to remove the rust.

[Ibsen]

You can buy a product from Sudco called Rustol:

http://www.sudco.com/rustol.html

[cb750_chris]

All you need is an acid.  The accedic acid that is used with the kreem kit will etch the tank and make it ready for the coating.  If the rust is not heavy you can use a less concentrated accedic that you can pick up in your grocery store.  Go get a gallon or two of vinegar and fill up the tank.  I also like to throw a window pulley chain inside to agitate the rust once in a while.  The chain has more edges than a regular chain, but easier to fish out than a hand full of nuts and bolts.  After a few days the rust will be gone but the metal will not be etched. 

[Dennis]

Have not tried it myself, but intend to soon.
Yamaha Fuel Tank Conditioner Kit includes conditioner and neutralizer.
Have heard good things about it. Claims not to harm paint or rubber.
Mail order about $11, from local dealer who knows?
Let us know what you use and your results.

[cjackel]

I wanted to report the results of my purchase and use of Safest Rust Remover. It's about $132 per 5 gallon bucket (includes shipping). It's basically the same chemical as Rusteco except half the price. It's advertised in Hemmings Motor News and on
the web. The website is www.safestrustremover.com.

It's non-toxic and biodegradeable. No harmful fumes. Doesn't damage paint or skin. And it doesn't
dissolve metal, so no need to Kreem or coat the tank because the remover doesn't eat metal.
IF the rust is so bad that you have pinholes, you will probably need to coat but if your tank is
relatively good shape with only surface rust then you're in luck.

I drained the gas and removed the gas tank from my 1978 CB750K. The inside of the tank was rusty and I was told
by the original owner that is was previously coated, but he didn't know what was actually done.

I removed the petcock and filled the tank with warm water and simple green. I rinsed the tank and plugged it
a foam ear plug and duct tape.

I filled up the tank with the rust remover. I put the gas cap back on and let it sit on my bench.

By day 2, the tank coating was peeling off like slime inside an aquarium.

The gas cap chain was rust free and I could start to see "new" metal on the tank surface.

By day three, the entire tank looked new and the old coating was floating in pieces like
seaweed.

I drained the tank and rinsed with warm water to remove the pieces of coating.

I filled the tank back up with the rust remover and let it sit overnight.
I drained the remover and sucked out the excess with a wet vac.

I installed the petcock and put 2 gallons of gas in. I picked up the tank
and sloshed the gas to coat the entire tank.

I reinstalled the tank and put a Fram gas filter in between the petcock and carb line.

I poured in a half a bottle of water remover and filled the tank at the gas station.

The tank looks brand-new and not a spot of rust. No need to coat with Creem or
similar product as the gas will keep it rust-free as long as I keep it topped off.

This is the way to go if you have rust in your tank. I highly recommend it. I'm not
a salesman or dealer, just a happy SOHC owner with a nice gas tank.

[schmidbc]

I've had my tank repaired by a automobile radiator repair shop.  My local honda dealer had suggested that they've used the shop quite a bit with great success.  I'm very happy with the results.  He had all of the proper equipment to clean out the nooks and crannies of my tank and knew how to apply the acid properly so as to not damage the paint or the interior of the tank. 

Moreover THIS IS HIS AREA OF EXPERTISE!  For all of the kits by Eastwood and everyone else, you can't replace the know how of a professional.  He only charged me $40 and the kit was nearly as much everytime I looked into it.  He had all of the necessary acids, and coatings on site and the job only took 4 business days...would've been less had it been warmer to facilitate the polymer drying.

[CHUNG]

I've done 4 tanks this week using RUSTOL. I dumped several piles of rust from one tank. We tried it at the max dilution of 10:1 (some bizzar idea about it being cheaper ) It's works on very light surface rust but just barely. Pure or 50% is the way to go. I put a 50/50 mix in in the Goldwing tank and rotated the tank 90deg every 4 hrs and it will make that crap look like a new nickel. Even at 5:1, it takes a long time and results aren't nearly as nice. Get a couple buddies together to split the cost of 'bout $100 a gal and the price is reasonable. You can reuse it and don't need to coat the tank.

[jwalters]

I have used both Kreem and POR-15.  I've had several successful Kreem'ed tanks, but I have also had one fail.  And when the Kreem fails, it sucks!  You basically have to use a wire or something and get every little bit of Kreem latex out of the tank.
The POR-15 in my opinion is a better product and actually sells an additional motorcycle tank kit for failed "Kreem" applications.  Instead of making a polyurthane liner or whatever it is, it metalically binds to the tank.  You can read about it at the link below.  It's a common rust matnence product used by automobile restorers.
Here is where I got it from, they have live online tech support and very helpful.
http://www.prp-porstore.com/page/por15/PROD/TankSealers/CTRK

[bransonmowoodman]

go to lowes and get a gallon of acetone it is cheap and add some marbles,rocks,ball bearings etc, inside the tank let thet work for a few days it will eat the rust also eats plastic up, LOL

[Harry]

Once you have removed the rust, 0.5-1% top quality synthetic two stroke oil wil keep the rust away, s'long as you keep the tank pretty full. Carb alcohol should also be used regularly to bind any condensation (just not too much or you may run lean). Usually no need for Kreem etc unless the tank is porous following a really heavy dose of rust.

[kghost]

I am a happy POR-15 guy. Don't know about Acetone. How is that supposed to help?

Keep in mind tempurature changes on a tank will make water condense in the tank.

[NHRADRAGRACER]

[Bob Wessner]

NHRADRAGRACER,

What did you use to accomplish this rather impressive result?

[BobbyR]

There have been some pretty impressive results reported on this site about using Molasses. Sounds strange but here they are  http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=7729.0

[ElCheapo]

Looks like the results from evapo-rust

[neckyzips]

muric acid, works wonders, and doesnt eat paint... be careful not to leave it too long in a really rusty tank and use baking soda to neutralize when done. caution will eat skin...

[ElCheapo]

muric acid, works wonders, and doesnt eat paint... be careful not to leave it too long in a really rusty tank and use baking soda to neutralize when done. caution will eat skin...

Baking soda?

Metal cleaned with Muratic acid will flash rust in less than 45 seconds.

[78_SaltLick]

pretty nifty ideas involving a jar of molasses on here for cleaning your tank if you do a search on it.....they say it works.

[ElCheapo]

pretty nifty ideas involving a jar of molasses on here for cleaning your tank if you do a search on it.....they say it works.

Urine will remove rust too , but that does not mean I'm putting it in my tank 

[jawshunter]

Metal cleaned with Muriatic acid will flash rust in less than 45 seconds.

EC is right muriatic acid does not provide a protective layer and the bare metal will flash rust when air hits it. Also muriatic acid will eat good base metal up fast if its not flushed out quickly ( several hours and you may have pin holes in your tank.) A much better acid for the job is phosphoric acid as it makes short work of the rust and will not attack your base metal. The Metal Ready solution that comes with a POR-15 kit contains phosphoric acid and work great, it also has zinc phosphate which coats the tank with a zinc layer that prevents flash rusting and preps the tank for the POR-15 coating, however in most cases, you will not even need the coating after using the metal ready. Another product that works well and is cheap is called "Behr Concrete Etcher and Rust Remover" ( about 12 USD a gallon). It also is phosphoric acid based. I used this stuff to remove massive amount of rust on 3000 feet of 1/2 inch wrought iron tubing before I build a fence and primed and painted it. I had stacked the tubing up outside and it set for about one year and pretty much rusted together. To treat it I cut it into four foot lengths and put 24 pieces into a four inch diameter piece of pvc pipe with 1 part of the Behr concrete cleaner and 8 parts water, let it soak 24 hours and the metal came out a dove grey color. Worked good on a couple of 750 tanks as well. Mark