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Getting rust out of your gas tank

Started by gmac, June 18, 2005, 12:33:13 AM

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gmac

Thought I'd share these.

Evapo-rust from Orison.  Organic rust remover that dissolves rust, non corrosive, biodegradable, won't harm plastic, rubber, etc., won't remove paint that isn't oxidized and is bonded well to the surface. 

Used this on my tank, I wish I would have taken before pictures but I didn't, now it's clean as a whistle.  Really works well.  Will open rust holes more than they were originally. I made sure I wiped any that spashed on the paint off right away and it didn't bother my tank paint at all.  If you want I have pictures of bolts I de-rusted I can send, just email me. 

Buy enough to fill your tank completely.  I did mine in a weekend.  Drian your tank (if it doesn't have holes already and had done that on it's own), wash it out with detergent (I used Tide) and rinse it out, fill it with this stuff, wait 24 hours shaking it once in a while, drian it, rinse it out good, filter the rust dissolver through a sheet, fill it again, wait 12-24 hours, drain it out and rinse it again (this stuff makes everything sticky if you don't rinse it off).  Even cleaned the screens on the petcock tubes, they were rust colored before I started, now they look like new.

You can get it at  http://www.orisonmarketing.com/corrosion/evaporust/evapo-rust.html  $80 for 5 gallons.

There is another prouduct called Rusteco at www.rusteco.com that is really great stuff, isn't as aggresive as the Evapo-rust, won't harm anything including paint, takes a little longer to work (they recommend filling your tank, waiting 48 hours, drain, rinse, fill again, wait 24 hours, drain and rinse) but is really expensive (5 gallons is $245).  If your tank is really sharp except for the rust and you can spend the money get this stuff.

I have tested both of these with good results.

Hope this helps you guys (and gals) out.  Isn't is sad that others don't have a "Vision" like us?

Gary

QBS

Thanks for the tips.  These sound like excellent products.  What is your opinion of using phosphoric acid in a similar manner?  Cheers.

Junior

QBS-Considered useing the acid. What do you do to protect the paint on tank?

gmac

I've never used phosphoric acid before, but I assume it would do a job on the paint, any rubber parts, etc.  That's what I like about these, I left the petcock on my tank as I mentioned and it cleaned that too, left the sender in as it shouldn't bother that either (works so far), matter of fact my sender float was actually stuck in place from sitting (haven't licensed the bike for 15 years!) and the Evapo-rust freed it up.  It seems to do a good job of cleaning up the old gas sludge/varnish also.

Also disposal of this stuff is easy.  You can dump it down the drain assuming it isn't too contaminated.  Matter of fact the Rusteco site says theirs makes excellent fertilizer after it is used up!

Another point, this stuff is also reuseable.  I filtered all the stuff I used through an old sheet to remove the large debrees and now my dad is useing it to dissolve the rust off his old John Deere carburators.

I guess I personally wouldn't use the acid because I like this stuff so much, don't have to worry about what I spill it on, or If I get it on my skin.

Gary

Coil Coyle

Buy a couple big bottles of "Real Lemon" lemon juice concentrate at the grocery store and  follow GMAC instructions at the start of this thread.

Citric acid eats iron oxide but not iron. Real lemon works twice as good as the cheaper house brand.

Your paint and hands will be fine.

If you make lemonade with the byproduct it will be a good source of iron, but the taste sucks. :-X

I've heard. ;D
coil

Walt_M.

I suppose all these ideas will work on rust but, you have to coat the tank with something or it will rust again. A long time ago, I used muriatic acid on a gas tank. It was bright and shiny in a very short time but already had surface rust before I got it dry inside! Suggest you try the POR 15 kit. It has cleaner and sealer in 1 package and has been proven to work.
Whale oil beef hooked!

QBS

I've never used Phosphoric acid around painted areas, so can't comment on that.  The POR product is excellent.  Really like the idea of leaving every thing intact and dumping in Evapo-Rust without fear.  Cleaning the sender unit and plactic level tubes got my attention.  Thankfully, however, these problems don't currently concern me.  Cheers.

Paul_Jungnitsch

I had high hopes for the Rusteco product, used their gell for rust killing spots on my truck before painting (sanded off most of the rust, used the Rusteco to kill what was left in the pinholes).

Not only did it not kill the rust, but the paint didn't stick to the Rusteco residue and flaked off in big patches! Very disappointed in it.

On a different vehicle I'd scrubbed those type of areas with a strong acid for that purpose from an autobody supply store, and that had worked really well.