Lots of rust in fuel tank

[dobbslc]

If you put in a tank liner make sure it's ethanol proof or you will have real problems later on.

 

[the snooper]

I have almost an annual job of sorting this very problem on a Rotavator. Caustic Soda and hot water followed by a shake certainly strips off all the rust in minutes whether it will dissolve large flakes I don't know though. I should sort it once and for all with a proper tank treatments / lining but its one of them jobs that gets forgotten about until half way through the garden the filter clogs up with fine rust and the caustic soda is the quickest fix to get it up and running again to get the job finished.

For the most part of the year that you are not using the rotavator fill the tank with new oil then just drain and rinse with a little petrol saves it rusting away

 

[MattF]

Magnet on a stick. Rust is magnetic. For the remainder, citric acid. When you've done, whack a box of teabags in there and fill with boiling water and leave in there for a few days. The tannic acid will coat the surface, giving it some corrosion protection. Smells like bl00dy, (actual blood, due to the iron content, not cursing ) puke though, so be prepared for a bit of a whiff. Then give it a finishing rinse with paraffin or diesel.


p.s: Don't put some of the rusty teabag water in a bottle and ask the wife to sniff unless you want some serious grief. It's funny to see their expression, but the earache afterwards isn't as amusing.

 

[MattF]

whether it will dissolve large flakes I don't know though.

It won't. Caustic doesn't have much, if any, direct effect on ferrous.

 

[Shedendman]

Right as i have some body coming round to see it tomorrow i had to do a quick fix so to speak,couldn't get any citric acid locally so it was plan B as mentioned by others i chose the fill it half up with 3lts of coke and chucked in a couple of handfulls of screws then shook it around till i was dizzy (good 15mins),left it to stand for a few hours then flushed it out several times with water,and bllody hell this seemed to near on strip the inside perfectly the amount of crap that came out was unreal,as it was a hot day down here in sunny sussex it didnt take long to dry out inside,dumped a ltr of petrol and swished it around,drained that out fitted it back added fresh fuel fired it up and bang it runs like a dream so i'm one happy chappy

I suppose if i wanted a perfect job i'd have done it by another method that'll took longer and been better.........probably

Sorry no pics forgot