Hello
please is there any chemical solution or detergent to clean the fuel tanks inner rust and rust particles?

There are lot of rust in my fuel tank that I need to get rid off to keep the tank clean.

Please with anyway you know I can get rid of the inner tank rust.

Thanks

Mike

 

There are firms that will remove rust chemically by immersion in a tank of rust remover. This is normally phosphoric acid. If you want to do it yourself, you'd need quite a bit of the acid. Either way, you'd need to remove the tanks. There may be somebody in Accra offering such a service. A very commonly sold product here in the UK for de-rusting is Jenolite, which is basically phosphoric acid.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_n...rust%20remover

 

Thanks Fraser,

Meaning i can buy phosphoric acid and use to clear the tanks, i will give that a try myself.

I have lost my 80 year old lovely Dad exactly 6m this evening so i will travel to our hometown tomorrow, on my return by friday, i will clean the tanks

 

Mikega, Sorry to hear about the loss of your father, I'm sure rusty fuel tanks are the least of your concerns at the moment. I have been living with a '74 XJ6 for nearly 20 years. I've dropped the fuel tanks, cleaned them with acid....used a DIY fuel tank sealer kit, which worked for a while, and then failed. If you just have surface rust, keeping the tanks full is probably your best bet. If you have exfoliation and rust accumulation in the tank, once you get out the debris, and clean the tank with acid(or other product) you will need to coat the interior of the tank, or you'll be back in the same situation.

 

I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad, Mikega.

Dave

 

I’m sorry to hear of your loss......May God Bless.

 

Thanks boss,
please how do i coat the interior of the Tanks, and with what chemical/paint?

 

Thanks boss

 

Thanks Jim

 

Sorry to hear about your father.
There are kits for cleaning derusting and coating fuel tanks
I bought some a couple of years ago but haven't got to the stage of applying it.
I think Frosts do a kit

 

Many oil leaks ago my Dad and I used the cleaning and coating kit sold by Eastwood. It was a lot of work and you are working with some really nasty chemicals. PPE required! We did one tank and abandoned the project. I recently used the same kit sold by Eastwood to clean and coat a rusty expansion tank. I was impressed with how it covered, it appears to be a different formula than we used all those years ago. We'll see if it holds up.

If you decide to attempt to do the work I would recommend one tank at a time. You'll need to find some means to plug all the various holes so they don't leak while you are turning the tank over and sloshing the contents around. Essentially you need to drop the tank, remove the fuel sender, remove the large particulate filter on the end of the pick up piping, and then seal up the tank so you can apply chemicals. I don't know how bad your tanks are, but if you are getting lots of particulate in the pumps/filter you might want to try removing the body facia panel, and draining the tanks. The drain plug is seated within a plug so the opening is actually quite large. By running a garden hose through the filler, you can probably get most of the big chunks out. I imagine if you wanted to go big you could use a pressure washer. (disconnect your fuel lines first don;t want to get water in there!) Also inspect the large particulate filter on your pickup tube. (It may be degraded and not filtering) You may want to start with a new one of those, and then a new in line fuel filter.

It sounds like you really want to clean and coat the tanks, and I applaud your eagerness to do it right, just be aware before you start the project that it really is a "project" and once you get the metal clean you need to work quickly to get the coating applied before the surface flash rusts. I guess what I am saying is you need to have everything ready to go ahead of time. When you are pouring muriatic acid mixture is not the time to find out you don't have the right size plug/tools/PPE/etc.

 

Mike:



I add my condolences for the loss of your Dad. My best to you and your family..

I had some stuff on my bench that I was going to use on a past project. I was a bit leary of coating the inside of a tank. Seems that my concern was well founded at least in some applications. it peeled off and the result was worse than the rust!

Go to Google or You tube and research methods to remove and prevent rust. I've seen a few work. but, alas, I can not recall the product name !

Carl

 

Many years ago I cleaned the inside of a tank and applied a sealant😃 It was quite successful! I think it was called POR 15. I no longer have any tin to find the actual product. Google does come up with it.

 

Hi elders,
i need your experience advice,

"would you recommend ceramic coating inside the fuel tank?"

Has anyone done it before?

Thanks

Mike

 

Not too sure if this is technically possible. In any event, you would still need to eliminate all the rust. As Kurt explained very well, flash rust is a problem if your'e using acid to eliminate rust scale.
I had the same situation with my Series 1 (a car I would have better avoided -rose coloured glasses & all that). After trying to use Kurt's method, pin-holes appeared everywhere & I give up and simply sourced another pair of "saddle tanks" in much better condition, from a later model which was destined for the crusher.
Unfortunately with the age of these cars, you just have to accept not all parts can be saved.
I wish you good fortune.

 

My deepest condolences in the loss of your father.

I've read of pickeling rusty steel in vinegar to remove the rust.

I am leary of the coatigs that some use. some seem to sticl na d be OK and others peel away for a messs. worse than the rust!!

Carl

 

Mike - I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your Dad. Dad & Son relationships can be very special... and it sounds like yours was. We should all be so lucky!