cleaning gas tank

[John]

Dropped the gas tank to find out why the sending unit wasn't sending. Learned that the
tank's steel is solid, no leaks. Just a lot of black crusty stuff inside on the bottom and part
way up the sides. The sending unit was seized with the stuff. WD-40 cleaned it up and
VERY CAREFUL gentle pressure then got the float arm loose and working freely. The gas
gauge works when connected to the sending unit, although it only went up to about 2/3.
Probably my hand-held connections weren't good enough.
Now, before I reinstall everything: What's the best way to clean all the gunk out of the gas
tank?
I've read posts that recommend dropping a chain (hooked to a string so it can be pulled
back out again) into the tank and swirling (shaking) it around to loosen all that stuff, then
rinsing the gunk out. (What do you use to do the rinsing?)
Other posts say not to do that, because it can wreck the gas intake line in the bottom of
the tank.
Is this really a job for a professional shop?
Thanks.
John

[scott lesniak]

A real easy way to get it clean is to use about 2lbs
of very small clean aggragate(Gravel or river rock)
Put it and about a quart of kerosene or gag and shake
the hell out of it for about 10 minutes .
Don't worry the gravel comes out easy enough .
If you do this the tank will shine like new inside.
You may have to change your rinse gas about 3 time but
the results are great.
And if you want to go a step farther after that coat
it with a good quality gas tank seale that you dump
into the tank after its clean and dry and coat the
inside evenly but be carful when doing this not to
clog the intake tube .This can be done by keeping air
pressure to it while the tank expoxy cures {it doesn't
take long}
Scott
--- John wrote:

> Dropped the gas tank to find out why the sending
> unit wasn't sending. Learned that the
> tank's steel is solid, no leaks. Just a lot of black
> crusty stuff inside on the bottom and part
> way up the sides. The sending unit was seized with
> the stuff. WD-40 cleaned it up and
> VERY CAREFUL gentle pressure then got the float arm
> loose and working freely. The gas
> gauge works when connected to the sending unit,
> although it only went up to about 2/3.
> Probably my hand-held connections weren't good
> enough.
> Now, before I reinstall everything: What's the best
> way to clean all the gunk out of the gas
> tank?
> I've read posts that recommend dropping a chain
> (hooked to a string so it can be pulled
> back out again) into the tank and swirling (shaking)
> it around to loosen all that stuff, then
> rinsing the gunk out. (What do you use to do the
> rinsing?)
> Other posts say not to do that, because it can wreck
> the gas intake line in the bottom of
> the tank.
> Is this really a job for a professional shop?
> Thanks.
> John

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