Cleaning gas tank

[SteveW]

I had my tank cleaned and sealed a long time ago so no rust to deal with. Ileft fuel in there a long time and had drained it and got all I could out with towels. It has a strong varnish smell and I am back working on fuel pump/ carb etc but don't need to send any junk that way. Any suggestions to eliminate a problem? I may have. I have about 1 gallon of fresh gas in there now. I do not want to pull tank if I don't have to. Also cleaning the fuel line also. Thanks

[aboyandhisdog]

Steve,  I'm not quite sure what your question is, but if you are just wanting to keep your tank and lines clean without further R&R, there are a lot of fuel system cleaners out there.  Once a year I throw a can of B&G 44k in all of my vehicles as a preventative measure.  In the 3a, I also use Stabil "Marine" fuel stabilizer in every tank so that gum and varnish doesn't form, ethanol effects are eliminated, and it also prevents corrosion in steel tanks - even above the fuel line.   

I do think you are on the right track to get that fuel system spotless, it will eliminate a big source of issues you may have down the road.  Two or three good filters in the mix doesn't hurt either!

[SteveW]

I had a couple of gallons in there for probably 2 years so it was very old. I drained the tank and I do not want any bad residue flowing in my fuel line into my fuel pump and carb. Was seeing if anything can be put in with some gas and then drained out to carry anything out or "neutralize" it. Determined to not let this thing sit any longer and want it to go on the road. I only use non ethanol and put stabil in also.

[mtnman37879]

Two years old 100% gasoline with stabil is not that long. It should be no problem especially if you add a few gallons of fresh gas.

[steves]

I had CJ3A on blocks for 7 years with about 5 gallons of gas in the tank.  The tank was rusty even before I put it on blocks.  To put it back in operating order, I drained the "gas" (it had very little resemblance to gas by then), rinsed out the tank a few times with fresh gas, rinsed it with alcohol, and then filled it and refilled it with a strong lye solution a couple of times.  I brazed up some rust holes that opened up with all the cleaning.  The fuel line was completely blocked, so I rigged up some tubing and a reservoir of lye and hung it on a pole about 8 feet off the ground.  After a few days, I connected a bicycle pump to the steel fuel line, and at about 120 psi, the lye started to move.  I kept flushing it with lye for a few more days and eventually it was squeaky clean.  Caution:  wear eye protection and gloves if you try this trick.  While disconnecting the tubing on one of the last days of flushing, I splattered a couple of drops of lye in one eye and dissolved the surface of the cornea.

[Mark W.]

For that much work and the risk of more holes showing up I would have just bought a repop tank. Oh wait I did. but then my tank had almost 8 gallons of gas in it for over 28 years.