Rusty Tank Flush on an '86

Hey all,
I just got my new (to me) '86 running again after a carb rebuild and air filter replacement. Yay!
But I had to rig a hose up to a gas can to get fuel to the carbs...

When I bought the thing I knew it had a rusty tank. But when it ran fine at the guy's place I figured hey, I'll drive it home and take it to a shop to be lined later. It ended up dying on me at 3am after a long day at work.

So after sitting while I cleaned the rust out of the carbs, I guess something clogged up the petcock, because when I got it running I had to rig a hose up to a gas can for fuel to reach the pump.

How the heck do I clean an internal petcock?? Any tips on good tank wash and coat techniques?

Thanks.

remove the petcock and blow it out..or run it through with water..
as for the tank.. remove the petcock and the reserve switch..and seal up the hole with a metal template with rubber on it.. then fill with drano or other clean and top off with water.. let it sit 24 hours or till rust is gone..

As a temporary fix, you can put a strong magnet on the bottom of the tank to collect the loose rust in one area. If it's too far gone, you may need more than one...

i recently re lined an 86 tank myself...with the help of all these guys. :computer-noworky:


i would suggest soaking it with acetone, and flushing out all the rust (you could prob. find thread) And then re lining with whatever product you prefer (I used this)


Good luck!

...this

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why aste your money on coating it?? fill it was GAS!!! it wont rust out!! :fing02:

the drano ot mr plumber will disolve the rust.. the insides will look like NEW!!
dont have any aluminum parts on it or they WILL get brittle and crumble in your hand!
ask me how i know.. :angry:

It'll rust with fuel in it.

Water gets into fuel all the time, no matter how careful you are. There's rain, there's water in some of the fuel tankers, some station owners are also unscrupulous. Modern cars don't care; they burn it up, but the bikes catch hell with it. The water eventually settles at the bottom of the tank and rusts it away from there.

Heet is the brand name of a product (really inexpensive) that removes the water from gasoline. If you use it once a month, the water will not accumulate in the gasoline and the tank won't rust.

Seafoam says it also removes water from gasoline, but Heet is much cheaper.

On my last trip out west I got two bad tanks of gasoline in a row. Bike would hardly run and I was pretty worried. I dumped in a bottle of Heet and within a day of around-town riding, it was running fine again. I'm a believer....

Thanks for the help!
I want to take the petcock out to clean it... how exactly does this happen though? If there's a thread please let me know.
As for after I get the thing actually on the road, I'll certainly do a tank treatment like those you guys described.
Anyone ever try CLR to take the rust off?

All I really want to do right now is get it riding. It's really dang cold here right now and I have about a month left of freeze-your-rear-end-off riding left.

Cheers

Rusty tank? Simple!

http://www.por15.com...oductinfo/CTRK/

Bear in mind that tank liners can not cope well with modern fuels that contain a lot of ethanol (10%+). Ethanol will turn most tank liners into a sticky gooey mess.

To clean the rust out of a tank, you can use Muratic acid. This is available at Lowe's and is the chemical used to clean off patios, concrete pool areas, decks, etc.

If the tank is really rusty, the stuff will foam up quickly and shoot out the top, so use eye protection and be careful. It won't hurt healthy paint if you rinse right away. And...I'm sorry but if the tank is in such bad shape that you shouldn't have it on the road, the acid will eat through it. Consider it a test, and if the acid eats a hole in the tank (you'll only have it in there for a minute or two), then the gasoline would have eaten through and left you stranded anyway. But a healthy tank, the acid just eats the rust and you dump it out into a bucket.

As soon as you rinse it out, you need to get it dry right away (i use a bottle of fingernail polish remover to bond to the water and then a hair dryer), and either treat it or fill it with fuel, right away, because rust will form on the squeaky-clean metal.

This is great stuff for the tank flush... I will certainly do that over the winter.
For now, can anyone tell me how to remove the petcock? That's a first priority just to do any kind of flushing at all.
Thanks in advance!

On my '86, the petcock comes off easily. It's a #3 allen wrench to get off the big handle. Under that are two more bolts, either 8mm or 10mm wrench for those. Then the petcock comes away with one funny-looking three-hole o-ring, you want to be careful with that part. It's a normal petcock like any other bike, just small.
You can't put it back together wrong, like in the wrong position, but you may as well disassemble and reassemble with it in "off."

[image: View Post]SEBSPEED, on 21 October 2010 - 05:30 AM, said:

As a temporary fix, you can put a strong magnet on the bottom of the tank to collect the loose rust in one area. If it's too far gone, you may need more than one...


long term fix= POR 15. Requires $50-60 investment....1/2 day labor, 4 days of cure time, sloppy, demanding....but worth it. your tank will never rust again....ever. Pics of my Ducati 900SS tank.

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Okay I'll try removing the petcock today...

Those Ducati tank pictures are convincing. But what I really want to know is where you got the spy camera to look inside the tank!

I'll let everyone know how the tank treatment goes this winter.

Thanks for the huge loads of help folks, this forum is awesome. :biggrin:

Another vote for POR-15. I did a POR-15 tank treatment once and it was amazing. The tank was like new inside, and the stuff never chipped or peeled. That bike ended up dying of another cause and I disassembled it for parts. The tank ended up empty and hanging on my garage wall for years, and despite the humidity and wild temperature swings out there, when I took it down it was still perfect inside. I would totally use the product again.

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !




gll429....are you referring to petcock "tubes"? petcock should be removed and opening plugged, as well as any other internal tubes PLUG THEM prior to any cleaner/coating process. You just don't DUMP coating in without some preparation and forethought. jeez. The POR -15 is a 3 step process, a cleaner, an acid etching and the final coating is an epoxy base containing super fine metal flek which actually seals pinholes. 96 hour cure time and its coating is rock hard. A lot of work but worth it.

DRANO in my Ducati tank? DRANO?

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !




gll429....are you referring to petcock "tubes"? petcock should be removed and opening plugged, as well as any other internal tubes PLUG THEM prior to any cleaner/coating process. You just don't DUMP coating in without some preparation and forethought. jeez. The POR -15 is a 3 step process, a cleaner, an acid etching and the final coating is an epoxy base containing super fine metal flek which actually seals pinholes. 96 hour cure time and its coating is rock hard. A lot of work but worth it.

DRANO in my Ducati tank? DRANO?


TUBES!! 15 inch long tubes!! its vfr tank not a duc.. and yes drano.. its just about the same crap.. do dont believe me?? SMELL IT!!!
the shops i have worked in no longer buy por or kleen or other stuff.. drano is mr plumber are etching acids....as stated in other posts you can get it at the home depot and lowes

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 01:50 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !




gll429....are you referring to petcock "tubes"? petcock should be removed and opening plugged, as well as any other internal tubes PLUG THEM prior to any cleaner/coating process. You just don't DUMP coating in without some preparation and forethought. jeez. The POR -15 is a 3 step process, a cleaner, an acid etching and the final coating is an epoxy base containing super fine metal flek which actually seals pinholes. 96 hour cure time and its coating is rock hard. A lot of work but worth it.

DRANO in my Ducati tank? DRANO?


TUBES!! 15 inch long tubes!! its vfr tank not a duc.. and yes drano.. its just about the same crap.. do dont believe me?? SMELL IT!!!
the shops i have worked in no longer buy por or kleen or other stuff.. drano is mr plumber are etching acids....as stated in other posts you can get it at the home depot and lowes



ok, you remove rust, clean and etch tank.....leaving the door wide open for oxidation process to repeat itself (moisture delivered via fuel or condensation is inevitable). The epoxy coating is the final answer, IMHO.

You have dealt with rust REMOVAL , I am referring to rust PREVENTION ..............forever.

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 02:00 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 01:50 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !




gll429....are you referring to petcock "tubes"? petcock should be removed and opening plugged, as well as any other internal tubes PLUG THEM prior to any cleaner/coating process. You just don't DUMP coating in without some preparation and forethought. jeez. The POR -15 is a 3 step process, a cleaner, an acid etching and the final coating is an epoxy base containing super fine metal flek which actually seals pinholes. 96 hour cure time and its coating is rock hard. A lot of work but worth it.

DRANO in my Ducati tank? DRANO?


TUBES!! 15 inch long tubes!! its vfr tank not a duc.. and yes drano.. its just about the same crap.. do dont believe me?? SMELL IT!!!
the shops i have worked in no longer buy por or kleen or other stuff.. drano is mr plumber are etching acids....as stated in other posts you can get it at the home depot and lowes



ok, you remove rust, clean and etch tank.....leaving the door wide open for oxidation process to repeat itself (moisture delivered via fuel or condensation is inevitable). The epoxy coating is the final answer, IMHO.

You have dealt with rust REMOVAL , I am referring to rust PREVENTION ..............forever.

your right.. i have also dealt with the major PITA of removing por or kreem and other crap that have become semi hard after 3 years and clog up everything...

you have a duc.. not 2 tube vfr with fine filter screens... you want rust prevention?? RIDE IT!!

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 02:24 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 02:00 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 01:50 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !




gll429....are you referring to petcock "tubes"? petcock should be removed and opening plugged, as well as any other internal tubes PLUG THEM prior to any cleaner/coating process. You just don't DUMP coating in without some preparation and forethought. jeez. The POR -15 is a 3 step process, a cleaner, an acid etching and the final coating is an epoxy base containing super fine metal flek which actually seals pinholes. 96 hour cure time and its coating is rock hard. A lot of work but worth it.

DRANO in my Ducati tank? DRANO?


TUBES!! 15 inch long tubes!! its vfr tank not a duc.. and yes drano.. its just about the same crap.. do dont believe me?? SMELL IT!!!
the shops i have worked in no longer buy por or kleen or other stuff.. drano is mr plumber are etching acids....as stated in other posts you can get it at the home depot and lowes



ok, you remove rust, clean and etch tank.....leaving the door wide open for oxidation process to repeat itself (moisture delivered via fuel or condensation is inevitable). The epoxy coating is the final answer, IMHO.

You have dealt with rust REMOVAL , I am referring to rust PREVENTION ..............forever.

your right.. i have also dealt with the major PITA of removing por or kreem and other crap that have become semi hard after 3 years and clog up everything...

you have a duc.. not 2 tube vfr with fine filter screens... you want rust prevention?? RIDE IT!!



gll....are you blanketly stating POR "becomes semi-hard after 3 years"?

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 03:58 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 02:24 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 02:00 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 01:50 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 01:30 PM, said:

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 12:41 PM, said:

DO NOT COAT YOUR 86 GASTANK.. !!!!

it has screens at the end of 2 long tubes.. one is on the other is reserve and you WILL clog the hell out of them!

go to the freaking store and buy a 5 buck mr plumber or draino drano , carb cleaner or nail polish remover.. .. plug up the side and bottom holes of your tank.. add drano, add water.. fill to top.. let sit.. when the rust is gone empty it and add a small bottle nail polish remover and shake ,..or spray it with carb cleaner.. and shake.. put back together, fill with gas and go riding !




gll429....are you referring to petcock "tubes"? petcock should be removed and opening plugged, as well as any other internal tubes PLUG THEM prior to any cleaner/coating process. You just don't DUMP coating in without some preparation and forethought. jeez. The POR -15 is a 3 step process, a cleaner, an acid etching and the final coating is an epoxy base containing super fine metal flek which actually seals pinholes. 96 hour cure time and its coating is rock hard. A lot of work but worth it.

DRANO in my Ducati tank? DRANO?


TUBES!! 15 inch long tubes!! its vfr tank not a duc.. and yes drano.. its just about the same crap.. do dont believe me?? SMELL IT!!!
the shops i have worked in no longer buy por or kleen or other stuff.. drano is mr plumber are etching acids....as stated in other posts you can get it at the home depot and lowes



ok, you remove rust, clean and etch tank.....leaving the door wide open for oxidation process to repeat itself (moisture delivered via fuel or condensation is inevitable). The epoxy coating is the final answer, IMHO.

You have dealt with rust REMOVAL , I am referring to rust PREVENTION ..............forever.

your right.. i have also dealt with the major PITA of removing por or kreem and other crap that have become semi hard after 3 years and clog up everything...

you have a duc.. not 2 tube vfr with fine filter screens... you want rust prevention?? RIDE IT!!



gll....are you blanketly stating POR "becomes semi-hard after 3 years"?

i am saying have seen this clog up fuel pumps and as filters and petcocks after a few years i dont know what gas they used and i dont CARE!! i will NEVER add it to a 86/87 tank as it WILL clog the screens!!! do you NOT understand this????

Petcock cleaning complete.
When I have the thing off, should fuel just pour out? It sure didn't, but I hooked it up to the pump on the bike and fuel was a-ok.

The magnet-on-a-string thing kinda sucks because the magnet just sticks to the walls of the tank on the way down to the bottom...


EDIT: WOAH didn't see that discussion about the Ducati vs. 86 tank before replying...

I definitely noticed tubes coming out to the petcock and going down to the fuel line nipple (heh...) when I had the petcock off today. I thought it was odd. I cleaned them out as best I could - poured Kerosene through followed by compressed air. This is a rather complicated tank...

I'll give the Drano a try!

[image: View Post]Chazviffer, on 24 October 2010 - 10:38 PM, said:

Petcock cleaning complete.
When I have the thing off, should fuel just pour out? It sure didn't, but I hooked it up to the pump on the bike and fuel was a-ok.

The magnet-on-a-string thing kinda sucks because the magnet just sticks to the walls of the tank on the way down to the bottom...


once you have your pet cock cleaned out.. and all parts back on the tank.. if the tank is empty..
open the cap..as stated. there are u gas tubes in there.. make sure they are clear. put a CLEAN hose on the pet cock and blow INTO the it.. switch to reserve and repeat.. if you have an air compressor use it..

[image: View Post]gll429, on 24 October 2010 - 06:05 PM, said:

[image: View Post]bigbadbass, on 24 October 2010 - 03:58 PM, said:

Fellas, allow me to shed some light on this situation... a little understanding goes a long way.

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bbb, can you see now what gll meant by "tubes with screens on the ends"? They are not removable or serviceable, unless you "destroy" the tank like I did in those pics. Tank lining product would coat those screens and inhibit/completely obstruct any fuel flow.

Chaz, what I meant for you to do with the magnet, was to stick it on the OUTSIDE, on the bottom of the tank. This will attract the rust to one area of the tank, away from the fuel pickup tubes seen above.

Interesting. Did you sacrifice a tank just for this thread, or was that from some other project?

Also, I'm wondering, if you coated the tank, then used compressed air blown in through the tubes to clear the coating from the screens while it was still wet, do you think you could achieve the best of both worlds - a coated tank that won't rust anymore, but with clear screens? I'm thinking it would likely not work with a thick rubbery coating like Kreem, but it might work with POR-15 since it goes in as a very thin liquid and dries hard as a rock.

It might be worth trying, if the only remaining choice is to find a new tank because the old one is just too rusty. The tank I coated, that turned out so well, was one that I first tried just cleaning with muriatic acid and using without coating, and the rust flakes continued to come out and block my fuel filters over and over until I coated it. It was a V65 Sabre tank; perhaps it doesn't have the same tube-and-screen arrangement. Or maybe the air I blew in through all the fuel lines, after coating it, did the trick.

Another thing to consider trying would be the electrolysis treatment. I haven't tried this, but apparently you can put some kind of swimming pool chemical in it, and run electrical current through it to convert the rust. I can't recall the exact formula but someone here must know it. It might not block the screens since it's not adding any coating.

[image: View Post]elizilla, on 25 October 2010 - 12:07 AM, said:

Interesting. Did you sacrifice a tank just for this thread, or was that from some other project?

Also, I'm wondering, if you coated the tank, then used compressed air blown in through the tubes to clear the coating from the screens while it was still wet, do you think you could achieve the best of both worlds - a coated tank that won't rust anymore, but with clear screens? I'm thinking it would likely not work with a thick rubbery coating like Kreem, but it might work with POR-15 since it goes in as a very thin liquid and dries hard as a rock.

It might be worth trying, if the only remaining choice is to find a new tank because the old one is just too rusty. The tank I coated, that turned out so well, was one that I first tried just cleaning with muriatic acid and using without coating, and the rust flakes continued to come out and block my fuel filters over and over until I coated it. It was a V65 Sabre tank; perhaps it doesn't have the same tube-and-screen arrangement. Or maybe the air I blew in through all the fuel lines, after coating it, did the trick.

Another thing to consider trying would be the electrolysis treatment. I haven't tried this, but apparently you can put some kind of swimming pool chemical in it, and run electrical current through it to convert the rust. I can't recall the exact formula but someone here must know it. It might not block the screens since it's not adding any coating.


The compressed air trick may work, but there isn't any way to really know for sure unless you have a scope you can look inside the tank with. I've heard that POR is better than Kreem, and that Red Kote is even better than POR. The magnet-on-the-outside trick may have helped on your V65.

I don't remember the exact formula either, but the washing soda you want to use for electrolysis is Sodium Carbonate - I've seen that baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) works too. A google search for "motorcycle gas tank electrolysis" should bring up a few threads that cover it. Buy a cheap trickle charger to use instead of a nice battery tender...

The tank in the pics above did come from an old project. I love being helpful here, but not quite enough to cut up a tank on a whim... :biggrin:

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POR-15, when properly applied exactly according to the instructions, does not get soft and fail. Kreem often does. POR hardens into an enamel that is very, very hard.

If there is a way to block off the tubes in the tank, POR-15 is a final answer. But knowing what's in that tank, I plan to keep my tank full of gas and make sure I keep water out of it with Heet or Seafoam or whatever. I've used POR-15 on other "normal" tanks with great success for years now. But internal filters and stuff...that's a whole other story.

I bought a bottle of Liquid Plumber and poured it in the tank after rinsing thoroughly with water to try to get as many pieces of debris out first. Topped up with water until almost at the top. I put a piece of vinyl tubing between the petcock (aluminum) and the tank and re-installed it to keep the fuel holes plugged, and wrapped the filler cap in plastic before closing it up. Let it sit overnight.
Today, it appears the Liquid Plumber didn't do a whole lot. Though I could have probably mixed it up better, I don't know if the stuff is water soluble: siphoning the "mixture" out of the tank with the siphon hose at the bottom produced the thicker chemical itself while siphoning higher up in the tank only gave a sudsy water.
More crap came out of the tank with rinsing today than yesterday, so the Liquid Plumber wasn't entirely useless. But I got more stuff out by taking out the reserve switch panel and pouring large amounts of water through the tank very quickly than by using the Drano stuff as a stripping agent.
That being said, after the whole process I sprayed pretty much a whole can of carb cleaner in the tank from each end and gave it a good shake. I danced around the back yard quite a bit with the thing. Draining this gave me loads of brown liquid - more than with Drano and water or water alone.
I then rinsed with some gasoline to actually wash more particles out, and more indeed did come out. Did this until nothing more visible came out.
I'm leaving the tank insides wet with this gas and carb cleaner overnight and will fill it with a gas/seafoam mixture tomorrow to fend off future rust damage until I can properly strip and coat the tank.

Don't know where I went wrong with the Drano setup... Maybe this tank is just too far gone.

you went wrong by not letting sit until the rust was eaten up.

The Muratic acid will do the job in about one minute. You will have clean fresh metal and you will know if the tank is too far gone or not.
Just wear eye protection. The more rust in the tank, the more vigorously the muratic eats it.