Troubleshooting with deductive reasoning

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His Dudeness said:
Well, this is disappointing to have to deal with. I'm guessing this is best managed by dropping the tank and cleaning. Theres a good half inch of sediment in the pump box.

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Looks like one of the previous owners misinterpreted the word "fossil fuel". That's a lot of sludge.

I'm struggling to think of a way to deal with this without dropping the tank, but I think @alia176 is right. The reality is that you need to get it clean enough to find out whether the source is your tank corroding into dust.
 
You can't safely spray any solvents including kerosene into the tank as the mist along with static electricity (a spark) potentially could cause the cleaning solvent/kerosene to ignite ie: explode.

You could try a non-flammable low suds detergent (empty the gasoline first of course), swish the cleaner around with water, then open the drain plug, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat, then compressed air to blow out the tank. Or use a wet vac (with good filter installed) on blow, might also help if you don't have compressed air, then add a few gallons of gasoline and a bottle of ISOHEET Red Bottle (isopropyl alcohol), take it for a drive, fill up the tank, add another bottle of ISOHEET, go for a drive. Recheck the inside of the tank after that tank of gas is used up. Any water (less than the volume of ISOHEET you add) left in the tank should be absorbed by the Isopropyl alcohol and burned through the engine.

You could bend the plastic wand of a cheapo Garden Sprayer with a heat gun on low (away from the open tank/vapors obviously), ie so you could spray the cleaner in all directions inside the tank. The baffles however wiill limit how well you can hit every surface inside the tank.

Probably get more sediment out by dropping the tank but that's a lot of work.

 
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alia176 said:
What does a brand new tank cost these days? I see 25% and free shipping here

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I saw one on Ourisman Toyota for $900 but when I went to purchase it said shipping not available. My Indy said they were getting quotes for $1300 from their source.
 
GORDA91 said:
I saw one on Ourisman Toyota for $900 but when I went to purchase it said shipping not available. My Indy said they were getting quotes for $1300 from their source.
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With the 25% discount, the price is $708 plus free shipping. I clicked on the link previously.

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alia176 said:
What is the sediment consist of exactly? If it's corrosion buildup, that is a serious cancerous issue vs dirt. Although how would dirt get in there I wonder? If it's corrosion caused my water in the fuel, then my first thought would be to replace the tank, fuel pump and everything that was touched by that old fuel.
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It appears to be all rust. However, the tank surfaces clean up easily, so I'm really puzzled as to how there is so much suspended in the fuel but only light surface rust on the tank walls. As for everything affected, I basically have an entire new fuel system in parts ready to install as soon as I finish cleaning and reinstall the tank. All that remains to purchase is fuel filter, fuel lines, and injectors. I may just end up bathing the injectors in my ultrasonic cleaner for a day, not sure if replacement is truly warranted.
 
sounds like a solid plan amigo. Your external fuel filter should've caught everything, but it's a great idea to clean the injectors too.
 
I'll do my best to get some before and after pics. I'll be loading up on several gallons of vinegar to clean it out, then baking soda to neutralize. Several rinses, dry in the sun, and install. I'll use some fuel dryer additive for good measure.
 
His Dudeness said:
I'll do my best to get some before and after pics. I'll be loading up on several gallons of vinegar to clean it out, then baking soda to neutralize. Several rinses, dry in the sun, and install. I'll use some fuel dryer additive for good measure.
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There are YT vids that show fuel tanks getting strapped to a portable electric powered cement mixer. They put some kind of rocks or whatever inside the tank then spin the whole shebang. This gets rid of the stuff stuck on the inside walls!!!! If you do go this route, we want to see videos!
 
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To clean the fuel tank, I added 16 gal of vinegar (2 for $6 at Costco) to the tank and topped off with water, let sit for a week. Neutralized with 2lbs of baking soda then rinsed repeatedly until all rust had been flushed out. Added a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and a half gal of pump gas, sloshed around and drained to remove excess moisture. Coated the walls that were already flash rusting with WD40. At this point I have more than 90% of all the rust removed and feel confident that whatever remains in the far reaches of the tank will be caught by the filter and sock. I think I'll leave an access hole in the carpet to do a periodic checkup on the tank to ensure this isn't happening again.

I'll also note that when I checked all tank access points, the fasteners were hardly more than finger tight. After almost 30 years of those gaskets shrinking and aging, it makes for several locations for moisture to enter that tank. You'd be wise to replace all these gaskets while you have the tank removed as you really don't want to do this job more than once.

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i think you need to have some kind of coating on all the clean metal like a new factory tank has (plating/galvanizing?) . Don't want it to all rust up again. think about whats going to happen when you run a tank of gas though it. its going to wash away that WD40 right away and then your going to have raw undercoated metal at the top of the tank. some moisture and oxygen from the atmosphere will make it's way in. I've tried POR-15s tank coating and it worked for a few years before flaking off. not sure if there is something else better, you seem to have done some good prep work for it.
 
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