Remove gunk from a tank?

[cappra]

I have a CT90 tank that has had fuel in it for about 20 years which has turned
to a reddish yucky smelly mess.  I need some ideas on how to remove this mess.
It's a metal tank.

[Tony T]

Would fresh fuel would clean it up??? I don't know, just a thought.
btw What year CT? I'm currently doing a '67. 

[cappra]

It's a 1970 model.  I will try fuel and then move up to stronger stuff
such as Acetone.

[maicomc490t]

This is an oldy but a goody!

If you are not concerned about damaging any tank lining material (I doubt CT90's would have any?) COUNT OUT as many old small nuts or bolts etc that you can get your hand on and then dump them inside the tank with a cup of fresh fuel and close the cap.

GENTLY swish the whole lot around for as long as you can then tip out the muck that results. You dont have to madly rattle the whole lot around in fact doing so may even damagfe the tank depending on the size of whatever you have put inside.

Keep repeating this until the fuel comes out clean and the inside looks to your liking then COUNT the nuts etc again so none are left to rattle around inside! It is handy to extract the said foreign objects with one of those fancy three pronged part picker uperers that many auto and engineering places sell.

Job done !

AND THEN

Line the tank with a good quality fuel tank liner kit, but that is another thread.

Cheers

Dave Mac

[grouty]

I had this trouble a while back with my old KLX250 tank.
Check the link out, it should direct you to a post that was running on "mxtrax"

http://www.mxtrax.co.uk/rusty-tank/forum/viewtopic/60/273395?siteid=6&8

I have explained how I did it with minimum effort, and great results.
The tank was full of a rusty, sticky goo that used to be petrol.
The "Yamaha Carb cleaner" is great stuff for shifting small amounts of goo, but too expensive for a tank. Mind you, after you have tipped a few litres of that into a tank and got high on the fumes you won't care how much it cost !

[Rossvickicampbell]

Auto 1 - Grease and Wax remover - absolutely brilliant for this sort of thing - also removes paint overspray but doesn;t hurt anything at the same time.

 

Rossco