Remove sludge from bottom of gas tank

[ckulchar]

A friend recently purchased a 1928 Phaeton. The car had been sitting three years. The fuel bowl was removed from the tank and fuel drained. That left about 1" of sludge on the bottom.

Ideas to remove sludge without removing tank?

Thanks in advance
Charley

[J Franklin]

What does the sludge consist of?

[noboD]

Hi pressure washer and lots of soap.

[J Franklin]

Originally Posted by noboD

Hi pressure washer and lots of soap.

How do you get around the baffles?

[ckulchar]

Originally Posted by J Franklin

What does the sludge consist of?

Called my friend. He will try and scoop some out tomorrow and advise me.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

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Originally Posted by ckulchar

A friend recently purchased a 1928 Phaeton. The car had been sitting three years. The fuel bowl was removed from the tank and fuel drained. That left about 1" of sludge on the bottom.

Ideas to remove sludge without removing tank?

Thanks in advance
Charley

If it is only dried fuel, then anything that will dissolve something organic. Sometime using denatured alcohol or lacquer thinner can soften old residues where they can be flushed out. Gasoline from the pump will sometimes soften it also.

Sodium Hydroxide is more aggressive at dissolving organic material (-not rust), ...however it will also dissolve any type of sealers if someone put that in. It is definitely more potent than petroleum based thinners. Tide laundry soap and Dawn dishwashing liquids can be effective if the sludge is not too severe. I will caution you that sometimes using high pressure air/water/whatever spraying around can dislodge sealers if they are not very secure to the metal. Once you get any sealers disturbed, you have a much bigger problem.

[CWPASADENA]

I have been confronted with several gas tanks like this in the past few years. I have been using Metal Kleener 2014 made by the same people who make RUST 911. It comes in concentrated form and you dilute it with water. After you drain out any old liquid, add a whole gallon of Metal Kleener 2014 and fill all the way up with water. Let set for a few days, then drain and flush with water. Leave the cap off and if you can, put the car in the sun to help dry out the tank.

I have had very good success with this process.

Metal Kleener 2014 is bio degradable and if you get some on the paint, just wash with soap and water and rinse with water. I also will rock the car side to side several times a day to keep the stuff stirred up.

Metal Kleener 2014 on line direct from the manufacturer rust911.com.

My suggestion.

Chris W.

[1crosscut]

If your tank doesn't have a sealer this will certainly dissolve the crud on the bottom. Let it work for a couple of days and rock the car from side to side a few times while soaking it. Flush it with a gallon of gasoline afterwards.

https://gunk.com/product/gunk-parts-...p-basket-cc3k/

[J Franklin]

Don't flush with gasoline it is a fairly hazardous solvent. Use water and dry completely.

[1crosscut]

Originally Posted by J Franklin

Don't flush with gasoline it is a fairly hazardous solvent. Use water and dry completely.

Ummm... it's a gas tank.

[gdmn852]

Hello ,somewhat off post but was the 28 bought in Albion,Pa ? It was an early AR Model older restoration., green in color. Thanks.

[J Franklin]

Originally Posted by 1crosscut

Ummm... it's a gas tank.

Flushing it with gasoline usually means discarding it as waste (toxic & Flammable). Normally the gas in your tank gets turned into power, heat, water, and carbon in the engine. Water is a good flushing medium, and will not be as harmful.

[ronn]

no matter what you flush it with, you can turn a shop vac on blow and dry that tank out inside of an hour or two............... I duct tape the hose to the filler and remove the shut off valve.

[jwmckenzie]

I cleaned my tank with POR15 Cleaner/Degreaser. Mixed it 50% with warm water, Let it set for a day or two. Depending on the amount of sludge may have to re-apply. Works on all types of grease and oil.

The tank was original and didn't have aftermarket lining material. Then followed with some Rust911 to get any rust out. Most of the rust will be on the underside of the top of the tank, so unless you take the tank out, you won't get that rust. Maybe Rust911 won't help that much.

[ursus]

Originally Posted by ronn

no matter what you flush it with, you can turn a shop vac on blow and dry that tank out inside of an hour or two............... I duct tape the hose to the filler and remove the shut off valve.

Let me emphasize Ronn's directive to have the shop vac on BLOW! Full suction on a flammable vapor will turn that shop vac into a bomb. I saw this first-hand and it was a miracle that nobody was injured.

[ckulchar]

Originally Posted by gdmn852

Hello ,somewhat off post but was the 28 bought in Albion,Pa ? It was an early AR Model older restoration., green in color. Thanks.

He purchased the car out of Florence Mass. It was and still shown on the hcca.org website for sale section. Nice car.

Best
Charley

[JKY]

The 28 pickup my brother bought had an inch of crap in the bottom of the tank. Commercial cleaning at a radiator shop and a repaint was required at a cost of $700. We wasted three weeks trying to clean it ourselves.

[gdmn852]

Ok thanks for the reply on where it was bought.Gary

[redmodelt]

I have used lacquer thinner. Couple of gallons in the tank and every time I walked by rocked the car. Drained a couple of times let settle some then put the cleanest stuff back in and repeated. Got a good amount of the varnish out. The rest sorta lowered the octane of the gas when I ran the car.

[noboD]

Anything you put in there that you THINK is biodegradable or safe for the environment is NOT as soon as it mixes with the gas or crud. Save the universe some other way.