Gas tank Cleaning?

I searched high and low in the archives...but nowhere does it suggest how to clean a tank that has already been treated with three stage Kreem. The tank is off a 82 920 Virago and the tank has floats in it. It has already been treated with the Kreem but there is still a lot of rust underneath the treatment. I've called all the auto body shops in my area and they won't touch it. Any solution to this...some local places where I can buy some heavy duty stuff to get this crap out?

Rhino33,
Don't know what to tell you. I know that too many owners pick up an old bike and right off they want to seal the tank to keep the rust from moving down the fuel lines. They don't realize that cleaning a tank is relatively easy and that sealing should be reserved for leaking tanks. A few years ago I set out to clean a tank and found that I wasn't making any headway after three sessions in the tumbler. I started picking at the bottom of the tank which I could plainly see was still rusty and found that the PO had sealed the rust in with some sort of clear sealer. I stopped right there and left it alone, it's been ok so far.

If I was going to try to remove Kreem I'd probably start by filling it with acetone and if that didn't work I'd move up to methel ethyl keytone. Probably a good idea to work outdoors and avoid sparks.

Don't try this at home... blah...blah...blah

KZCSI

I worked on a britt car years ago that had that junk in the tank, the tank had been bent, so it was flaking off, tried all kinds of stuff, even a dose of caustic acid, it would only flake around the bent area, wound up cleaning recoating and saying good bye, I dont know what will cut that stuff

I've removed Kreem with Acetone. Don't expect miracles though. It takes a lot of time and effort.

Label says remove it with MEK.Lowes has it,nasty stuff.

What about paint stripper?

they have stuff that will get the cream crap gone. i have used cream and am conviced the por 15 system is ten times better. use test plugs (plumbing supply or ace) to seal fill area. boat screw ruber plug for the petcock area.

Paint stripper will probably work but then you'll have to deal with the mess of all the paint flakes inside your tank... for the most part it should work but make sure you do a good flashlight/mirror inspection to be sure you got everything out of there before you put the tank back into use.

MEK is very agressive and will disolve the kreem instead of flaking it off so there's less risk with the mek... except for the obvious... don't breathe the fumes :sick: and keep completely away from any open flame... :ohmy:

You don't want MEK on your skin, if I remember correctly, it is an organic and carcinogenic. Once again if my memory is right (not always), MEK is the catalyst used for polyester resin - fiberglass).
I'm looking at stripping Kreem out of my tank too (it's starting to flake) and I plan on using acetone myself.

One more thing, when stripping out the Kreem, throw in a handfull of drywall screws with the acetone and shake well.

MEK works good to remove kreem, rinse with laquer thinner to get the MEK/kreem out.

to kill the rust:

red devil lye. AKA sodium hydroxide...
dangerous, dangerous, dangerous, dangerous stuff. Not sure if you watched the episode of CSI last week or the week before where the plastic surgeon died from chemical burns to the face, but that is what he got spilled on him in that episode. Lye will do that to you.

lye is better than using acid, and it's easier to buy. You can buy it at Lowe's in powder form. Red Devil brand lye.

mix in this manner. 1 tablespoon powdered caustic to 12oz. of water. ALWAYS add the lye to the water, and not the other way around. stir it up really good, but careful not splash anything on your skin. stick it in teh tank and let it set there for a couple hours, dump it out, check the progress, then refill. You'll be able to judge the progress of the rust removal, and determine how long the mixture will have to stay int eh tank to get it rust free. you can reuse the mixture, and yes it will strip paint better than any paint stripper out there. also, if you do get some on your skin, rinse with vinegar. when you are satisfied with how shiney the inside of your tank is, wash it out really really good with a mixture of vinegar and water. 8oz. vinegar to 128 oz. of water. then flush teh vinegar out with plain water, and blow it dry, then roll some air tool oil or 3-in-1 oil around in the tank to preserve the shiney new bare steel.
This is the same stuff that radiator shops use to get the junk out of your radiator. Also, if you've ever used Castrol Super-Clean (if you haven't you should deffinitely give it a try for grease) and you've gotten it on your skin, you'll note that your skin feels slippery and a few days later your skin peels off. That's because one of the main ingredients in super-clean is sodium hydroxide, but in a very mild dilution. The dilution I describe is like 10 times the amount of sodium hydroxide in superclean. neat stuff for sure!

Hope this helps,

John

POR15 website shows a product to specifically remove Kreem.