Using Electrolysis for Cleaning Fuel Tank

How long ago did you do yours? And have you had any re-occurring rust problems since? Did you do a Liner or other treatment?
After the Acid rinse mine looked great. But time will tell if it might be a problem later.

It was several years ago at least 5 and no I have not had any additional problems, but I do tend to keep the tank full - at least as full as my wallet will allow.

Motor Head wrote: many of you done or tried this? I'm in the process and just wondered as I sit and wait, how others have gone when doing this?
I'm following this on the net, antique-engines.com/electrol.asp
And this: www.motorcycleanchor.com/motorcycle/how_to/mc_tankrust.html
So first I had the regular baking soda, and it did quite a bit. Then out to ACE Hardware for the recommended Arm & Hammer powder.

I have a gas tank that needed cleaning and I am trying this method. It is working great so far. Roy

I hope you took my all Important advice and stocked up on Beer for this process!!! :laugh:

I did the electrolysis method with my motorcycle battery charger, it took a long time. Been using oxalic acid to clean rusty parts, it works great. I also have a bottle of muriatic acid, may try that on my next tank after reading the success stories here.

As others mentioned, muriatic acid is nasty stuff. I got some from someone else in the past and poured it into a plastic bottle, then put it in a cabinet. The fumes coming out of that bottle destroyed the metal cans in that cabinet. Paint oozed out of the damaged cans and dried on the shelves, etc. Be careful and wear eye protection.

Try this:

www.evaporust.com/evaporust.html

650ed wrote: Try this:

www.evaporust.com/evaporust.html

Thanks 650ed, have you used this product?
I don't see a Colorado Distributor, but there price includes shipping. The MSDS sounds like it is a Green and safe compound, not a skin or eye irritant. No first aid needed, but don't drink it.
I might have to get some for this "Connie" I bought, might work without waiting days on electrolysis.
Thanks again,

The tank I was working on was from a 1973 CB750 Honda and was in good shape. I had this tank hooked up to the charger for three weeks checking on it often. The pictures show about 1/20 th. of the crap that was in the tank.

The big chunks of dark material is broken down gasahol and seafoam mix. The carbs were a pain to get clean.

The tank was cleaned with acid and water the redcoat was applied yesterday. Roy

I haven't tried the electolysis method... but I've tried the Kreem kit, Vinegar, Muriatic and Oxyalic.

So far the kreem kit is holding up. It's been 3 years, but the bike hasn't been on the road much. The vinegar worked ok... The muriatic followed by phosphoric worked, but like mentioned, HCl is nasty stuff! I also had some issues with flash rust. I tried to move quickly when transfering the HCl out and the phosphoric in, but still got some... I recently did a tank with Oxyalic, worked well. it wasn't too strong, didn't hurt the paint as long as you clean it off quickly and still took the rust out. In my opinion, whenever you use chemicals to clean oxidized steel (rust) off, you reveal virgin steel, which will rust. Some claim the phosphoric acid or oxylaic acid plates it and passifies it, but with my chemical plant experience, I doubt this. Sure, coating it with WD40 gets the moisture out to prevent rust, but if you fill the tank up, drive 50 miles, park it for the day, you'll still get some moisture from the air in there that could rust again. I did notice just a tiny bit of surface coloring (rust color) but so far no issues.

Motor Head wrote:

650ed wrote: Try this:

www.evaporust.com/evaporust.html

Thanks 650ed, have you used this product?
I don't see a Colorado Distributor, but there price includes shipping. The MSDS sounds like it is a Green and safe compound, not a skin or eye irritant. No first aid needed, but don't drink it.
I might have to get some for this "Connie" I bought, might work without waiting days on electrolysis.
Thanks again,

I haven't needed it as my tank has never had any rust (I keep it topped off with gas as much as possible), but here's a comment from a guy who used it recently on another forum I visit, and I've seen similar comments elsewhere:

Thanks for the follow up, 650ed. I just might order a Jug of that and try it out. This Concours tank is pretty dented, and rusty. If I can't find a good one, I'll have to go to the wall with this one.

Roy, that is some serious rust in that one. I hope I never get a bike with that much rust. Hopefully the liner will be a good repair for some years.

The tank was solid but neglected. I used a skewer that I cook hot dogs on to remove all the rust along the bottom seam. I was afraid it would hold moisture and undo all the hard work. I worked on this tank about four hours after I was finished with the electrolysis.

The rust wasn't as much trouble as the broken down gasahol. It was 3/16 of a inch thick on the sides of the tank and the bottom was about three inches thick.

It is humid around here so I put a thin coat of the redcoat in the tank so it would dry better.

The tank looks good. I am going to suggest to the owner to let me drain the carbs until next year if the bike doesn't sell. Roy