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Is there such a thing? Something I can put in the tank to clean out the rust or other gunk?

I'm wondering if that is partially the cause for my fuel sender issues. Or that in combo with the more ethonol percentage gas....could cause more rust and junk to come off.

I'm probably going to drain the fuel tank when I put in the sender and see what kind of junk comes out.

All I've heard of is people pulling the tank, pouring a bunch of gravel or washers or something in with a little kerosene or something, and sloshing it around, making sure that every solid item that went into the tank comes back out.

I don't really see how the fuel sender issues could be related though, unless there's so much rust floating around that it actually lands on the sender's contacts.

See....that was my thought. The last time I pulled the pump the sock on the walbro pump was a little rust colored. It wasn't bad...but it wasn't totally white any more.

Hm. Then, yeah, I'd be curious to see what comes out when you drain the tank. Just make sure you know how you're going to make the drain plugs seal when you put them back in (I know nothing about how they seal from the factory).

I bought new packing/seals. So we'll see if it's just an o-ring type of thing, or something more.

Please update with results in your usual fashion.
I fear I'll need to clean out a tank in the near future.

+1 ^^^^

cause i bet a few of us could use a good fuel tank cleaning with how old the cars are becoming.... hard to believe its already a 13 year old car

gt2.5turbo wrote:+1 ^^^^

cause i bet a few of us could use a good fuel tank cleaning with how old the cars are becoming.... hard to believe its already a 13 year old car

whoa, just thinking about gas
and my car has 300,000km
at say 300km a tank
thats about a 1000 fill ups
at about 55$ a fill up thats
$55,000 in gas in 14 years

I have a huge interest in this. The thought of rust clogging things up in the fuel system is a bad one.

Well, the only thing it can really clog up is the pump sock.

the drain plug on my tank did not have any kind of seal
it doesnt leak though.
there is a product for cleaning and sealing motorcycle tanks called Kreem. most good motorcycle stores should carry it or at least be able to order it. its a two step process and it is NASTY stuff. it does take a few days to do as well. rusty tanks are a huge problem on old motorcycles.

Do you fill the whole tank up?

What's the process in using it?

Ive never used it, but I bet it has some good instructions.

http://www.instantop.com/CyclePage/Kreem.htm

Thanks......it'd take A LOT of that stuff to do a car tank....it'd cost over $100 to do our tanks, and would probably require pulling the tank to do it right.

I drained the tank, at least the main side with the pump. I didn't get any junk out the bottom. Looking in the tank, it looked clean. There was a powdery rust on the inards of the tank, but I don't think that's a big deal.

Still having issues though
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=27388

206er wrote: there is a product for cleaning and sealing motorcycle tanks called Kreem. most good motorcycle stores should carry it or at least be able to order it. its a two step process and it is NASTY stuff. it does take a few days to do as well. rusty tanks are a huge problem on old motorcycles.

we used this on my step mom's jeep cherokee and it worked wonders

How did you spread it around the tank?

vrg3 wrote:How did you spread it around the tank?

took the tank out and shook it around manual paint mixer style (with my arms)

flip, flop, flip it over, roll it around, etc etc

Oh. Right, of course. I don't know why I was thinking it was still in the truck.

The fuel pump sock is eventually stained by the fuel and the built-in additives to a light reddish tan.

The fuel system shunts almost all of the fuel pump output back to the tank. In effect, while the car is on it is always stirring and filtering the contents of the fuel tank.

The insides of the tanks in my two '91 Legacy L's were clean and shiny with no help from me when I mended the fuel gauge senders last year. The socks were fuel stained.

If there is rust in the tank, then it *may* have come from the gas pump, or the plating has failed and bare steel is exposed. If its your tank just removing the existing rust isn't enough. The inside of the tank will re-rust very rapidly. In the USA the EPA mandated Gasohol doesn't help. Motorcycle shops used to carry some stuff called "Creeme" for coating the inside of a rusted tank. I don't know if Gasohol would dissolve it though.