Sediment in gastank...Should I leave it alone??

[Ronin]

Howdy,
Getting my GS ready for paint.Drained the tank and removed.Got down to the last little bit of fuel and hear what sounds like sand sloshing around in the tank.So my first thought was rust.I grabbed a flashlight and looked.
No rust! But I've got some really small charcoal looking sediment down there,maybe a 1/16th cup full.

I run a fuel filter.So should I just leave it alone...or since I have the tank off.Try to get it out? If take it out,whats the best way.Tryed sloshing it out with the last bit of gas but the hole at the bottom hole is to small to get anything much out.Thank's  

[scottpA_GS]

 Keep sloshing  .. get it out.. Its easy, use Kerosene or some old fuel, buy a few gallons of new gas if you have to... Keep working at it until its out... take the bottom petcock off and use a rag or something to seal the top. Fill, shake, fill, shake repeat... 

(by fill I dont mean FULL  . about 16oz is good 


I put in like 16oz of gas...  bolted a small rubber sheet (3/4" or so) in where the petcock goes and put a rag in the top.. shake like mad for a min or so... drain, repeat.   

[Ronin]

Thank's Dude!

[jordanearl]

what if you put water or somethin non flamable, an sucked it out with a shop vac? 

[The Antibody]

water? no man, no water. Water and metal/gas don't mix. Gas is the best liquid for a gas tank.

  -Anti 

[scottpA_GS]

I used water when I did mine... main reason... it had a 10 year old full tank  Most of it was pure SLUDGE! 
I took the tank down to the spray it your self car wash and did about 10 sprays worth to get all the crap out. I just stuck the wand right in the tank and went to town... The only reason I wasnt too worried about using water was I was using KREM after. That somes w/ an acid that will etch out any rust caused by the water 

I wouldnt use water unless you plan to re-line the tank w/ POR or KREM 

[jordanearl]

water? no man, no water. Water and mwtal/gas don't mix. Gas is the best liquid for a gas tank.

  -Anti 

tell u what, u suck gasoline up with a vaccum, an if you don't end up in the burn center ill buy your first tank to fill it up.  i por-15'd my tank, an to get the water out of the crap pockets an excess water, i used a shop vac to get some out

[scottpA_GS]

water? no man, no water. Water and mwtal/gas don't mix. Gas is the best liquid for a gas tank.

  -Anti 

tell u what, u suck gasoline up with a vaccum, an if you don't end up in the burn center ill buy your first tank to fill it up.  i por-15'd my tank, an to get the water out of the crap pockets an excess water, i used a shop vac to get some out

But he didn't say to suck it up w/ a shop vac

[Ronin]

Well..It's got to go Soooo.I'm drying the gas out and making a attachment to hook to the end of a vac.I'm just going to vac up the dried up crap up. Thank's for the ideas..

[beRto]

I'm no expert, but I think it's a bad idea to vacuum out a fuel tank (even if it's dry). Seems likely that there would still be lingering fumes. Of course, the vac would suck them in and towards the motor where they may or may not find a spark? 

[jordanearl]

thats why i said to add something non flammable to the tank. 

[Kerry]

Yep - I've read too many horror stories about "empty" and "dry" fuel tanks blowing up when someone tried to repair weld them.

Think about the miniscule amount of fuel that is ignited by a spark plug inside a cylinder, and the explosive power that the fuel has; it expands to many times its volume, with enough force to propel a vehicle.

Now think about a fuel tank-sized cylinder, with a "miniscule" amount of fuel vapor present after being emptied and dried.  One spark from the brushes of the vacuum motor and ... can you say "bomb" or "shrapnel"? 

Personally, I would take the advice scottpA_GS has given.  Start from the top of the thread and read his posts again.  If you're worried about getting all of the water out after you've removed the "sludge", there are ways to get the tank completely dry.  For example, I know Srinath used to talk about running the bike for a period of time (with an auxiliary fuel bottle) and routing the hot exhaust into the fuel tank to dry it.

After the tank is back on the bike, add some fuel treatment that contains a bit of alcohol with your next fillup.  Alcohol is great at "sucking" water out of fuel.

[Affschnozel]

I cleaned mine with water , it was difficult to flush the last remnants  , so I used the same method used to siphon out

fuel with a transparent tube ,then carefully dried the tank with a hair dryer

[Ronin]

RightO...Mate  Don't really want to use water,gas is to expensive.So I'm going to use alcohol.

[Affschnozel]

Ohhh that's why I have such a bad fuel consumption ,now I see, my tank must be full of holes   

[Ronin]

Well for future reference...I talked to an old VW mechanic, and he said put an oil soaked rag on a stick and run it around the inside.The crap will stick to it.
So I got a coathanger and cut a couple of holes in the rag to keep the rag from being lost in the tank.It worked...got most all of the particles out that way and having let the tank set for a couple of days to dry out I just shook out the rest.
The little bit of oil in the tank won't hurt anything and will burn off after a tank full....thank's for all the input.

[The Antibody]

Woah... take it easy Jordan. Look at my avatar and stay mad at me.






go ahead Look at it.

  -Anti 

[jordanearl]

i wasn't mad, just didn't want the guy to try it with gas in it   i suppose i came off sounding that way, my apologies

[Ronin]

 

[Affschnozel]

Good method ,with the stick and oil , glad it worked out