Varnish in the tank

[Dana B.]

Outside of taking a fuel tank to the radiator shop to be boiled out......
Are there any sucessful home metods of flushing out a heavy
gooked up, nasty smelling , varnished fuel tank ?

The tank is out of the car.

Thanks,
Dana

[Steven B.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Bill Hirsch advertises a 2 or 3 part kit in Hemmings. www.hemmings.com

Be careful what you use and keep away from any source of ignition as the gasoline vapors stay in the tank.


Steve

[Steven B.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

'or www.hirschauto.com


.AUTOMOTIVE FUEL TANK REPAIR KITGive Your Old Tank New Life ! 4 of our most popular products in one easy to use kit.In Stock$44.00

GTS ALCOHOL RESISTANT GAS TANK SEALEROur World Famous Tank SealerOptions TE-01 GAS TANK ETCHGas Tank Etch. Rust RemovalOptions

[Douglas L.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Dana,

For the old varnish in the tank, I used lacquer thinner. It worked great. I also made a stick with a partial microfiber mophead on it. This was on a mid-year tank with a large filler opening. It's probably going to be more difficult getting a mophead to work with a tank that has a smaller filler opening, but with modifications, you might get it to work.

[Dana B.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Dana,

For the old varnish in the tank, I used lacquer thinner. It worked great. I also made a stick with a partial microfiber mophead on it. This was on a mid-year tank with a large filler opening. It's probably going to be more difficult getting a mophead to work with a tank that has a smaller filler opening, but with modifications, you might get it to work.

Thanks for everyones input.
Doug, I'll give the lacquer thinner a try.
Did you flush out w/anything after the laquer thinner
water , gas ?
Dana

[Larry M.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Thanks for everyones input.
Doug, I'll give the lacquer thinner a try.
Did you flush out w/anything after the laquer thinner
water , gas ?
Dana

If lacquer thinner cleans it, I would not follow-up with anything else. Just install.

Carb cleaner (the old time BERRYMAN CLEANER type) should also work, but it very nasty for breathing and skin contact. You could get a large rubber stopper for the fuel sending opening, fill with a gallon or so of carb cleaner, lightly seal the top opening with a rag to prevent splashing, and then agitate/shake the tank occassionally or switch tank positions to move the cleaner around.

Whatever you use, use care since it is likely very flammable and may cause skin/eye burns.

Larry

[Gary C.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Dana, my experience with a "gas tank sealer" kit wasn't good. Over time the stuff dries out and flakes off. Sorry, don't recall the brand. Gary....

[Ridge K.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

I might quickly throw this tip in.
When using lacquer thinner, I would strongly recommend doing the operation ....outdoors.
In my past career as a firefighter, I think often about a young man in his twenties who was using laquer thinner to clean some glue residue inside a garage.
His hot water tank was the only spark needed to ignite the fumes. Even though the resulting flash fire was very minimal, unfortunately for this young man he inhaled the burning fumes.
My crew assisted the paramedics in getting him loaded and transported to the emergency room burn center. I remember him telling us how stupid his own actions were as he was loaded into the ambulance. I called to check on him about eight hours later, to be told by the hospital, he had succumbed to the devastating effects of his burned lung tissue.

Please be careful with lacquer thinner or similar acetone or tolulen-based solvents. The fumes can be very dangerous.
Ridge.

[John D.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Dana,
Never use any chemicals of any kind around a gas furnace or water heater.
Much safer things to use than lacquer thinner in a gas tank.
Remove the tank and take it to a radiator shop and have it boiled out. Anything else is a waste of time.
Chestnut said it right. Some of the gas tank sealers have been known to flake off. You should see what that does to an old fuel injection. Makes a grown man wanna cry when I have to undo the damage.
Plan B. Buy nice new Quanta tank. Good luck, JD

[Larry M.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Dana,
Never use any chemicals of any kind around a gas furnace or water heater.
Much safer things to use than lacquer thinner in a gas tank.
Remove the tank and take it to a radiator shop and have it boiled out. Anything else is a waste of time.
Chestnut said it right. Some of the gas tank sealers have been known to flake off. You should see what that does to an old fuel injection. Makes a grown man wanna cry when I have to undo the damage.
Plan B. Buy nice new Quanta tank. Good luck, JD

John and Dana:

Agree with John. Since Dana mentioned "home" method, I didn't include the radiator shop boil-out.

However, for me, I chose Plan B and bought a new Quanta tank a few months ago. Very nice.....and essentially identical to the original. Finish was just more shiney....and this will dull with age like the original.

Larry

[Richard T.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Dana: You said the tank is full of heavy varnish and your car is a 55-56? This would mean your car has sat unused for years and under the thick varnish you most likely will find rust. You can surely have the tank boiled out which will expose the rust but what than? You can try a sealer but on a very rusty tank I doubt this would last long and may cause trouble latter. If it were me I would try to determine if you have heavy rust under the varnish and if so I would look for a replacement gas tank. Inspect the tank outside for your safety use gloves, eye protection and respiratory protection. Good Luck.

[Troy P.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Used the thinner method. Noticed the thinner was coming out a rusty color after the varnish seemed to be gone. After the thinner I used phosphoric acid to get rid of the rust. Mine was lightly rusted.

[Christopher R.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

Buy a new tank. Less than $200. And nobody sees it. I didn't, and now wish I did. I consider the tank a safety item.

I used the Eastwood kit to seal my tank. About $75. Then you buy some lacquer thinner, and maybe another chemical. I forget now. When you finish, you'll have about 4 gallons of hazardous waste for which you'll need to find a disposal method. The lacquer thinner cleaned my tank well. The goop in the Eastwood kit hasn't flaked off yet. But I'm concerned because I've heard reports of trouble.

If the tank has crud in it, it also probably has rust which makes for thin spots. My car sits in the garage for weeks on end. I hope I don't go in there one day and find 16 gallons of gas on the floor. When tanks get old, they develop thin spots.

You'll get an upper body workout cleaning your tank. You put the lacquer thinner in there, and then shake it all around. You could put a length of chain in there to help clean. You might put small stones in there too, if they were such a size that you know you could get them out. I also used one of those long brushes designed to clean out clothes dryer vents.

Lacquer thinner is nasty stuff. You don't want to do any of this indoors. You also will need to find a way to seal the filler opening, vent, and sender opening.

All things considered, I think a new tank is the better choice.

[Ridge K.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

John and Dana:

Agree with John. Since Dana mentioned "home" method, I didn't include the radiator shop boil-out.

However, for me, I chose Plan B and bought a new Quanta tank a few months ago. Very nice.....and essentially identical to the original. Finish was just more shiney....and this will dull with age like the original.

Larry

I think Larry and John's advice on plan B is excellent.

My 46,000 mile '67 had sat in a barn from about 1977, until I purchased it and pulled it out in 2006. I sure wanted to keep that original gas tank with it's tank sticker intact,......but was advised by one of the sharpest Corvette guys I ever met, to simply buy a Quanta tank.

After spending all this money to rebuild that engine, carburetors, replace fuel pump, fuel lines........I couldn't see using a rusty tank. It was good advice. My original tank is going into a glass case (wife says I can't display it in our family room!)

Ridge.

[Richard M.]

Re: Varnish in the tank

If I were to use the lacquer thinner & agitate method, I would make sure I do it over the grass or something soft. I wouldn't do it over a concrete pad. If it slipped and dropped, the steel tank could spark on the concrete and.......... well you know where I'm going.

Rich
p.s. good info here, I need to clean a 59 tank soon.