How To Clean A Scooter Gas Tank

Removing rust from a gas tank tin exist accomplished in a number of means. Different strategies include using abrasives such as gravel or washers, using acids such as muriatic acid or vinegar, using a battery and washing soda, using a tank coating kit, or using a combination of the aforementioned strategies. No matter which method you utilise, clamping a hose to the gas tank outlet hole similar shown here (if possible) makes life a lot easier.

Abrasives

Many people recommend using nuts and bolts inside the tank to help scrape or knock off big chunks of rust. While this tin be an effective manner to showtime the cleaning process, it will probably not be entirely constructive past itself. Also, doing this in a step-through moped can be very frustrating because it volition be difficult to remove all of the nuts and bolts. Ice can be used as a substitute for nuts and bolts -- information technology will still act as an annoying, but it volition melt, which will save you lot from having to dig 50-100 basics and washers out of your gas tank.

Notation: you can use a section of chain, tied off w/ fishing line to mostly eliminate the issue of getting all the basics and bolts out. Only trouble is the rare instance when the concatenation works itself into a knot inside the tank.

Acids

Hydrochloric (Muriatic) Acid

After Ability-launder (Muriatric Acid Technique)

Afterwards Completion (Muriatric Acrid Technique)

Warning: Wear protective gear during this process. All pare should be covered -- long pants/shirt, work boots, gloves -- and heart protection and filtration mask are very of import because the reaction of muriatic acrid and rust gives off extremely harmful vapors. If spilled, muriatic acrid can be neutralized with baking soda. When working with these chemicals, make certain that you lot have ample ventilation. Information technology's good to have a fire extinguisher handy every bit well. Always dispose of solvents / chancy chemicals responsibly, delight. And, be safe. An alternative method of using muriatic acid is explained (with pictures too!) in the blog post linked higher up.

Start by removing the petcock. The aluminum body and rubber internals volition have a world of woes with the acid solution.
If y'all take a pressure level washer, burn it upwardly and blast out all the solidified chunks of rust/oil/fuel in the tank. If the outlet becomes clogged past the chunks, use a pair of hemostats to pull out the debris. Proceed until the water runs gratis of droppings.
For best results the tank should be de-greased with a de-greasing solution or very hot soapy water prior to etching. Let the de-greasing solution set in the tank for several minutes and agitate as yous see fit. Drain the de-greasing solution and rinse tank with water.
Attach a piece of Nalgene hose to the outlet of the tank with a zip tie. Clamp it off with a pair of hemostats.
ALWAYS Add Acrid TO H2o. Showtime with a more mild solution of 1:1, h2o:muriatic acid. Exist careful non to get the acrid on the moped (especially the paint!). Picket it to run into that bubbles are being produced in the tank. Permit this sit for about an hour.
Bleed the tank past removing the hemostats. Flush the tank with h2o.
If necessary, repeat this process with a solution of one part water and 2 parts hydrochloric acid.
Drain the tank past removing the hemostats. Flush the tank with water.
In a bucket, mix nigh ane/4 loving cup baking soda to 2 gallons of water. Fill the tank, let information technology sit for a few minutes, drain and repeat possibly 4 or 5 times. You really want to neutralize any remaining acid in the tank, so don't be stingy.
After draining the tank of all available water, seal the Nalgene tubing with hemostats and fill the tank with seventy% isopropyl alcohol. Let is sit for 5 to 10 minutes. The water molecules in the tank will bond to the booze to avoid further fuel issues. Drain the alcohol and discard responsibly.
Seal the tubing again. This time fill up the tank with straight gasoline. Let this sit down for five to x minutes. Drain the fuel and discard responsibly. You may run into some minor clouding and sediments, but it should look a lot better than when you started.
If you hadn't done and so already, clean out your carburetor with spray carb cleaner and/or Seafoam. Replace the fuel line and brand certain that you install a new fuel filter. It's a very practiced idea to have a couple spares on your shelf. Accept a moment to clean your spark plug and gap it to spec.
Fuel up your ped with perhaps a quart (max) of fuel or premix, whatever it takes. Prime number the carb, say a little prayer and fire the bad boy up. Avert long rides until you're sure that you have no fuel leaks and good fuel commitment.

Phosphoric Acid

WARNING: Clothing protective gear during this process. All pare should be covered -- long pants/shirt, piece of work boots, gloves -- and eye protection and filtration mask are also a adept idea. Although phosphoric acid used for de-rusting tanks is somewhat less insanely toxic than hydrochloric acid, it's still non something that you want inhale or have spilled on you. If spilled, phosphoric acid can be neutralized with a bicarbonate solution, such as baking soda. When working with these chemicals, make certain that y'all have aplenty ventilation. Information technology's skilful to have a fire extinguisher handy as well. Always dispose of solvents / chancy chemicals responsibly, please. And, be rubber.

Oxalic acid (wood bleach) can be a cheap safer alternative to muriatic / hydrochloric acrid. It gives similar results to phosphoric acid , but will flash rust some if you do non neutralize information technology and spray the tank with WD-40 when you are done. I used 4 tablespoons per gallon of water and let it soak 24 hours. Follow the naval jelly method and it will work out peachy.

The Naval Jelly or Milkstone remover Method = Phosphoric Acrid + Galvanizing Amanuensis = Tank volition not rust again.

Milkstone remover from Tractor Supply Company is 56% phosphoric acrid. Utilize one quart for a 1 gallon tank — well-nigh 14% acrid.

Dump out all gas/funk from tank, rinse v–10 times to get large rust chunks out
1/2 jar of naval jelly dissolved in 2 liter bottle of water
Dump in tank (fill completely with plain h2o) and allow sit 24hrs
Dump naval jelly and rinse with fresh water
1/two cup baking soda dissolved in 2 liter bottle of water
Dump in tank (fill completely with plain h2o) and let sit 2 hrs
Dump baking soda and rinse 2x with fresh water
Milk shake all or as much h2o from tank as possible. Use a shop vac or compressor fix to accident air. Nigh water can exist blown out.
Use 1/ii tin can or more WD-40 on tank to aid emulsify water and so rust wont showtime once more

Behr Physical Etcher and Rust Remover

This production can exist used to clean rust from the inside of a gas tank because it contains phosphoric acid. This can exist accomplished past completely starting time de-greasing the the gas tank with a commercial de-greaser or very hot soapy water. Flush the tank with water after de-greasing. Next you plug the hole where the petcock goes, so fill the tank with the etcher (make sure you mix the etcher with h2o at a ratio of 1:ane). Information technology must be watched carefully so that it doesn't eat through the adept metal. Next advisedly drain out the etcher and rinse the tank with h2o. Next make full information technology with a solution of water and a small amount of baking soda to neutralize the acid. After 15 minutes, rinse the tank with water again and continue rinsing until the water you lot pour out of the tank is completely clear. At this point it is important to brand sure the tank has no more than water in it. This can exist accomplished by getting every bit much water out equally possible, adding WD-twoscore or rubbing alcohol to the tank, and rinsing it out with gasoline. Immediately fill the tank with premix to prevent further rusting.

Vinegar

Vinegar tin be used to clean rust from the inside of a gas tank because information technology contains acerb acid. This tin exist accomplished past filling the gas tank with water and then draining that. Next, plug the hole where the petcock goes, and fill the tank with the vinegar, leaving information technology in overnight to dissolve the rust. After pouring out the vinegar, rinse the tank with water. Next make full information technology with water and a small amount of baking soda to neutralize the acid. Afterwards 15 minutes, rinse the tank with water again and continue rinsing until the h2o you pour out of the tank is completely articulate. At this point it is important to make sure the tank has no more water in it. This can be accomplished past getting as much water out as possible, adding WD-xl or rubbing booze to the tank, and rinsing it out with gasoline. Immediately fill the tank with premix to prevent further rusting.

Alternatively, a salt and vinegar mixture can be used equally these ingredients will react to grade a weak sodium acetate and hydrochloric acid solution. This solution should remove rust more than quickly than the acetic acid in vinegar alone.

The following is a documentation of a five day vinegar run in a Maxi tank past Andrew Cadet Michael as posted on this thread:

I went with the vinegar/table salt philharmonic (gallon of vinegar and 1.v cups of table salt) for a balmy acrid that would slowly eat away at the rust, for less $$$. I emptied the vinegar out every twenty-four hour period to take a picture and to affluent it out, and only adding a new gallon on day 3. Information technology took about 5.v days, but information technology looks pretty damn expert for only spending $half-dozen on two gallons of vinegar and a canteen of salt. When I rinsed the tank, I put lots of blistering soda to end whatsoever acrid. Really i added to the vinegar to make it foam and I capped the top of the tank so information technology would bubble itself out of the petcock. I think this may accept loosened whatever lingering rust because there were a few flakes that floated out. I then rinsed with water and soap several times followed by a few wishes of fresh fuel. I did non encounter whatsoever wink rust earlier I topped it off with pre-mix.

Coca-Cola

This method tin can work considering of the acidic quality of the potable, but information technology has been questioned due to the viscid sweet of it. Nutrition Pepsi will also practice the fox just fine. Whether you lot use Coke or Pepsi, the key word here is Diet!! No sugar.

The Works (toilet bowl cleaner)

The Works toilet bowl cleaner is a cheap, readily bachelor, fast, and effective product that volition remove rust from your gas tank. Nevertheless, the master ingredient in The Works is hydrogen chloride. Hydrogen chloride + water = muriatic acid = muriatic acid. If yous want to use The Works, gyre back up and read the muriatic acid section to a higher place. Already read it? Read it again. The following instructions should be considered an addendum to the much more complete directions above.

If you make up one's mind to go this route, you MUST do the post-obit:

Remove your petcock. Petcocks are generally fabricated out of aluminum. Aluminum and "The Works" react rather dangerously. Run a google search for "The Works bomb" if yous want to run across for yourself what happens. If you demand something to plug the petcock hole, a slice of hose/tubing with a cork or other stopper in the end works well.
Do non get it anywhere besides the within of the tank. It will eat physical. It will consume pigment. It will eat chrome. It will eat rust.... which is why it works so well, simply once again, Be Conscientious.
Don't touch information technology, and don't breathe the fumes. This is toxic stuff.

Battery and Washing Soda/Electrolysis

Remove rust and amaze your friends with Science! Electrolysis is a technique for returning surface rust to iron. The process actually alters the tank wall on the molecular level removing the oxygen that has oxidized (rusted) the tank. This method has advantages over old standbys similar vinegar, Coke, muriatic acid, naval jelly, wire brushing, sand blasting, etc. because those methods all remove material to get rid of rust. These other methods also remove un-rusted material. The electrolytic method removes but the oxygen from the oxidized metal by returning surface rust to metal iron, rust scale is loosened and can be easily removed. United nations-rusted metallic is non afflicted in whatever way.

What do y'all need to brand this work? Not much, really:

Your rusted gas tank.
A bombardment charger or other source of 12V DC power.
Wires or cables to connect the electrodes together, lower guess is better, less heat. Make certain information technology is insulated.
Sacrificial electrodes - iron re-bar works great, stainless steel is very bad (and the effect is illegal and dangerous). Become to your hardware store go some non coated steel
Arm & Hammer LAUNDRY Soda, also known equally washing soda.
Some chains or steel wire to suspend the function in the solution - copper wire is bad and messy.
Water

The basics are pretty simple:

Wait in your tank. Go familiar with the inside of your tank you are going to demand to fit the Sacrificial anodes in at that place and have them not touch the border, considering it will crusade y'all to ground out and not work.
Mix one Tablespoon of Washing Soda with every gallon of water to create an Electrolyte solution. (Don't go overboard with the washing soda people. Information technology won't help.)
Cut your sacrificial anodes to lengths that will fit in the tank. I drilled holes at the top to adhere a wire. Now use electric tape to tape the wired end and the other finish thickly and then there is no possible fashion you can basis out on the edge. You tin utilize more so ane at a fourth dimension.
Wire all of the electrodes together so they are, electrically speaking, one big electrode. Make sure all connections are on clean metal and sufficiently tight to work.
Suspend your part in the solution using the wire/chains and then it is not touching the bottom and is not touching any electrodes.
Attach the bombardment charger NEGATIVE lead to the role and the POSITIVE lead to the electrodes. Practice not get this backwards! If you do, you'll use metal from your role to de-rust your electrodes instead of the other way around -the positive electrodes are sacrificial and will erode over time. That's how the h2o becomes iron-rich. THE POLARITY IS CRUCIAL!! The iron or stainless electrode is connected to the positive (cerise) final. The object beingness cleaned, to the negative(blackness). Submerge the object, making sure you have good contact, which can be difficult with heavily rusted objects. Go it backwards and your object will be relentlessly eaten away! Make connections on a part of your electrode that protrudes out of the solution, or your clamps will erode rapidly.
Double cheque everything to be sure the right things are touching, the incorrect things are not touching, and the cables are hooked up correctly.
Turn on the power — plug in the charger and plow it on.

Within seconds you should see a large volume of tiny bubbles in the solution — these bubbles are oxygen and hydrogen (very flammable!). The rust and gunk will bubble up to the acme and grade a gunky layer there. More gunk will form on the electrodes - after some amount of utilize, they will need to exist cleaned and/or replaced - the electrodes give up metal over time. That'south why re-bar is such a nice choice — information technology's cheap and piece of cake to become in pre-cut lengths.

The procedure is self-halting - when there is no more rust to remove, the reaction stops. This is handy because you don't have to monitor it, and because you can practice large parts where they are not totally submersed at 1 fourth dimension (aka, by rotating them and doing one-half at a time) without worrying about "lines" in the final function.

Once yous are done, the part should immediately exist final cleaned and painted - the office is very susceptible to surface rust after being removed from the solution. There will exist a fine layer of blackness on the office that can be easily removed, and once it is removed, the role can exist primed/painted equally needed.

Safety Precautions

Yous're playing with serious stuff here, so stay safe. It'southward non rocket scientific discipline, but if you lot're new to this, you might not know all of this - then read upward before you lot practice any of this.

This procedure produces highly flammable and explosive hydrogen gas (remember the Hindenburg?), and so do information technology outside, or in some other well ventilated area. Hydrogen is lighter than air (like natural gas), so it volition collect almost the ceiling - non sink to the floor like another flammable vapors will (like propane and gasoline). If you have open flames near this (Hint: gas appliances like water heaters and furnaces have pilot lights!) you will most likely severely injure or impale yourself (and others near you) and become a contender for the Darwin Awards in the procedure.
Assuming you used re-bar and steel wire/chain like you were told to, the waste h2o resulting from this is iron-rich - it'south perfectly safe to pour it out onto the grass and your lawn will love it. Beware of ornamental shrubs that don't like iron-rich soil though, unless y'all like making your wife mad at you.
Make certain the bombardment charger (or any source of power y'all use) stays dry out. All of the usual cautions about any electrical device in a moisture surround apply here.
The solution is electrically "live" - it is a conductor in this organization. Turn off the power before making adjustments or sticking your hands into the solution. You tin can get a balmy stupor if you stick your easily into the water with the power on.
The solution is fairly alkaline metal and volition irritate your peel and optics. Use gloves and center protection. Immediately wash off any part of your body the solution comes into contact with with plenty of fresh water.
Don't apply stainless steel for the electrodes. The results are toxic and illegal to dump out.
Don't use copper for the electrodes and anything else in the water - the results are messy.
Remove finger rings - if y'all short across one they instantly hit about 1200 degrees.

If you are unsure of any of this or unsure about your safety - Stop! Go help before y'all exercise something stupid. Apply common sense, be smart about what yous're doing, and stay safe and so you tin can finish your restoration project and relish it.

If yous're similar me and cannot find Laundry/Washing Soda in the stores, y'all can 'cook' your own following the instructions here.

Edit by Rdhawg 11/27/xiii Did my tank by itself.  Clamped one lead to the petcock, made an anode that fit in the fill spout (Left room for flushing effectually it) with the other lead attached to it.  Filled tank to the top with electrolyte solution. "cooked" information technology for about 24 hours.  Flushing the fill spout area frequently and cleaning my anode with a wire brush about every 60 minutes. Worked great.  When done I flushed with make clean water and a agglomeration of basics rattled around inside. then stale it with a blow dryer. After I poured a bunch of ii stroke oil in and rolled it around to coat everything at to the lowest degree till I get information technology full of gas.

Kreem

Kreem is a commercial production for coating the inside of a tank with a chemical chemical compound resistant to the corrosive furnishings of gasoline. It'south available equally a fuel tank liner kit, including tank prep chemicals. One affair to note is that it's a bit more hard to employ properly than is initially apparent. For one thing, it's extremely pasty and viscous. Also, information technology's difficult to get an even, thin coat without cut your tank in half. Overly thick coatings effect in flaking, which will clog your petcock or filter, or worse, destroy your carburetor jet etc. Notwithstanding, when done professionally, it is effective for many years.

Encounter also, this forum thread on removing Kreem from a gas tank.

POR-15

POR has a cycle tank repair kit available that includes all the chemicals to make clean, prep, and coat a tank. The well-nigh challenging part of PORing tank is the tedious drying process. After the cleaning and prepping, which adds a charge to the metal and then the coating volition adhere to it, the tank must exist completely stale. If this step is not done correctly the entire process will fail. The near effective ways to dry a tank seem to be running a source of hot air through it, while setting it out in the sunday. Once the tank is dry, the coating may exist applied. Once dry, the tank will last for years without worry of rust (some user's take experienced 15+ years of no rust). POR is highly recommended higher up Kreem, every bit Kreem has a tendency to fail after time, while POR does not (when done properly).

Evapo-rust

Evapo-rust and Rust Release are "green" rust removers because they are not harmful acids and they practice not create harmful fumes. It can be dumped out onto gravel when you're finished using it, which can save you the hassle of storage or paying to remove the acids stated in a higher place. The other good thing well-nigh Evapo-rust and Rust Release is that information technology is only designed to swallow rust and not metal, so you can leave it in your tank for over 24 hrs without called-for a hole through the metal. The downside is that it was necessary to leave it in the tank for 36–48 hrs to get it about 90–95% clean.

I followed the same steps stated above: Bleed old gas, remove petcock, de-grease tank and do a post-de-greasing rinse, use Evapo-rust or Rust Release, fill it with nuts and bolts to knock off loose rust, wash it out, make full it with Isopropyl alcohol, bleed that, flush it out with gasoline a few times (drain and shop). After all that, buy and install a fuel filter as a precaution.

It went from thick rusty sludge to barely whatever sediment running through my fuel line. Yous can purchase Evapo-rust at Autozone (check their website for other retailers too), merely the employees don't know that they have it, so tell them it is probably locked up. It likewise may exist in the paint aisle. It is roughly ten-thirteen bucks per liter, and normally comes with a 3 dollar mail service in rebate. 3-4 liters Should work, but depends on how big your tank is. Likewise available at Amazon.

Money saving tip: You can buy 2 liters instead of 4, then , tip your wheel forward to make sure that the cleaner gets into the part of the tank that is closest to the stalk, tipping the bike back every 4-8 hours, repeat, occasionally sloshing the cleaner back and along. This obviously isn't the easiest way, merely, it is very rewarding. You can also buy Evaporust at Tractor Supply.

Woods Bleach ( Oxalic Acid )

Oxalic acid, sold as forest bleach . Oxalic acid is a lot safer to work with, but still requires due circumspection (READ THE Label). It's non nearly equally toxic as muriatic acid. It does NOT harm painted surfaces. It just eats rust and leaves a protective blanket on the steel after being thoroughly rinsed with water.

For good clarification cheque out this forum thread.

J.B. Weld (for petcock repairs)

J.B. Weld is a welding substitute/epoxy. When cured, it is water, petroleum, chemic and acrid proof. In rare cases, the petcock may take an impact which may break the weld on the threaded tube jutting from the gas tank. When this happens, the petcock appears to be leaking, or gas leaks from inside the frame and onto the engine. Considering there is no way to weld on or supercede the tank, it must be repaired likewise or the frame replaced. Removal of all gas and application of a degrease compound is essential in preparation for use of J.B. Weld. While it may be impervious to gas after curing, before cured, gas and oil will compromise the epoxy, grasp on the tank wall and fissure. From personal experience, degreasing and riding around for about a month (with external tank) was enough to clear out and clean the tank. A generous corporeality of J.B. Weld should be mixed. Crude the inside of the threaded tube equally best you can with a dremel tool for best adhesion. Bending a long forest screw (torch applied) at a 75 to xc degree angle will allow y'all to crude up somewhat the within back of the tank wall you can't run into and be useful afterward. Pack the epoxy downward inside the threaded pipe jutting from the tank. In one case this is done use the bent wood spiral to smear the epoxy all around the inside back of the tank where the tube is welded on. Before the epoxy cures, plug the tube with an assistants finger or other and create a seal around the make full pigsty (where the gas cap is) and apply an air compressor to create pressure in the tank and hopefully blow epoxy into the cracked weld. Afterwords let cure for suggested time on box before applying pressure to the threaded tube or filling with gas. THE EPOXY Volition HARDEN AFTER Four OR 5 HOURS BUT Exercise NOT FILL WITH GAS UNTIL FULL CURE Fourth dimension HAS ELAPSED. Hopefully when you fill your tank up it won't leak. If not, echo the process, buy a new frame or go happy with and external tank.

AN edit/annotate from Gabe:

Thanks for all the tips and research on getting the rust out of gas tanks!

I don't want to crap on your advice, only JB weld does not work in whatsoever application where it is exposed to gasoline no matter how well you clean information technology. I tell y'all this from experience. gasoline dissolves it no matter what the manufacturer claims. I don't think information technology is the ethanol either. the just successful patch to a gas tank using an epoxy resin was where I plugged the hole with wax and then used JB weld over it. information technology lasted a couple of weeks. best advice is to weld it or apply brass solder if it is very thin iron. and don't be afraid of it blowing up. let it dry out out overnight or blow some air through it to dry it and get the vapors out and information technology will be fine. test it with a match or a torch first if you lot want to, and keep the gas cap off.

JB weld works great on aluminum of plastic parts of radiators! I had information technology come loose once also where it was exposed to manual fluid (high detergent oil)

For plastic gas tanks with a leak I have used a soldering iron or a hot flathead screwdriver to melt a hole shut. I also used the technique on a leaky plastic canoe once. another useful technique is to use a filler plastic. I have used ice ream pail lids cutting into strips to patch gas tanks. I lit one end of the strip on fire and let it drip over the crack. It worked groovy on more than one leaky tank. But i time it didn't. I remember there was some kind of incompatibility in the two kinds of plastics. it's worth a try.

Thanks for all the tips and research on getting the rust out of gas tanks!