My limited high school chemistry is not up to the task of figuring what and how the stuff in my tank became mobile. Nor is it up to understanding why some of that stuff is dissolved and some is just very fine bits, while some of it is flakes like rust. There is no rust in my tank and it was washed with soap and water. It was removed and shaken and scraped where I could reach. It has gotten ...better? Sort of, over time. Some one with way more knowledge than me explained that Alcohol is a very different kind of solvent from Gasoline. It reacts in different ways with the components that make up modern fuels. After all of that, I have used two filters and a screen to help make my truck a daily driver. A bit of metal screen rolled into a tube and inserted into the outlet tube far enough to protrude into the tank itself. That stopped the out let from clogging and saved me from pulling it out again, and again. A filter at the fuel pump to keep the crud from damaging the pump. And another filter at the carb to make me feel netter. 5000 miles and it works. I have had to pull the filter at the pump and clean it. So I carry a spare in the glove box. Can be done in less than 1 minute and I am back on the road. The dissolved Varnish is why I pulled the tank in the first place. I was lucky, in a way. It stuck the float and never got to the valve stems. Still messy and not fun when I had just got on the road after a 12 year slumber for this truck. So the number of options seems to be, 1. Replace tank (money) 2. Clean tank (how?, and more money) 3, Use filters ( still not free) Any other thoughts out there?
