The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1945 Chevy - Cleaning the inside of my Gas Tank?

I want to clean the inside of the gas tank of my 45 Chevy. There is almost no rust at all but there is varnishy sludge in the bottom, a residue of old gas.

So I'll need to use some solvent to dissolve the sludge and I was wondering if there is anything better than fresh gas to use to do this with?

I'm interested in hearing any and all tips for getting the varnish out of the tank!

Use diesel if you go that route, not gas. It doesn't have the explosive fumes gas does.

If you do a search you'll find innumerable topics on the subject.

Good luck, Jeff

My first thought is find a radiator shop. They used to boil out gas tanks too. I found out they won't do that anymore around here. So, thought I'd try to clean my own, but the baffles in the tank make it almost impossible to get all the crud out. So went with a VERY expensive new tank. No problems, but took the wallet awhile to recover! Good luck!

If it was rusty I'd recommend an acid cleaning but since it's mostly varnish if it was me I'd start with a gallon of cheap mineral spirits paint thinner. Pour it in and slosh it around then let it sit for a while. See what comes out. If it looks like it's doing the job, repeat using fresh thinner until you're satisfied with the results and charge on. If the mineral spirits doesn't cut it try lacquer thinner. I know that will cut old gas but it's expensive. If you're not showing rust you most likely won't need to coat the inside of the tank with a liner.

My So. Cal radiator shop just did mine and it was only 60 bucks.

Lacquer thinner will take care of the varnish.

Sleve,
Why not just pull the tank and send it to a local radiator shop that has a dip tank large enough to accomodate it? The job will be thorough, chemically correct and they can even provide an interior sealer if you wish. Costs? Here in the Woodland, CA area it is about $60.00 and it comes back squeaky clean too.
Normbc9

I would love the name of that shop. The local guy here in West Sac wanted $100 to do mine. I'll drive to woodland to save $40.

I'd like to, the tank is even already out of the truck but I live in the middle of nowhere. Probably there is not a rad. shop less than 150 miles from here so that's why I'm cleaning it myself as best I can.

The mineral spirits thing should do the trick but it may take more than one gallon depending on how much sludge there is in the tank. I'd use one gallon at a time & check the results after each treatment.

Another chemical to try is MEK, methyl Ether Ketone (I think). It's available at Home Despot, and it's a cleaning solvent. Let it sit and it should cut through whatever is in your tank.

CAUTION - MEK is NASTY stuff and can be absorbed through your skin. DO NOT let it come in contact with your skin, and don't breathe the vapors if at all possible.

Chris

The problems with MEK are similar as those with Lacquer Thinner. They evaporate fast, are expensive and can be dangerous to use. If I had to choose between the two I'd take a slow dry Lacquer Thinner over MEK. I used a LOT of MEK over the years working with composites and I can't recommend it for casual usage by the untrained public.