Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hi all,

I have my old desert tank that sat around for about 25 years with a load of gas in it. Needless to say I now have a thick layer of hard crud coating the bottom of it. There's going to be a Cross Country at the Honey Lake National at the end of May and I'm thinking of using this old tank rather than have to take a pit stop. So I need to clean this crud out of there. Problem is this is a plastic tank so I'm not sure what to use without melting it. (If it where a metal tank I'd probably dump a quart of lacquer thinner in there...)

Anybody got a suggestion?

TIA,

Loren

Loren, I can't beleive I am giving you advice. lol.
Just put new gas in it and let it sit. Gas is one of the best solivents around. Shake it from time to time and repeat as needed. It should be ready to use in a couple changes.

After that gas has loosened things up, clean teh gas out and make sure there are NO fumes hanging around. Then, and only then, try putting a bunch of materials such as glass marbles, bolts, small rocks or similar and shake, shake, shake it up! If there is any crusted on material inside the tank it will help dislodge it. Repeat the entire process as many times as needed.

Well, just plain old gas did the trick. I really thought I'd need some sort of super crud buster. I also bathed the cap and metal tank filler neck in a weak acid bath to get rid of the rust. Followed it up with a good washing inside and out with Simple Green and I think I'm all set. Thanks all.

Loren