Rust Stabilisation INSIDE a fuel tank?

[Trevor G]

We have a 3.5hp, 30-ish year old Yamaha outboard that we use on our Sib, but have a problem that in the past the metal fuel tank was left empty and has a fine coating of rust inside it. The engine runs fine - when it can get fuel - but after about 20 minutes of use the fuel filter clogs up completely with small rust particles and of course the engine conks out! We have fitted an extra filter in the fuel line between the tank and the fuel bulb - but this clogs up quickly and is a pain to change once the tank has fuel in it as there is no fuel tap upstream of it!
Does anyone know of a way of coating the inside of the tank with something to stabilise the rust?
I'm wondering if I could do it with thinned down hammerite and just swish it round the tank, but thought I'd ask to see if this was a normal problem with old fuel tanks to which there might be a tried and tested solution?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Trevor

[willk]

Good Lord. I have one of those in the shed! I was talking about digging it out and having a play about. Now you've given me something extra to check. Mine was new c. 1975, used twice and ignored since.
Long shaft in this case.

Anyway - there's the red paint used in Gerrycans? If the tank comes off, how about rolling some shot in it first and then a slosh of fuel proof paint. I'd be wary of Hammerite though...

Maybe just shot and see how it goes on a new filter?

[Hightower]

I'd be interested if this works: Clicky

or just look at any of These

[Nos4r2]

Put an inline fuel tap on it for a start.Plenty for sale on Ebay.

Using Petseal or the like is probably going to cost a fair proportion of the value of the engine.
There's various ways of getting rid of the rust.

Stainless pan scourer on a flexi stick works fairly well to get rid of most of it. Flush it out with meths or another non oily solvent that dries fast and let it dry.
Then chuck some cillit bang in there for a minute or 2(phosphoric acid in it works on rust).Flush it out with very hot water- the heat of the tank will make most of the water evaporate when you empty it.

Get rid of the rest of the water with a heavy mix of Wynns Dryfuel and petrol.
Drain that out, bin it and refill with premix.


Incidentally, you shouldn't be using TCW3 in that engine as it's air cooled. . Normal motorbike oil will do fine.

[samt]

Heres an ugly solution.

Also, came accross this on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

[C-NUMB]

Pending on type of rust, but how about machanical removal?:
- Remove tank from outboard
- put some fluid inside (I would use w40 or other oil+solvent product) together with rough sand or fine gravel(another better option is a handful of nuts)
- shake untill tired hands.....
- clean, wash and dry.

If your lucky thats enough to remove the rust, after treatment try to keep tank full as possible during storage, then it wont rust again.

I have had the the same engine as a mariner, got is for free (as never worked well) and the reason was the same, particles in the carb.

[Trevor G]

Thanks for all the replys - I've gone with a combination of solutions ... couldn't find anywhere local that sold shot, so used a couple of tins of air-rifle pellets instead, and swished them round inside the tank as much as I could along with a bottle of meths.

Emptied the tank (hopefully all the pellets are out now), dried it as much as I could and put a bottle of Cillit Bang in the tank and swished that around for 10 minutes or so.

Washed out the Cillit Bang with lots of hot water followed by a few kettles of almost boiling water to get the metal hot, and emptied it all out trying not to burn myself on the now very hot tank.

Left it to dry, and tomorrow will rinse with petrol and Wynns Dryfuel.

To be safe I'll try and get few spare in-line filters so if one blocks again I have an easy fix - but fitting an in-line fuel tap - whilst sounding like a perfect solution to make the filter change easy, is probably not an option as the engine side cover is a snug fit, which makes even fitting the filter a bit heath robinson as it has to dangle out below the side cover!.

Still - if it's a good weekend I'll give the sib a bit of a run and hopefully won't end up rowing back across the Hamble like we had to the first time we used the engine!
Trevor

[9D280]

Originally Posted by DizzyLizzy

but fitting an in-line fuel tap - whilst sounding like a perfect solution to make the filter change easy, is probably not an option as the engine side cover is a snug fit, which makes even fitting the filter a bit heath robinson as it has to dangle out below the side cover!.

I'm surrprised at that on a portable engine. Even Seagulls had tank valves!

Alternatively, if our inline filyer is altready below cowling level, could you fit one to the filter, and use tie wraps to keep it neat? (i.e just below as opposed to dangling)

[m chappelow]

A few old ball bearings with a hand full of sand inside and let roll about in the boot of the car for a few days usually cleans the inside up ok ,

[REN_RIBNET]

When i need to clean old rusted tanks out i usually put a couple handfull of gravel inside it together with a couple of litres of diesel fuel. then i strap it INTO my cement mixer (rotary thingy) for a 10 to 15 minutes spin.
But a week in the back of your car would probably work to, as someone else suggested.

R