cleaning gas tank....

[FlatBlackBurb]

figured out the source of my fuel pump failure today.... took out the sender unit and found out my filter is brown. thats right. totally brown. when i took the filter off i noticed that the filter in the fuel pump was clogged full of dirt. upon inspection i noticed that the sealer gasket that seals the tank was cracked and letting all kinds of dirt in my tank.

so the tank needs to be cleaned before i can put my new pump in. how should i do this? turn it upside down and pressure wash the crap out of it? theres a considerable amount of dirt in there thats too much to over look.

also does anyone have a picture of the sender unit where the fuel level floater attatches to the assembly? mine broke and i want to see if its possible to repair it.

thanks guys

 

[Dafey]

Look one up on parts store web sites or even google images for a pic of a sender unit.

 

[wazzabie]

i tried to clean my tank recently. I had rust in the tank however. I used a garden hose with a presure attachedment.

in the end I went with a new gas tank. If you decide to do this go with a spectra premium from rockauto

 

[4X4HIGH]

Most radiator shops boil gas tanks. They can even put a sealer in it to prevent rust.

 

[noJeepshere]

Subscribed, I'm replacing the pump in my Yukon soon, and want to clean the tank while it's out.

 

[dyeager535]

When I take mine apart I just wipe them out with a rag (if you can fit your hand through the sender hole) with the residual gas in the tank. Never seen one with that much dirt in it though. The bad seal you talk about is the o-ring, correct?

If the tank isn't rusty inside, I'd just turn it upside down and spray it out with a hose. As I recall the sending unit hole area is raised, so upside down the dirt should collect right there. Might need to wipe inside that with your fingers if there is a lip to catch it. The inside of the tank is galvanized or something, as long as that's not compromised (rust) then water isn't going to hurt it. Obviously it needs to be given time to dry out before reinstall.

If the tank is rusty on the inside, I'd replace it, but that's me. Work/time into cleaning a rusty tank that's going to get worse vs. $135 or so for clean, new tank, easy choice IMO.

 

[FlatBlackBurb]

i just called around a couple of shops. one guy said he'd do it for anywhere from 60-100. lowest price i found. i think i'm gonna go for it just not right now because i dont have any money. as soon as that first paycheck comes around though...

 

[Cowboy_80]

When I replaced the gas tank in my '64 I used a home fabbed saddle tank from the wreck yard. It was all nice and crappy inside so I dumped in a couple of gallons of muriatic acid and let it set for a couple of hours. Went and hosed it out and it was all nice and pretty.

 

[FlatBlackBurb]

luckily theres no rust inside, just solid dirt. almost looks like sand. but still i don't want a speck of dirt in that tank.