Rear Fuel Tank Cleaning - Dear God

TexasTruck

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Well this originally started a while back when I had less of an idea of what I was doing than I do right now. It would run out of fuel at 1/4 tank. Then Hurricane Harvey hit and I pulled the tank only to have it sit there for a while. I got around yesterday to working on my rear tank to get my truck back on the road. I pulled off about 10 gallons of dark diesel. During the sunlight today I tried to take some pics to show you what it looks like in there.

There's about another inch or so of clean-ish diesel on top. The rest below looks like water and black tar. Not sure how to dispose of that material or how to properly clean the tank without a visit from the authorities. My guess is that it's almost 3 gallons of "crud".

I was thinking maybe get some of the dried mulch on my property and just do a small camp fire deal to burn it off.

It definitely looks like someone has been in here before.

I got a new shower head for that pickup but after looking at it some more it should probably be replaced. Any ideas?
 

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TexasTruck

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Just poured it out and there's a HUGE difference between what I expected it to be (stuff in bottom of tank) and what it actually was (5 gallon bucket)

I got one of them new water powered IDIs.
 

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TexasTruck

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Found what's left of the old shower head. It didn't just fall off. It became one with the sludge.
 

TexasTruck

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This black tar sludge resembles molasses, in summer at the north pole. I'd tried cutting with diesel clean, gasoline, oxyclean and dawn+water. It just stays stuck there. Is there a trick to getting this out of the tank and off the pickup assembly? Thanks
 

IDIBRONCO

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At this point, you may be better off to replace the tank and the entire sender. You may spend a chunk of change and a lot of time cleaning only to put the tank back and have issues because of what you couldn't clean out/off.
 

TexasTruck

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Another mechanic suggested lacquer thinner and stainless bolts with lots of sloshing, just buy a new tank or best option was to sell it to him so I don't have to worry about it any longer. Nice guy :cool:

I'm starting to think the same thing. Replace the tanks/senders
 

IDIBRONCO

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Replace the tanks/senders
At least this one. Wait until you see the condition of the other tank before buying any parts for it. As long as you have one clean tank, you can drive the truck while waiting on parts for the other tank. That's my suggestion.
 

TexasTruck

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Yeah that's what I was hoping with the rear tank because it was the easiest one to get out. There's always the Jerry can and truck strap option though. For emergencies of course. :D
 

Old Goat

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Another mechanic suggested lacquer thinner and stainless bolts with lots of sloshing, just buy a new tank or best option was to sell it to him so I don't have to worry about it any longer. Nice guy :cool:

I'm starting to think the same thing. Replace the tanks/senders

About 10 year back I bought a fuel tank out of a 85 Mercedes 300D from a forum member on another forum. Those thank sit in the trunk, and are long, tall and narrow.
About 1/2 way up the sides it looked like some sort of crap like chicken skin.

I dumped in about 2 qts of Lacquer thinner, laid it one side for a while then the other. Sloched it back and forth and then dumped it out. Added another 2 qts and did the same thing, but used a rag tied to a stick to scrub what I could reach. Even had what looked like deposits of tar in spots. I got it all cleaned out and rinsed it a few time with gas.
Put the tank in a 82 240D and still driving it today.

So unless you are going to replace the tank with a new on, give it a try.
Don`t know what you plan for the truck, but if you replace the tank good time to upgrade to the 38 gallon Spectra F26E.

This is where I go my senders and Shower Head, $21 about the cheapest anywhere.



Goat
 
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TexasTruck

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Thanks Goat. This tank definitely looks like what you described. Lacquer thinner is cheap and easy it sounds like. I don't have any place to dispose of flammables so I will have to burn it all off when I'm done. I was thinking about polishing that fuel I took out to re-use it. I've got about 15 gallons of it still. Some have told me don't bother. Some have said polish it and add it to clean diesel as I go.

Thank you for the links to the tank and the senders. A bit pricey but if they work and I can get the tank cleaned out then I will be back in business at least on one of them. I think this tank is 19 gallons. I don't know if the spectra will fit in the cradle but if I go that route I will call them and make sure before I order it if I need it.

As cool as it would look to have an aux tank mounted on my truck with smokes stacks and all the fixings the costs are too much. I can weld and do basic fabrication. But that's not a project I want to get into right now as I have no place to work except outside in the open skies. My flat bed is my welding table.

My dream is to have this truck completely restored and go to shows. The reality is it will probably only ever be my farm/work/motorcycle transport truck.
 

TexasTruck

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Update: The lacquer thinner seems to be working very well in the tank. I will order a new sending unit and get that tank back online. Thank you both very much!
 

TexasTruck

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Do either of you know if the 7.3L shower head will fit the IDI sending unit as a proper replacement part? I ordered the 7.3PS by mistake.
 

frankenwrench

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Not sure. But I know the 6.0 shower head is the one i used when shoving my f26e tank in. Works great for past 3 years or so.
 

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