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How To Get Rid Of The Stale Fuel Smell From Tank?


aircobra

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as per the title, i've tried everything - turps, fresh fuel and nothing helps. fuel's been in there for 15 years and looks like its evaporated and left a residue that will not evaporate any further. looks like i need some sort of a solvent, but have no idea what to use. last time i just put in 5 litres of turps, stirred it around and dumped via the bottom plug

didn't help much

for those with a chem background, smells like some sort of acetone or ester

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hi mate,if you want to carry out work on the tank like welding or any type of work, you have to de-gas the tank with hot water for at least half an hour min, take the plugs out and run hot water through it without pressure and the vapour of the hot water carries the fuel with it and vaporises out the tank.

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I had a tank which had been laying around for years and had a jelly like fuel residue in the bottom and I had no idea of the condition/integrity of the tank. Took it to Fuel Tank and Radiator Services over at Nundah and for about $250 they hot tanked, pressure tested and treated the inside of the tank and painted the outside. Good as new and no mess!

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I had a tank which had been laying around for years and had a jelly like fuel residue in the bottom and I had no idea of the condition/integrity of the tank. Took it to Fuel Tank and Radiator Services over at Nundah and for about $250 they hot tanked, pressure tested and treated the inside of the tank and painted the outside. Good as new and no mess!

 

And that's all folks, honestly in my opinion things like this are best outsourced...for $250 painted...how can you go wrong?

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point is i've ready had the tank sandblasted and painted, so it would be a waste to have that redone

no welding required - the tank's in pretty good shape overall

i might give acetone a shot - that's supposed to dissolve anything and it completely evaporates

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have you tried automotive wax and grease remover? it wont harm the paint inside the tank, then run hot water to vaporise the tank before u put petrol in it, i used to build road tankers and fuel tanks. i done my tank my self, its not rocket science, i degased the tank, un stitched the lips and split it into 2 cause i had to panel beat it and get to some surface rust, welded it back together and got the special fuel tank paint and re coated it, its been 3 years and no problem wat so ever...

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Are you only concerned about the smell of the stale fuel or something more?

I assume once you start filling it up with fresh fuel it'll smell like fresh fuel and I can't imagine any other issues.

Have I missed something?

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Are you only concerned about the smell of the stale fuel or something more?

I assume once you start filling it up with fresh fuel it'll smell like fresh fuel and I can't imagine any other issues.

Have I missed something?

Hi Mick

 

The risk is that once the car is returned to regular use the residue & gum causing the smell will breakdown and clog up the fuel system.

 

Cheers

 

PB

Edited by PB260Z
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