would the M E K eat plastic gas tank

Life saver because Acetone was working but not good enough. Thanks

Great video! For years I have tried all kinds of chemicals. MEK is what I’m going for

Great video, thanks!

How would you get MEK or the denatured alcohol through the gas lines, or would you just replace the gas lines? In my case I'm trying to get an old lawn mower started

That’s a lot of work you did I appreciate it, I have a generator tank that is varnished nowhere near that Honda.

You didn’t say how the Corona worked.

you should test 45% vinegar it cost the same as the denatured alcohol. mek cost too much when trying to clean a 12 gallon tank

EXCELLENT; BRING THEM ON!

Careful with MEK it destroys aluminum.

I was tasked with cleaning a steel motorcycle fuel tank that had gasoline in it since 1998 and it reeked of varnish. After watching your video, I used M.E.K. along with drywall screws and a two hour soak and shake. Complete success. Thank You for posting, and your generous sharing of valuable information.

MEK for the win. I have a 100 gallon diesel tank that had 1/4 inch of tar. MEK broke the sludge right up. Tomorrow I will add 25 gallons of diesel fuel to the MEK and pump the debris out of the tank.

What about the Carona? No go?

Thanks for doing the legwork for all of us. I'm getting the MEK!

My project is a miller welder with a plastic gas tank....any thoughts on the impact of MEK or Denatured on the plastic tank?

In Australia, Denatured Alcohol is called Methylated Spirits ... why? No idea. Anyway, Methylated Spirits from Bunnings (Home Depot equivalent) worked on my Drill Auger tank and I am now de-varnishing my chainsaw, pole pruner brushcutter (all in use), and my project trike (Big Red). TIP: I have found that this summer in Australia (hot!) when I have an appliance that has an opaque fuel tank (like on the auger), the combination of sun and non-use causes gumming (varnish) to build in the fuel. I left the auger for a week (shame) and the fuel went off, the fuel filter went soft and I had to clean the carburetor. The tank bottom was scaled in varnish. All good now, so many thanks.

Thanks have a nice 72 F100 that's been sitting for 12 + years . The fuel smells thick enough,you can cut it with a knife

I have an extreme case of gummidge in a CBR900rr tank and the carbs are completely mutha fukkered in heavy brown gunge - seized utterly solid!!! I have a good sonic cleaner and will fill it with denatured alcohol for the carbs and will try your suggestions on the tank! Thank you, my American pal! PS, I truly think my tank is worse than that!

Thanks dude! Trying this on my 1960 falcon tank!

My guess is this dude knows how to make some good drugs.

Denatured alcohol works amazingly well at removing old varnished gas from a generator gas tank. 👍 👌

But how did the tank come out?! We must know! Lol, working on cleaning out the gas tank of a homelite xl 98 and this should do, thank you much!

I went through this. Thick black tar in the tank. 31years the gas polymerizes, it’s turning to plastic. Lye (NaOH) drain cleaner. Get the stuf that says “100% Sodium Hydroxide” Worked great, fast and turns it water-soluble. Its kinda dangerous, it dissolves your skin. But it eats that tar!! (It eats steel same as Muriatic) so don’t leave it on steel any longer than necessary. Also laquer thinner cuts the tar. But the Sodium Hydroxide did the deed, just ate all that black tar. It was thick and then it hosed off with a garden hose.

You are awesome to have done this. Can I run it in the gas tank to clean out the carburetor with the Denatured ETOH? My Toro keeps stalling out after 15 minutes. I let it cool and it will start right up. Seems to be when it gets hot. I changed the refuel filter, figure it is the jet valve choking off the gas.

Are you sure that was varnish you pulled out, looks more like fuel tank liner used to prevent rust.

Good info

Very helpful video. Thanks, I learned a lot.

HI ,,,, thanks so much the denatured alcohol worked 100 percent ,,,, I had 1974 triumph gas tank that was sitting for 30 years I put in one gallon and some pieces of metal chain and every few hour for 2 days moved it back and forth ,, can out spotless ,,, thanks again

That looks like a 1983 Ch80 Honda scooter. 2-stroke. I had the same model. Flipped it doing wheelies, I would sit way back on the seat and punch it and when it shifted to 2nd, up and over it went. I sold it to pay bills, wish I still had it. It was $799 brand new, man I miss those days.

You have to be in the chemical business? Those prescription bottles are a dead giveaway.

Awesome and extremely effective testing method. Denatured alcohol saved the most sludged/varnished up motorcycle tank I've ever seen in my life. I used a gallon of denatured alcohol, agitated over the course of the day, emptied, then pressure washed with hot water, dried immediately, and hit it with WD-40. The tank looks unbelievably good. Thanks for this comparison!

Thanks for that fantastic post....i have very severe case also ....and have spent days looking at this dumb phone .........

If you have ever used Berkebile 2+2 gum cutter carb cleaner I think one of the ingredients is MEK I have used that for over 40 yrs it works great butmany years ago they used to sell it in quart cans but no longer do but still sell the spray cans

Dont mess with MEK known to cause cancer

Does mek take out rust too?

Those prescription bottles are handy now. I use a lot of them myself.

Thank you for this video! I have a fuel tank that sat for 14 years and the outlet was completely plugged. Added about a pint of denatured alcohol, let it set overnight, and viola! Free flowing tank!

Just wanted to say Thank You. You saved me from having to buy a new gas tank. I found the denatured alcohol worked really well at dissolving the gummy varnish in my tank.

I used a gallon of methyl hydrate in my gerry gerry can, with half box (50) 5/16" nuts and shook it up, then let it sit for 15 min, then shook more, rinsed a few times with half gallon more of methyl hydrate, and it came out spotless, remoVED ALL varnish . Thanks for your vid as it gave me proper direction with what to use.

I found it doesn't really like water very much, I'm not sure about that dried shit you have there, but if it's just that really sticky stuff that gets in the bottom of the fuel tank, it pretty well just washes off with water.

Has anyone tested vinegar?

What about lye? I've heard it works too but not sure how good

Very nice, thank you...just the info I needed. Very much appreciated ... Thank You !!!

Just a note - MEK is a nasty carcinogen. Go with the denatured alcohol.

Does anyone know where to get MEK? Thanks in advance.

Oh wow...so I just went and bought muriatic acid to do my take. Pulled the petcock and since I do glass work I had denatured alcohol and I was blown away at how clean I got it with that. Good video 🤘

came here from Dylan McCool 's video. I will give you a sub!

Great video sir

This is why I love RU-vid. I have a problem and after a couple of RU-vid searches I came across this perfectly explained video. 👍👍👍

WD40 worked fine for me in a fuel pump prefilter that was dark and sticky. Have you tried it on this varnish of yours? Plastic and rubber safe.