How To Remove Rust From A Motorcycle Gas Tank 

Sweet!

I hope it works for a long time!

Thanks, go comment on my last video for a chance to win!

I was just over at my friend’s place who has this motorcycle, the tank is still clean

I hope you have success, it’s always great to see projects getting completed.

Thanks for watching.

There are lots of ways to do it, I hope it works well for you.

Yes they are, still a very good riding bike.

Lots of ways to get it done, this has worked for me several times…hopefully works for you too.

I have not tried that yet but I’m very curious how it works. Best of luck.

Thanks for watching.

Yeah, there are a few good ways to do this. Always feels good to see all that junk come out of the tank.

Thank you for watching.

Sorry to hear about that but I guess at least you got it back. Thieves suck!

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures I despise a thief... It's crazy that when it was stolen, I was living in a city 50 miles east of my location now, in the countryside. 2 years go by, nothing. A guy broke down in his Jeep just down the road day before yesterday. My cousin and I towed him a mile and a half up the road to a mutual friends house, he has a mechanic shop at his house. My bike was at his shop! Someone he knows had brought it from the city in which it was stolen, 50 miles away...My registration was still in the toolbag, in the toolbox, on the bike! Besides that, I took my title to match the numbers, didn't have to! Crazier than all this sounds, about a month ago I was on my porch around 1 am one morning and heard a motorcycle down on the main road, all of a sudden, a crash, seconds later a guy was crying out for someone to help him. I made it down, scooped him off the road where he had landed after hitting a huge Deer with his brand new Harley. I took him up to his friends house, where the shop is I mentioned earlier. Back to the present time, the guy who brought my stolen motorcycle for service, at the shop of my friend, just less than two miles from my property, is the guy who hit the Deer and that I helped! I had never met him, he didn't know me from Adam, but he had bought my stolen motorcycle from the one's who took it two years ago for $300. I know who stole it, reported it at the time, but could not get the police, the sheriff's department, no one, to show up. It sits right off my porch now, dismantling it for the rebuild! Sorry I was so long winded here, but I needed to share this crazy story. Even the guy who had bought it is shocked, and I might add, very apologetic about it. ✌️ 🪶 🪶 🪶 Ripley's Believe It or Not would be proud 😂

@@revelationakagoldeneagle8045 great story, thanks for sharing. I wish you all the best in getting it together again.

There are a lot of ways to do it but I have had good luck with this, hopefully it works for you too.

Pressure? I didn't feel like I pressured anyone, but I guess it's open to interpretation. Ride safely!

I have not had good luck with tank liner but never tried Caswell. Lots of different ways to remove rust, glad you are keeping the ATC’s going.

There are several different methods, this has worked pretty easily for me. Good luck and let me know how it turns out

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures oh I bet. Thank you and will do

That’s a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

It works, there are lots of ways to get it done but I've done this a few times with good results. Good luck!

I might have to try that next time, thanks.

?

I hope it works well for you, I’ve never had luck with tank lining.

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures me either, it's easier to clean the rust out of the tank than removing a liner when it starts to deteriorate after a few years.

@@twistedgreymatter oh yeah, that’s terrible! Only had to do it a few times, but it’s a chore.

I sometimes forget how wide reaching these videos are! I recently got a Blackbird myself. Let me know how it turns out

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures Shall do 👍 Just came across another product this morning. CRC Evapo Rust Bit expensive, but if it works, doesn’t matter

@@peterwenderoth1765 that stuff works, I have used it. Vinegar works as well for less money.

I’ve also been trying to find out if any protective coating was applied to the inside of fuel tank during the manufacturing process. No luck so far. When they’re new, they have that brushed aluminum look to them.

That’s the sorry state it’s in ru-vid.comY8DQJqQGJsY?feature=share

I have had good success so far, but every job is a bit different. I have wanted to try the electrolysis method for rust removal because it is supposed to add a “coating”. Good luck with however you do it.

Not a bad idea, let me know how it works.

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures I'm not hi-tech but have been told it's basically the same principle as an ultrasonic cleaner.

There are several ways to remove rust from a fuel tank, it’s always good to have different options. For this tank, I really think doing the vinegar soak first and then following up with electrolysis would provide the best results. Thanks for watching and for the information.

Thank you for commenting, have tried both methods, but not in conjunction.. great idea will definitely give it a go regards. Andy.

@@Claude1100 I’ve never done both on the same tank either but on this one it had a lot of old sludgy fuel and caked up rust. Removing the majority of that with vinegar would then give the electrolysis a great opportunity to make the tank perfect. Might have to do it now, my buddy bought the bike and then proceeded to park it ever since.

Ahh, never mind, I commented before watching until the end lol. Thanks for the video! How's that XS running?

I have not had any issues with the vinegar but it’s a possibility. I can’t remember if I had the stock ones on during this? I thought I had some other old random ones on. Anyway, the vinegar works well for rust removal

I mix 50/50. It’s just to prevent flash rusting, it doesn’t do a permanent coat or anything. If you keep the tank full/mostly full it will stay rust free a long time. If it sits mostly empty, it may cause condensation and start to rust again. Anyway, it’s worked well for me over the years.

Hey Tom. Thank you so much. I will give it a shot. I really appreciate the help!!

Hi Tom yeah I’ve got a tank 5 years gonna follow ur method cheers mate chinny 😎 uk

@@ChrisArmstrong-qn1ob good luck, it works pretty good. Lots of ways to do it if it doesn’t work.

There are lots of ways to get this done, this is just one of them. Thanks for your input.

I don’t think so, and I don’t really know what to use to remove the liner. I’ve never had any long term luck with those.

You can get EvapoRust almost anywhere, it works well but it’s more expensive than vinegar.

There’s lots of ways to get rust out of tanks. This works pretty good.

There are lots of commercially available tank sealers. I have never used them myself but have dealt with a few that have failed. I just have been doing the gas/oil treatment and had good luck so far.

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures Thank You

Replacement tanks are expensive. Give this a try, it works well!

I recently did the same thing with a BMW tank. The float sending unit was already in really bad shape, it cleaned the rust from it and showed that it was ruined. Vinegar won’t affect plastic, it’s shipped in plastic jugs.

If you have a lot of rust in your tank, there's a good chance your sending unit and pump are damaged also. Are you able to purchase new parts?

I have done the nuts and bolts with vinegar for a quicker job when there’s a lot of scale in the tank.

The baking soda neutralizes the acid in the vinegar, so it’s best to use it right away in my opinion.

I didn’t think of it, great idea!

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures the best oil to use is transmission fluid, it has rust inhibitors in it to protect the transmission components.

@@noahdunaway that’s a good idea, thanks.

Extra fresh! 😂. I personally don’t care for the tank coating products, have seen too many of them fail. I really want to try electrolysis on a tank, maybe the next time.

I usually put a fair amount in, shake the tank all around to get a good coating on it. Then I drain out whatever settles in the bottom.

And no rinse after? The costing of oil doesn’t effect anything I assume? Im on 48 hrs of soaking going to check it tomorrow

@@Pokemonballers87 the gas/oil just coats the tank to prevent flash rust. Once you add fuel it will mix in, won’t hurt anything.

If you have access to citric acid at a reasonable price, it will probably work better than vinegar by itself.

Oil and gasoline mixed together, 50/50 mix. It doesn’t really “seal” it but it prevents the tank from flash rusting.

I just add a 1/4 cup or so to a gallon of water. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

It’s just an additional step to try to prevent flash rusting. If you want to install the tank and fill it up, you can do so. Cheers!

Thank for the reply. So you do not need to reline or anything the tank?

@@mumeendaniels45 it’s really going to depend on the tank. I have done several, majority stay pretty clean but I have had one that just rusted up again quickly. I don’t like tank liner, have seen a lot of failures with it.

Okay cool. I am following your method at the moment. The vinegar is in for a second 24 hours. It doesn’t have a lot of rust but it clogged my fuel filter. It’s a 07 zx14 Kawasaki. So tomorrow after work I will be draining the vinegar doing the clean with the soda and then the oil and gas mix.

@@mumeendaniels45 that new of a bike you should be fine. I can’t remember if I rinsed the tank with alcohol in this video, but it’s a good idea after the baking soda rinse. Helps remove any water.

It will help, might need to do a longer soaking. It also might show you that the metal is thin, developing some pinhole leaks.

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures Cool man, I'll let you know what happens in the morning.

@@ryanmillay8782 it will probably take several days. Good luck, looking forward to hearing how it goes.

It’s possible, will check it

Yes, and I was just working on this motorcycle a few days ago

Yeah, you’re gonna need a new tank buddy! Go hit up my Super Clean video…

It’s amazing how reasonable those things are these days

Awesome bike, keep those Yamaha bikes running!

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures Got her for $800 and never had an issue. How's that tank holding up?

@@Hunter1st my friend bought the XS from me, it’s still good to go!

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures That's great to hear.

😂I guess so! 😂

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures haha kidding man. thanks for the video. I'm referencing it to get the rust out of my dad's '76 kz900 tank. hopefully all goes well!

@@joesmoe4778 I didn’t know who it was, had to look it up. 😂

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures i swear he looks just like you lol

@@joesmoe4778 thanks, I hope your tank turns out well.

I have heard some apple cider vinegar is good for digestion, but I can’t really stomach it!

Were you missing it?

I have never been a fan of the tank linings. Had a few bikes with them done before I got them, only once that it didn’t fail.

Yup been there done that, I didn't do a good prep job and the rust was under the liner. For myself clean the tank several times then fill it fully with gas without drying it out. Don't forget to drain the water out before installing the gas line

Pee pee poo poo?

Unfortunate, but thanks for the feedback?

Great input, thanks for sharing.

@TomsTinkeringandAdventures you just don't know the properties yet. I don't blame you, we all learned at one point

@@Rman1100 sure, only done this several times along with many other people. But thanks again.

@@TomsTinkeringandAdventures I know. It'd hard to teach an old dog new tricks. To each their own