Tank Cleaning.

I've got a shitload of water that has seeped into my tank over time while
sitting and also a fair bit of rust sediment in there too. The resulting mix of
water, fuel and rust is pretty disgusting and definately not good for the bike.
I want to really clean it out before using it again but having probs getting
all the contents out.

I've removed the fuel tap and drained most of it but there seems to be still
a litre or two in there. It still sloshes a little bit when I shake the tank and I
just can't get that last bit out.

I could probably flush the rust out eventually by repeatedly filling the tank
with water and draining it until the water comes out clean. But then I have
to get that last litre or so of water out and there's the problem.

 

siphon

metho later to get rid of any remnants of water

 

use a petroleum product to do a semi final rinse then metho , normally
works well ( after your hosing)

 

Metho is soluble in water *and* petrol. Tipping some of
that in there will get the water and petrol to 'mix' and
then you stand a better chance of getting it out.

Use copious metho and petrol to actually get most of the
water out of the tank, then use maybe arfa-cup of metho in
the first tank of fuel that you actually put through the
engine to get the last of the water out.

G

 

I tried this in a glass jar, and it didn't work at all -- the
metho mixed with the water but not appreciably with the fuel,
meaning i ended up with more rather than less shit in the
bottom of the jar ...

Perhaps we can persuade Everybodies Favourite Chemist to have
a go (you flaming bastard you)?

-----sharks

 

Flush with water (garden hose), try to shake out as much water as possible,
stand outside in the sun (tank upside down) for an afternoon or so.
If there's rust, might be a good idea to get a pack of Kreem (follow
instructions on bottle PRECISELY), to seal the tank once and for all.
Kreem is a 3-stage process, cost about $80-90 for the lot but well worth it.
If done right, it'll outlast the rest of the bike.
cheers
pete

 

X-No-archive: yes

It's not an XJ Yamaha is it?
That tank was designed by Rubik!
Clem
(I ended up having to stick a piece of tubing in and suck out the muck with
my mouth!!)

 

It's not an XJ Yamaha is it?

GPz900.

It's like there's a baffle or something inside that's holding the water
from getting to the tap hole.

I've flushed it with a hose, (water looked like someone had thrown
a few good sized handfuls of brown glitter in it), drained what I could
and the tank is sitting in the nice hot sun with the filler cap propped open.

I'll get some clear plastic tubing and try to siphon the rest that way
I can see the muck coming. Then I'll throw half a litre of metho in the tank
to absorb the rest before the fuel goes in.

 

X-No-archive: yes
Black Bart wrote;

In the XJ, the back of the tank is lower than the fuel-tap and has a reverse
curve so you can't get it out that hole and the filler-hole is recessed and
with a collar inside so you can't get it out there either.
I came very close to drilling a drain-screw into it!
Good luck with yours.
Don't be afraid of putting in shitloads of metho. I think I had almost 2
litres in a tank of juice to try and get rid of the water in my XJ. (Didn't
work though)
Clem

 

(dumbstruck)

That'll never work. What he needs to do is get hold of a big-arse magnet.
Since there's rust floating around in the residual water and petrol in the
tank, and rust contains iron, and iron is magnetic, he can use the magnet to
pull out all the rust, and thus all the water and petrol it's floating in.

 

Same with the GPz. I tried tilting the tank upside down to get all the fuel
to drain to one spot and then tilting it back to the tap side and than tilting
it front to back to get it to flow over the hole and drain. No amount of
tilting will get the water to the tap hole even though I clearly hear it sloshing
about. It sounds like it's inside something inside the tank.

Hopefully most of it will dry out. As soon as I get some tubing I'll try
sucking the rest out. It's got a couple more days to dry before I get to
remounting the tank. With what the sun dries out and what I can suck out
it should get to a managable amount. At least I can't hear the rust sludge
sliding up and down the tank when I tilt it, just the water in it which is now
coming out clear and not looking like oil with gold dust in it.

Punching a hole in the tank is the only real way to completely drain a tank.
Probably not a bad idea to install a drain screw in the tank. The tap is just
bolted on with an o-ring to seal it and that seems to do alright. A self tapper
with a tight fit rubber washer would probably do the trick nicely.

And now for something completely different, electrics.

When I hit the starter button, nothing. Not even a click from the solenoid.
Pulled the sparkies to replace them and unbolted the coils to get to the middle
plugs. No starting at this point.

I pull the cover off the fuses and unplug and replug the starter motor fuse.
Damn thing cranks over like a dream. Well, it's not the starter button switch like
I thought. When it began to exhibit this problem before I stored the bike, the
starter button started to become more dodgy. I'd have to push the button
harder and harder to get it to contact and crank. In the end it just stopped
working altogether.

Install the plugs and remount the coils. Frigging thing is dead again. No click
from the solenoid. No amount of wire jiggling, contact cleaning or connector
block checking can get it cranking again. All I can think of is there's a broken
wire or bad contact somewhere.

Any ideas?

 

So, petrol floats. And what else floats?

-----a duck!

 

I've got witches in my tank....


Postman Pat

 

When it was cranking the clutch was out. I did try pulling the clutch in
and hitting the button but no diff. It'd always started fine before without
having to pull the clutch in.

I might check it out further as the switch might have been dicky all this
time and it's now shorting or something.

 

When my GS1000 starter went dead (at the time I was having my pink slip inspection) it
looked like a switch problem, so I cleaned it up. Nothing.

Then I traced the wires and found what seemed to be a broken wire in the loom. So I
started cutting into the loom casing and isolated the break to a four inch length of
loom under the rear of the tank, which just happened to have another bit of loom
running to the headlight bucket.
And in this other bit of loom was my wire, running to the bucket. And in the bucket
was a connector, unconnected.
The starter wire ran almost to the solenoid, then turned up to the headlight bucket to
this connector, then all the way back again. There's probably a reason for having it
in there, but I can't figure it out.

Kim

 

Bread, apples and very small rocks!
Clem

 

Is there a chemist on the news group? What shope does he work in? ....or
did that Sanders guy come back? Oh <waves>, hi Pete (it was Pete?).

Hammo

 

You gonna use metho [1] or metho [2] or metho [3]

If the tank if off the bike, why not use acetone?

Hammo

[1] Methylated spirits (denatured ethanol)
[2] Methanol
[3] Ethanol that has been denatured and then diluted to 70% w/v with water

 

On 5/2/04 6:06 PM, in article , "Dr.Shifty"
<> decided to come out from under the bed and slurred:

There's probably a reason for

Relay to turn off headlight when starting.

Hammo

 

I dunno. What's going to work, smartarse?

PS: What does w/v actually mean? For bonus points, try and explain
it in a way that doesn't annoy either me, Theo or IK ...

-----sharks