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Scott,

When I was a kid (i'm 46 now) my Grandpa used coke to remove rust from many things, including the chrome hubcaps on his 1964 Mercury station wagon. You've really got me thinking now. I cannot imagine what harmit would do to pour a few 2-liters of coke into a tank providedyou flushedit REALLY well afterward.



Let usknow what you find out !

 

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And to think we (at least some of us) still drink this stuff. I'm a "Pepsi" guy myself.

Scott

 

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I know cokeis great for cleaning a battery when it's all gunked up at the terminals

 

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when we were kids we would put a copper coin in a glass of coke over nite the next morning when you took it out it look new.

 

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please, but I think all of the bubbly (carbonated) soda-pops have something called "carbolic acid" in them...it is what makes the bubbles. Right??? :baffled:

I used a product called CLR (an acronym for Calcium, Lime, Rust) to clean the inside of an old exhaust manifold water jacket on an old Mercruiser inboard I had, once. Worked pretty good, and I think it was about $10.00/gallon. Goes a long way, as it is a concentrate that you mix with water before applying. Got it at our local Farm/Fleet store. :waving:

 

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Use muriatic acid it's cheaper and faster..get it at any pool supply store and many super markets. Mix it 50/50 with water, wear rubber gloves and don't get it on anything but the inside of the tank..best to do it with tank out of the bike..but the electrolysis method seems to be winning favor here..can be done on the bike. still sealing it after hard to do in the bike???

 

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To realy get a nice job done on it take it to a radiator shop it will look brand new.A friend had one done for 115.00

 

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FIRE UP wrote:

Gents,

     My post on fuel filters stirred some old thought processes. If that's possible for me. Anyway, about a hundred years ago, while working on a fire truck here in San Diego, we had some rusty parts that needed to come off so, one of the seasoned mechanics used some Coke, aka Coca-cola, on the rusted parts and is dissolved the rust pretty thouroughly. Well, like stated, that was a while ago, and this is now. On the advise of one of the replies to my fuel filter sediment problem, I checked my tank and there's considerable rust in in the whole tank. It's 24 years old, I guess that's par for the course.

    Anyway, he suggested a product that's supposed to work well but is just a bit pricey, around $300.00  plus or minus for enough to do the job. That's up there alright. He also stated I won't have to remove the tank to do the process. That's a good thing!! Well, what I'm thinking here is, maybe I'll try the "Coke" thing first. Certainly quite a bit cheaper and it probably can't hurt, even if it doesn't do the trick. Have any of you used or experienced the "Coke" application on rusted parts or even a tank cleaning try? I don't mind doing some work to remedy my problem but, like most of you, I'd like to keep the cost down as much as possible until I absolutely have to go the high route.

     I'm in the process of a little experiment right now, if you were to view my "fuel filter" post, you'd see my filter and the sediment that was in it. I don't know how long that filter had been in place so, I replaced it. I'm going to check the new one out in a month or so to see if there's the same amount of junk in it.  If so, it's treatment time. If not, well, I might leave well enough alone. I've only owned the bike about a month and a half and bought it with 35K on it and it had just completed a trip from MI to CA when I purchased it. It actually runs very well. What's any-ones thoughts here on the "Coke" treatment. Thanks wingers.

Scott

buy a package of BB's and add that to the 'cola'.that will help with the cleaning.

robin

 

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tang45 wrote:

To realy get a nice job done on it take it to a radiator shop it will look brand new.A friend had one done for 115.00

Gosh I feel lucky, got one done for $40.
I would try the coke thing, what the heck it won't hurt anything.

 

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Take a look at this posting about cleaning rust from a fuel tank with electrolysis. I tried it on a bunch of small parts on a pretty well abused GL1000 and it work well. It not only takes rust off but grease, dirt and other corrosion. I used a plastic bucket, a battery charger and some sodium carbonate that I had in my spa supply cupboard. I haven't done a gas tank yet but will since I do have a GL1000 tank that's pretty rusted inside.

Tank cleaning with electrolysis

 

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I was searching on a car restoration site for a product to eliminate rust. One of the products suggested was POR15. They have a complete motorcycle tank restore and seal kit that only costs 34.00. It comes with a bottle of Metal-Readyto remove any rust from the tank before applying the sealant. You would need to remove the tank for this fix though. I'm a little scaried of the Coke idea. Sugars are very damaging to engines. The POR15 seems safer and preforms a dual role. Cleaning and sealing. Something to think about and not overly pricey.

 

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You know, it's amazing, you guys are actually seriously discussing Mister Wizard remedies to a serious problem in the fuel delivery system of a $10,000+ motorcycle.

Consider this:

Because a motorcycle gas tank is metal, it, and the pores in it, expand and contract with the heat and cold.

Now I realize that most of you are thinking "DUH!" right now, but what you're not thinking is that when the metal heats up, the pores on the surface of the metal open, allowing gasoline to be sealed inside of every internal pore in the metal (Look up the theory of how a cast iron skillet works...almost all iron and steel composite metals work this very way...some just have smaller pores) when the metal cools down again.

So you get some handy dandy stripper stuff with a sealant that involves taking the tank out, and distributing a somewhat even coat of the sealant around the internal surfaces of the tank by pouring the stuff in, and turning the tank over and over and around and around until the stuff is spread, and dry.

COOL! Problem solved...For the moment.

Fast forward a couple years. Your tank has been heated by the engine, and cooled several dozen times, maybe it's sat in an even colder garage over the winter. The pores open and close...every time they open, they release the gasoline that was trapped in the pores every time the tank heated up BEFORE you coated it.

It has to go somewhere because heated gasoline also expands...the only place it can go is BEHIND your coating...thus, loosening it, and eventually causing it to flake off.

So now you've gone from rust flakes clogging your fuel filter, fuel pump, carb jets and passageways or injectors to little flakes of whatever glop you coated the inside of your tank clogging your fuel filter, fuel pump, carb jets and passageways or injectors.

What was gained? A different color and composition of crap clogging up your fuel system about sums it up to me.

The suggestion of Muriatic Acid will certainly remove the rust from your tank...but it will also attack the metal, weakening the already thinned by rust steel...This will develop holes maybe not the day you do it, but eventually.

These are all GREAT suggestions if you're wanting to clean the tank, seal it up, and launch it off on the next poor schmuck before the next round of problems arise.

Now Scott, I realize that $300 might be a tough nut to swallow when there are cheaper products out there that claim to do the job...and there is a good chance that some of them actually will. Let me set something straight here, I don't work for Rusteco, I happen to be a 300% satisfied customer who is trying desperately to save not only the investment in your motorcycle (and damage to it's intake system and valve train), but save you from a TON of aggravation.

Man, if you were closer than 1700 miles away, I'd bring my bucket over and clean your tank for you.

Think of this...out of all the possible solutions laid before you in the last 3 days, how many of them are posted by someone saying "I used this on MY tank and it worked GREAT and lasted a long time"?

Thought so...and this is the last I'm going to say on this subject. It's your bike man, experiment if you wish...but if I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at doing it right the first time without monkeying around with it all riding season.

Mike

 

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YEp........... Im experimnting. My wing didnt cost me. $10,000 + and $2.00 a bottle of coke is worth a try. I am not sure How many times I have had my tank heated to an extreme point.

I think my cars tank has seen higher heat than my bike and I doubt I will drop the tank to coat it. I can live with afew new filtrs for my wing if the coke thing i a flop.

As far as mister wizzard. He is a well liked guy in this part of town. He brings us, MMO , Seafoam harley slip ons,Solder for our bad connections and good cell phone signals when we wggleour ants. I like the guy.

 

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muaymendez1 wrote:

As far as mister wizzard. He is a well liked guy in this part of town. He brings us, MMO , Seafoam harley slip ons,Solder for our bad connections and good cell phone signals when we wggleour ants. I like the guy.

Yep, he rather popular around here too. :cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1:

 

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Please have a look at the photos on my web page.

http://www.beno.id.au/html/webpages-goldwing/fuelSystem.html

You can click on some of them to get bigger (clearer) versions. (Edit; Doh! when I moved the images directory on the web server, I forgot to update the links, sorry, no high res images avliable for a bit - sorry)

I am worried about how you would get the junk out while the tank stays in the bike.........

You would have to use some sort of vacuum system to suck it all out??? Not to mention how you would get the coke (or any other fluid) out with the tank still in the bike.
I know its a big job getting it out, but I worry about the quality of job that can be done on the inside of the tank with it still on the bike.

Ben.

 

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This past winter I pulled my 1100 tank (it's really not a hard job) and used the electrolysis method. After it was all said and done I wish I had just taken it down to the radiator shop and paid the $75 they wanted for cleaning it.

In my opinion if you are not going to pull the tank use electrolysis. Otherwise if you are going to pull the tank have it professionally done.

As for Coke - I had some old tools I found buried in the yard - pretty rusty but not terrible. I placed them in coke and while it handled some of the surface rust it really didn't touch the pitted stuff.

 

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As long as you have a filter rust shouldn't be a problem. It falls to the bottom of the tank and more or less sits there. What gets stirred up is caught by the filter. If you have to change the filter often then there are bigger problems looming such as a leaking gas tank. Which can be patched with some all purpose glue. When you get to that point buy a new tank.

 

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JT, I thought that too...until it cost me $500 to have a mechanic go through my carbs and clean all the sediment that got past the (Honda approved) filter out after it had jammed some of the tiny passageways full and stuck 2 needles open.

Mike

 

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All you have to do is look at your float bowls and see all the crap in there. Thats what your filter didnt catch. I wanted to run a double filter with a fine filter but noit sure if that would mess with fuel flow.
Electroic fuel pump so I shouldnt have a problem with flow I guess.???

 

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Should be able to Muay, I ran double filters for awhile when I first started fighting the rust in my tank problem. If the mechanical pump on an '80 will pull through 2 filters, I don't see why an electric pump won't.

Mike

 

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I think I may have this problem and I'm thinking of using a micro fibre filter from a small diesel that uses high presssure rail injection, possibly a bit excessive but if there is a problem.......................

 

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MDKramer,

I too have done many long term fixes on a gazillion things. I like fixing things only ONCE! My suggestion to use "coke" was just that, a suggestion. I don't think it will hurt any thing to try it. I also stated in my original post, I'll go to the high cost of doing it right if that's what it takes. I've seen the results of the epoxy coatings on many tanks and gas cans and have seen just about all of them with the flaking of the epoxy after some time. So that's out. It's too bad that Honda, along with many other manufacturers don't and haven't done any thing to prevent this in the past and the future. I guess it's 'cause they like to sell tanks.

With all that said, I installed a replacement filter right after I pulled the one in the picture out and have been monitoring it with a light and a mirror. Eventually I'll pull the float bowls and see what lurks in there too. But for now, it's running fine and the filter seems to be staying really clear.

Thanks for the response and the offer to clean my tank, even though your "only" 1700 miles away. What a guy.

Scott