Saturday, September 10, 2005

Tired of the crud

I decided to pull the gas tank out of the truck this afternoon. The removal went pretty easily, except that I ended up destroying the filler grommet and I cut the rubber grommet where the gas line passes through the floor of the cab. Both of those pieces are cheap and easy to find, so I was not too upset.

I thought I was low on gas and that it would be a good time to get the gas tank cleaned and sealed. Turns out, I have a lot more gas than I thought. But it is really gunked up with rust.

Racecar Man and I tried to filter the gas out of the tank and into gas cans, but we gave up, after straining a few gallons through several layers of cloth diapers. There was so much rust that our diaper-filter would clog after just a few seconds.

I am going to price having the tank cleaned and sealed at a radiator shop. The DIY supplies seem to cost anywhere from $20 to $60. A new tank costs $200 plus shipping with a new fuel sender and float for the fuel gauge. Before I do anything with this tank or order a new one, I am going to look around a little, to see if anyone around here has a used tank in good shape.

2 comments:

Rick said...

Am I wrong thinking the tank is aluminium? Where does the rust come from?

Mike said...

Turns out these tanks are galvanized steel. Mine even had a US Steel stamp on it. And magnets stick to it.

Rusted on the inside, evidently above the level of the gas that sat in it for so long.

The tank and sender/float are all really rusty.