QL gas tank cleaning
 

How do you guys clean gas tanks? I have an idea but thought I'd check with the pros before I got myself in a mess.

Clean out what ???

:bigthink:

The tank started leaking around the shutoff valve so I removed it and have a new seal on order. I just thought while it was out I'd give it a good cleaning. No particular reason, just thought it was a good idea.

I don't know if this is helpful or not. I've never cleaned out a Cub Cadet gas tank, but I have cleaned and coated Farmall gas tanks.

I used a solvent like lacquer thinner to clean the tanks for coating. It dissolves a lot of the residue from old gasoline.

I've heard of getting a radiator shop to boil them out, but I have no experience with that.

The tank is some kind of plastic so I'm not sure about the thinner. I've read a lot of posts here about cleaning gas tanks so I thought there was a proven method for doing it. Thanks for the reply.

I've never cleaned out a plastic gas tank. Some solvents might dissolve the tank. I wouldn't take that chance. Disregard anything I said.

The way I cleaned plastic tanks was rinse them with hot water then put in Dawn or Simple Green, add hot water and shake, shake and shake! Empty out and repeat then rinse with hot water and blow out with air hose then let set in the sun to dry out. Just to be sure water is gone I added a little Dry Gas and shook and drained. Never had a problem getting it clean. But I dont know what you may have going on in Your tank. This always worked for me.

The cleaning product will depend on the type of debris found.

But as goonpeden outlined, this sounds good, for just a "general" cleaning.

I've done it this way but added small gravel to the mix. I'd think ice cubes would work as well to chip the hard stuff off.

Rinse well.

Dawn dishsoap, hot water, and a large bottle brush should do the trick.