LOTS of crud in fuel tank. How do I get it out?

[Tin Man]

I currently have the fuel tank off of my 86 250. I can swish around the remaining fuel and hear lots of "crud" in the bottom. I removed the petcock and drained what I could, but there is still a bunch in there. Does anyone have any clever ways of flushing the tank? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Big_J]

Sounds like you have a rust problem. You can use a product called Kreem.... its a 3 part process, the first part you use will remove the rust that remains, the second part will etch the metal inside the tank as a prep for the coating, the third step will recoat the inside of the tank . Its kind of an aggrivateing process but if done right you should not have to worry about the tank in the future, another alternative would be to buy a newer tank off ebay.... but either route would fix the troubles.

[Tin Man]

Thanks for the help. I drained all the gas that I could get out. Man that was full of crap. I just picked up the bike for $500. The guy I got it from said it just quit running, so it sat. I suspect that the carb is full of the same stuff. I know the petcock is. I am hoping to get the bike back into respectable condition soon. Again, thanks.

[Big_J]

The carb is an easy fix, I've gotten the rebuild down to about a 1 hour job, putting in new gaskets, jets and needles.

Keep flushing the tank, make sure you get out as much as possible, and the put an inline fuel filter between the petcock and the carb to keep the crud out of the card once its been cleaned.

[jsonder]

A hunk of chain (with the petcock removed) can be shook around to help get the rust out.

[Tin Man]

Thanks for the replies. I think that I am making progress. Next, I need to rebuild the carb. From the condition of the petcock, I bet the carb is loaded with gunk. Maybe that is why it would stay running for the previouse owner. Again, thanks for the help.