Harley gas tank sealer

[exeric]

One of the reasons I like a paste type paint remover is because it generally stays in place and you don't need to fill the tank to full capacity like you would with a watery viscous solvents like MEK, or acetone. Regardless of liner solvents used; if you have pin-holes in the steel tank, your paint job will be ruined in the process of removing the old liner. Better to just strip the whole tank of outside, and inside coatings and start all over again. . . A real 'bummer' in the immortal words of old hippies.

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Otis, the grey is likely a polyurea “epoxy” which means it’s really a high grade poly-acrylic. These were the old truck stop liners. Once cured, you have to break the skin to get them to start breaking down. Lac or acetone will do it, but it takes forever.

They soften best in toulene, which is nonpolar and breaks the bonds pretty fast compared to acetone.

i really hate that stuff as much as the old gas tank epoxy sticks. Real mofo to remove this stuff and it’s almost always covering up rust.

my approach is to soften, then fill with 220 grit triangles (usually green) and tumble. You can rig up all sorts of things to turn the tank over and over. Let it run for 24 -48 hours. 90-95% will come out. Then, you can coat with a higher strength liner like caswell. It isn’t best practice to leave any old liner in the seams, but you often don’t have a choice unless you open the tank and mechanically remove it all.

[otis71]

The tank has been on idle for several months with lacquer thinner sitting in it, I have a spare primered tank so it got pushed to the back burner with lack of progress. I bought a gallon of acetone so that is next. Nothing to lose now. If not successful I’ll see if I can find toluene. The shame is that where the liner came off the tank appears rust free and solid. Also to exeric, can you give a little more information on paste removers? I haven’t heard of them. Thanks for the suggestions.

[exeric]

Paste paint remover is generally used for automotive paint removal (Corvettes in particular). Because I'm cheap, I use cheap furniture paint remover. There's a high end aircraft stripper, and low end furniture stripper and they are priced accordingly, but generally a gallon of stripper is comparably priced to a gallon of MEK, or Acetone. Regardless, you will need to use a solvent to remove residue so see what works on the liner in your tank. Getting the old liner out is just the first step, and as Steve said, there is always rust, leaks, and dents to deal with so the fun just keeps on coming. I can't say I love working on gas tanks, but I don't hate it either because I enjoy a hard-earned result.

[PaulCDF]

Once upon a time: you could take your tank to a radiator shop for cleaning . . .

I have had success with steam getting old liner out.

[panmandan61]

Would no sealer bear tank be ok

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Sadly, the paste type strippers no longer contain methylene chloride. The safer version of MC they now use will break polyurethane bonds like redkote, but won’t affect epoxies or iso-polys like Por-15 liner. Even aircraft stripper is just a higher concentration. That’s why it takes sooooo long to strip stuff compared to 10 years ago.

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Would no sealer bear tank be ok

Yes.

no liner is always “best”

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Once upon a time: you could take your tank to a radiator shop for cleaning . . .

I have had success with steam getting old liner out.

Could you explain the steam? Do you mean a steam cleaning wand for industrial equipment?

I’m keen to learn this one.

[PaulCDF]

Yes exactly pressurized steam to clean equipment with. Long time ago not sure what if anything like that is around today.

[panz4ever]

Not cheap by. any means but I use GTL Advantage out of So Cal.

[chuckthebeatertruck]

well, time to revist my "red kote is ok" statement.

I've had my last red kote, coated tank in my personal possession for several years.

I didn't ride that bike much this summer and left it from late June until this past weekend (November) with a full tank of 93 octane, 10% ethanol fuel.

I drained the tank this past weekend . . .and the fuel was stained red. I could see clear spots where the red-kote was thinning.

This tank held up to similar abuse for more than 5 years - so this really is a slow disintegration of the red-kote.

All that said, the shop's HVAC was kaput this summer due to storms and the bikes experienced much greater temperature fluctuations than normal - but that shouldn't have caused me to find dissolved red-kote.

I can no longer feel comfortable recommending or using red-kote after finding this.

On the other end of the spectrum, I drained two tanks that had pin hole leaks which were repaired using Caswell between 7 and 14 years ago - both are still going strong and the fuel had no discoloration when it came out of the bikes.

Oh, and I put that red kote stained fuel in our garden tractor -- which promptly ran poorly. Yes, it was old fuel - but I suspect the dye in the fuel, along with its age, didn't help at all.

YMMV

[PaulCDF]

Thanks for the update. I have been a Red Kote fan but have also used Caswell on tanks.

[wallaman]

Another thumbs up for Caswell here. Done a number of tanks now over the years, some steel, some fiberglass. All still working well! Getting ready to do a couple more...