| [GMCnet] was power steering, now fuel tank rehab [message #231185] |
Mon, 25 November 2013 09:52  |
scott cowden
Messages: 170
Registered: February 2004
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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I've been very lucky with my fuel tanks. I had the senders out for the
second time in 11 years a few weeks back. When I bought my coach in
2002, I replaced every inch of rubber fuel line and found over the past
year or so that the line again was rapidly deteriorating and I had 3
separate fuel leaks as this more modern hose decomposed.
When I
inspected my tanks, the combined visible rust flecks I could see were
less than the area of a penny. The rest of the visible metal was white,
in as-new condition.
I attribute a lot of this to liberal use of
fuel stabilizers and consciously keeping my tanks full or near full
when I park it for any length of time. Keeping air out of the tanks is a
key measure.
If I know the coach is going to sit for more than a
couple of weeks before its next adventure, I dose it with Sta-Bil or
Sea Foam at the fill up before parking it.
I was at Jim Bounds
place years back when he had coach there with tanks in a similar
condition to what your video showed this morning. He sent them to a rad
shop that 'boiled,' them to use Jim's term. I seem to recall that they
actually cut a square hole in the top to get better access, cleaned and
sealed the metal and welded the top back on, but that just a near-10
year old recollection.
A good cleaning may be beyond what you can
pull off in your driveway. Ideally, the goal is to remove all the
varnish and junk, beat down the rust scale and seal it to prevent the
continuation of the corrosion.
I don't know what new tanks would
cost, but as I've never seen a fuel tank anywhere that looks anything
like a GMC tank, I don't imagine they'd be cheap as they're custom made
low production numbers units. Cleaning would likely be the more
economical route, but I'm sure our panel of experts has some direct
experience with this.
Scott
'74 x-Glacier
Newmarket ON
> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 09:24:55 -0600
> From: loxley@gmail.com
> To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
> Subject: Re: [GMCnet] power steering and air conditioner belt replacement
>
> During the summer, I evaporated a few inches of gas this way... but the
> weather was much warmer, there was more sun, and the gas was fresher etc.
>
> I didn't mean for there to be a FULL washtub of the stuff. :(
>
> I'm also not thrilled about it being there in the driveway... "And your
> neighbors are putting up with this???" was commented on my Facebook posting
> of the picture.
>
> Just got off the phone with the radiator place. Guy gave me a ballpark
> figure of 250 to clean it out. Dunno if that's a ripoff price or not... If
> a few dollars worth of chemicals and a bit of time building some sort of
> tank/rig gets me to the same place, I should probably do it myself. Two
> tanks would be 500 bucks... now, that was cleaned and recoated/sealed? THAT
> might be more worthwhile... thoughts please. :)
>
> I could lay out some plastic sheeting, if the gas won't eat through it, and
> build a big evaporation pool in the back yard. I suppose I could also take
> my available gas cans and dunk them in the tub to fill them up, or use a
> small bucket to bail it out and into a funnel heading into gas cans, and
> then take it somewhere.
>
> I would like to avoid (a) being cited for some sort of EPA violation and
> (b) spending a ton of money just to get rid of some old gas. I will call
> the state dept of environmental quality and see what they have to say.
>
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