Need advice – Rusty Gas tank.

[sattech2000]

Need some advice. 5 years ago I put a new Gas tank/Fuel pump assembly in my ranger. Six months later I rolled the truck. It’s been sitting out back since then.

A couple of years ago I picked up an identical ranger. Well a few month ago that gas tank started leaking. I pulled the one out of my rolled truck. Dropped the leaky one from my truck. Went to put the new tank in my truck and noticed a lot of rust on the inside of the new tank.

I know to do it correctly would be to buy another new tank but unfortunately due to finances that is not an option for me at this point and I need my truck on the road by tommorow.

Would the rust on the new tank just settle at the bottom or am I seriously asking for trouble by trying to use it. I have the fuel pump assembly removed at the moment. Or should I just put the leaky one back in? The leaky one looks pretty rotted and most likely leaking somewhere around the fuel pump assembly. I’m going to go try and clean it up to see just how bad and if I can locate the leak. Maybe I could try sealing it for the time being.

Any thoughts?

 

[RobbieD]

If it were me, I'd try cleaning up the rusty one before using one known to leak. Put a length of chain in the tank. and tie it up to tree limb or something to make it easy to tumble and rotate it. Tumble and rotate the tank with the chain inside for as long as you can stand it. Pull the chain out, then pour some mineral spirits in it and tumble it some more. Keep doing that until the mineral spirits look clean when you pour it out. Then make sure that any remaining mineral spirits are dried out, and install it.

 

[sattech2000]

Thanks for the tip. I’ll keep that in mind.
My old leaky tank is spotless on the inside. I cleaned all the rust from the fuel pump area and found the pin hole (In the tank, not the FP assembly). I’m just going to seal that up and put it back in. I just have a gut feeling the rusty new tank is going to cause me problems. This should get me by for now until I get a new tank…or truck! Boy that $500 91 ranger is only an hour or so from me. Very tempting right now.

 

[RobbieD]

Well, an otherwise good metal tank with just a pinhole would be an easy fix. Sounds like the way to go, and good luck with it.

 

[OilPatch197]

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