Flushing The Gas Tank

[Crossrodes]

My gas tank is lined with some kind of red tank liner product.  I had drained it in the spring but didn't get all the gas out.  Now I just removed the petcock and got the remainder of the gas out.  I had some debris in the tank.  I don't think the tank is rusted inside.

I want to flush out the tank and my question is what to use?  Is a hose and water OK to use?  My next step is to fill in some small dents, sand and paint the tank.

[Bob_Roller]

The red liner was applied at the factory .

You can wash it out with water, add a bit of soap if you want .

For drying the inside of the tank, I use a shop vac, put a hose on the outlet side of the vac, and normally it is warm air from cooling the motor, put the hose in the filler hole, and let it sit for a few hours .

Usually I just put it outside in the sun during the summer months, it's usually dry in under an hour .

[suecanada]

I just usually swill around some gas with the petcock off and using the filler hole as well to get those last drops out. Seems to be a lot of shaking and turning to actually get the last bit out. Things begin to sound quiet..no sloshing. I let it dry out with cap and petcock off for a long time as not using it for a winter.

[Crossrodes]

Thanks Bob and Sue.  

I decided to flush it out with water (did it 4 times).  I don't want to use the shop vac as mine will usually blow some dirt.  Today is a nice sunny day here so I have sanded and applied my body filler on a few wrinkles and now the tank sits in the sun, just back in the garage and it is nice and hot.  Hopefully this will get rid of all the moisture that is left inside.

I inspected the innards as well as I could and the only bare metal I could see was the seam at the bottom of the tank where I or the PO had banged a gas pump nozzle on it.  The rest of the tank has the red liner on it.  I'm not going to use an acid to clean the tank and then re-line it at this point.  I'll just keep an eye on it.

Thanks again for your input.

[Johnster]

Sorry to add this late in the game - but once upon a time my then-girlfriend was getting a new hair dryer (part of the reason that she did not become my wife =) and so her old hair dryer became a fixture in my garage - putting one of those on low (maybe unwire a few of the heating elements?) and pointing it inside the tank for an hour will do a good job of drying a motorcycle tank.  Just be sure that you have the petcock off so that there is a flowpath through the tank.  (and dont use a heat-gun- those are hotter and move less air)

-John