Fuel tank cleanout

[hobojoe]

whats the best way to clean out the fuel tank? I have an empty tank- about to change the fuel lines, but i noticed alot of brown gunk at the bottom of the tank. Is it the same procedure as a hull cleaning?

 

[brock1]

i just use a little gas and swish it around then dump it out

 

[bell99man]

If still in the ski, try putting enough gas in there to float the gunk off the bottom. If it won't float, see below. Then get a siphon kit from your local Wally World. Wire tie a wooden dowl or straightened out coat hanger to the supply side of the hand pump. Have a helper pump that thing while you shine a light down in the tank and push that tube around sucking up all that crud off the bottom.

If the tank is out...what brock1 said.

 

[RodInEscondido]

I agree with brock; the only way to get all the crud out is to take the extra time and remove the tank ... also safer although I do not know for your model ski if you can get the tank out the hatch. On my 89 SP I was able to shoehorn it out the front hatch with only a small amount of friendly talk to it and a couple of pieces of roof flashing to act as a shoehorn.

Whatever you do, do not try a shop vac ... back in one of the gas crunches there was a story about the genius who decided to use a shop vac to pull some gas out of his boat for his car. Tended to wreck his whole day ... and the boat ... and the car.

Rod

 

[Dennis]

Sometimes the stuff in the bottom of the tank is kinda like a sticky sand. Siphon out all you can and then pour some "PURPLE POWER" in the tank and let it sit overnite. The sticky sand will turn into a liquid and can then be siphoned out.

 

[bell99man]

Yeah, my trick did not work. It sounded good til I tried it out. The stuff in my tank is floating on the seam but when I try to siphon, for some reason the hand pump blows out first and then draws. So I just end up spreading the crap all over the bottom. I have the thing about half full, so I guess I'll need to run her low first...no place to put that much gas.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Yeah, my trick did not work. It sounded good til I tried it out. The stuff in my tank is floating on the seam but when I try to siphon, for some reason the hand pump blows out first and then draws. So I just end up spreading the crap all over the bottom. I have the thing about half full, so I guess I'll need to run her low first...no place to put that much gas.

just siphon it into a 5 gallon tank, or two, then dispose of it (legally) if you don't have one borrow one from a neighbor.

 

[Seadoobuddy]

Yeah, my trick did not work. It sounded good til I tried it out. The stuff in my tank is floating on the seam but when I try to siphon, for some reason the hand pump blows out first and then draws. So I just end up spreading the crap all over the bottom. I have the thing about half full, so I guess I'll need to run her low first...no place to put that much gas.

Try turning the pump around. You might be trying to suction from the exit hose. Easy to mix up.

 

[bell99man]

Try turning the pump around. You might be trying to suction from the exit hose. Easy to mix up.

I did get that part right, but for some reason it kicks a little out the supply line first. Maybe I'll get a couple of 10gal cans and pour it through a cheese cloth from one can to another. It's premium gas bought 2-3 weeks ago. I kind of hate to just pitch it and I don't know where to dispose of that much...I have 2 machines with the same issues.