Cleaning the Plastic tanks

[wayne]

I'm just looking at the radiator overflow tank on a restoration that I'm doing and it's a foul brown yellow colour. I know that it's under the tank and you can't see it but................

Does anybody have some nifty ideas on how to get these tanks looking nice and clean ? Ziggy had a great hint on rust removal from tanks so possibly something similar exists for this and the metering pump oil tank.

Thanks,
Wayne

[pmcburney]

Wayne,


I had this issue with the overflow tank on my GT750.

I used a combination of degreaser-in-a-can ($2.00 stuff from Supa Cheap), CT-18 ('truckwash' - the green stuff), water and a compressor.

Spray the degreaser in through both of the outlets, block them off and then shake crap out of it to try to loosen the deposits.

Rinse and do the same with the CT-18.

Repeat ad infinitum.

Blow all the liquid out with compressed air.

Continue until all the crud is out. You may need to insert a pipe-cleaner or similar into the tank to scrape some of the more recalcitrant stuff from the nooks and crannies.

I ended up with a tank that looked almost brand-new, but it took a fair while.

BTW, you'll never return them to that translucent-white that they're like when really new, but you can certainly turn a black/brown one back to creme.


Good luck
Paul McB

[tokyojoe]

I also needed to clean out one of my plastic tanks (the radiator header tank to be precise - only small apertures so very difficult to get anything inside to remove the debris etc..)

I used various combinations of cleaner and hot water to try and remove the `rust` scale deposits, but I was not 100% satisfied with the results.

It was Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day as we call it in the UK), and my good lady was making some pancakes for tea. These were served with a squirt of lemon juice.

As I was eating the pancake I thought how sharp the lemon juice was. This set me to thinking if neat lemon juice squirted into the tank would help clean it out, letting the natural acidity of the juice break down all the contaminants. Note, the juice supplied in the plastic dispensers also contains ascorbic acid and preservative E233.

I applied this neat to the tank, swilled it around for a few minutes then left it to `do its stuff` for a few days.

The results were excellent - all the rust colouring had gone!!
The tank will never return to its original white, but it was not far off!.
It looked more like a shade of ivory in colour after the juice had dissolved the deposits inside.

The mixture is easily rinsed out and is far to weak in strength to harm the plastic tank itself.

It worked for me, so all I suggest is that you give it a try.

Regards,
Mick J

[ziggystardust]

I found that 'Fairy Liquid' (used for washing dishes by hand in the U.K.) worked well with very hot water, use a bristle bottle brush for the bigger plastic tank.

Just keep rinsing to achieve an acceptable result.

[wayne]

All good tips. The lemon juice has me intrigued. I did in fact use filtered and heated lemon juice to return my GS750 carb bodies to an original look. It was very effective- found it somewhere on the net. I might have a go at that first as I have some handy and try the other methods on the 2 other header tanks I have.

Thanks to all.

Wayne

[wayne]

I tried the lemon juice but unfortunately didn't work as well on my tank. However, all your suggestions got me thinking.

I dissolved a Dishwasher tab in hot water and then poured into the tank. Very effective. Cleaned out all the yellow brown crud inside the tank within an hour. It's pretty much good enough to go now but have also filled it with a bleach solution and soaking it immersed in the same for a few days- why not, see what happens.

Many thanks for getting the brain kickstarted.

Wayne