Sand in gas tank

[jmccollum]

Ok so i just completly rebuilt my boat floor and motor. Didnt think anything about checking the inside of my gas tank and come to find out there ios quite a bit of sand in the tank. Seeing how i just put a brand floor and carpet in i really dont want to tear it out to clean the tank. Is there any kind of chemical, additive or something like that i can put in the gas that wont hurt the motor but will help disolve the sand? Thanks in andvance for everyones input.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Sand in gas tank

Nope , but you may be able to get a filter, but if you dont get some thing it will plug you your carbs in a heart beat.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Sand in gas tank

Drain tanks. Fill with water to the top of fill and use a shop vac to suck out all fluid and sand. The water will bring all fumes to the surface and dissipate.Water is heavier then gas thus forcing everything to the top.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Sand in gas tank

I bet it's ethanol crud. It looks like sand. How else can sand (enough to see) get in there, unless the boat swamped in the surf?

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Sand in gas tank

I dunno, we had a bunch of fuel issues that we didn't figure out until we rebuilt the transom and pulled the tank. Lots of red dirt (Okla.) in the bottom of the tank. Issues, would run fine after setting for 10-15 minutes, but would start to stumble and then not do anything more than idle. Turns out that the dirt in the tank was being stirred up once underway, but would settle back out after sitting for a bit. We used to keep the boat in a barn which had a few horses in nearby stalls kicking up dirt. The best we can figure, the dirt being blown/kicked around all of the time made its way through the fuel vent over the years and eventually accumulated in the fuel tank.

I think I'd do as was mentioned before and fill with water and shop vac it out. Don't do it with the gasoline in there because you'll blow yourself to high hell.

 

[jdlough]

Re: Sand in gas tank

I bet it's ethanol crud. It looks like sand.

Yep, ethanol cleaned the varnish off the inside of the tank from my 1980's skiff. It looked like orange/pinkish sand. Bigger chunks were blocking the fuel pick up tube, and the primer bulb was getting sucked flat.

I used Star Tron Tank Cleaner. http://www.iboats.com/STAR-TRON-TAN...50841043--session_id.740403912--view_id.61945

I had to change the fuel/water separator filter a few times as the crud was dissolved and was sucked thru the fuel line.

It seemed to work - the primer bulb doesn't get sucked flat anymore.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Sand in gas tank

How much sand are we talking?? I'd think it would be nearly impossible to get it all out by just flushing with water.

If you are going to flush with water and then try to remove the water I would tilt the tank (boat) so that all of the sand will run to one corner. if you can get the shop vac hose to that corner you may be able to get most of the sand out.

Personally, I find draining a tank of gas to be dangerous and difficult. The thought of introducing water to the tank also sounds like it could be problematic. I would start with a filter to keep the sediment from reaching the carb. If you have issues with the filter then and only then would I even think about messing with the tank.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Sand in gas tank

Horses don't have hands to open fill caps and dump sand in there but 10 year old boys and angry farm hands do. Just sayin'.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Sand in gas tank

Horses don't have hands to open fill caps and dump sand in there but 10 year old boys and angry farm hands do. Just sayin'.

The horses were pets at a country home owned by my uncle. He was the only farm hand, lol. I doubt he was busy pouring dirt into the fuel tank of our boat. Again, it was our only explanation for the dirt in our tank aside from contamination from fuel station tanks.