Why are you cleaning this tank?

Rust, or is the coating coming off?

If it is neither, leave it alone...

And for Gods sake, don`t ever use that Kreem **** to line a gas tank.

 

In my case, I had about 1/8 of rusty sludge in the bottom of each tank from sediment in the fuel settling out. It was clogging the fuel strainer and accumulating in the carb. Cleaning it out by the method I described did no harm.

 

Mine was totally rusted out, even the caps. The guy I bought it from didnt know the word maintenance go figure. I refuse to coat the inside of my tank. If you ride enough you dont need it.

 

I took off going to a swap meet in Ft Worth on Sunday. I did not make it far - started spitting and sputtering. When I stopped to try and understand what was going on - I noticed the carb was overflowing. I nursed it home and pulled the carb and sure as *****, it was full of rust and stuff. The petcock screen was old, dead, and had failed, allowing all that crap to go into the carb.

The tanks have been pulled and are now in the process being treated with Metal Rescue. I am using this as an excuse to put on a new petcock and filter (belt & suspenders). This is obviously a drag but what do you expect when you buy something that sat neglected in someone's garage for 17 years?

 

I am now fighting through the flaking and blistering of the original Harley OEM liner. What a mess to clean out.

 

What year is that Heritage?

 

She is a 1997. Google indicates this is not an uncommon problem.

 

Exactly what kind of maintenance should be done to a fuel tank?

 

Like the song says, "keep it in a cool, dry place."

Actually, if you keep running gas through it, problems are unlikely in my experience.

 

too bad, it was a pretty good meet. I picked up 5 or 6 misc. items.