The inside of the gas tank on my '03 Dyna looks to have some kind of gray paint. I'm guessing it's the original coating. Correct?

Prior to my coming into possession of this bike some SFB let the bike sit all winter with the tank about half full of gas with a big dose of ethanol. The fuel turned to crap, and now the liner material is bubbling up and coming loose from the metal in places inside the tank. Nothing serious yet, but I'm afraid it will get worse. So what's the best solution? Leave it alone or try to remove it and recoat it. Kreem? POR?

A search using these search words:
"gas tank liner"
"fuel tank liner"
"gas tank inner coating"
"fuel tank inner coating"
turned up little on the subject of what coats the inside of an HD gas tank. It's not like there's a wealth of information on this subject here, so I figure its a fair question. If not, flame away, but if you do, include some links to usable info.

Thanks.

 

Take it off ,shake it with a little gas,dump,repeat till no loose stuff comes out.Clean or replace petcock screen.Ride.

 

Yes, that's the factory coating.
You didn't find anything searching because the search function here blows goats. Go to google and cut and paste the following:

Fuel tank sealer site:www.hdforums.com



https://www.hdforums.com/forum/exhau...k-sealant.html
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/exhau...nk-sealer.html

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/gener...-bubbling.html
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/softa...-question.html


or get the Search site extension for your browser.

I've used POR-15 products and they've all worked as advertised. While never relining a tank with it, i have no doubt it will work. I've used Kreem, it's a 3 step process with good results but it's a PITA.

Personally, I wouldn't reline it until it's bad or it bothered me too much. Sta-bil makes an additive that they say will protect the tank above the fuel line while stored. They're a sponsor and they'll send you some for free if you find the thread and ask nicely.....

Happy Motoring!

 

Coincidentally, I just had to solve this problem on my '00 RK. Both I and my mechanic thought the EFI had taken a dump since the bike wouldn't fire at all, and I was all geared up for an $1800.00 switch-over to carburetor, but when he started draining the tank it quickly became apparent that there was the same problem, only probably quite a bit more advanced, as you describe. My mech's advice was to just steam/pressure wash everything out of the tank, replace the screen that sits over the outlets (there's two on mine, which signal the old-style EFI that Harley doesn't support anymore - hence the decision to go to carburetor if EFI had actually been gone), and the gasket up on top. He said as long as I kept the tank full, it won't rust anymore than it already had. So I just fill up at my regular close-to-home station on the way back in, and there ya go.

Turned out there was nothing wrong with the EFI, and the lining debris wasn't what was keeping it from getting gas either. I stopped at a newly-opened gas station that had just opened up a couple or three weeks ago. I was apparently the first, or among the first, to buy Premium from 'em, so they didn't know that a) their distributor delivered water-contaminated gas or, b) the Premium tank didn't get cleaned out correctly before they opened, but in any case, my tank had over a quart of water in it once the mech got it taken apart far enough to look down into it. He charged me ~$335.00 for all the tank-related work, which I fully expected to have to eat, but when I stopped by the station and showed him my invoice and the part that said, "...and found a large amount of water in the tank," the owner said, "Oh! You're the guy on the Harley that bought Premium here last Saturday, right?" Umm....yeah, sez I, not really expecting them to be waiting for me, but that's exactly what they were doing, waiting for me, because a BMW (car) and a brand new, freshly-delivered Vette with only eight miles on it were hollerin' at them first thing Monday mornin', while it was last Friday that I was there because my mech is an hour and a half away and I just took the bike down there and left it with him and told him "no particular hurry." Turned out that one of the owners had seen me using my debit card and just noticed that I was the third one that day to fill up with Premium, so after the other two had called Mon. morning, he knew I eventually would be calling too. So the new gas station owner(s) (father and son) made good on the $335 and asked only that I still tell my friends that they're good folks to do business with. No problem, because that is the just the plain truth!

Anyway, back to the tank, my mech said it would be futile to try to re-apply a coating in the tank. In mine anyway, there's some rust to begin with, but he said getting all the residue completely cleaned out is near impossible, and that if you don't, the new coating won't adhere right anyway and I'd be back for the same problem within a year or two. Made sense to me, and I don't mind keeping the tank full anyway, but I'm sure others will say it doesn't make any sense and this or that cleaning or coating product will work no matter what, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm just telling you what and how it worked for me. Good luck.

Blues

 

Swap meet, another tank. I never had any faith in relining a corroded tank. Around here, $100 for the tank, another $100 for paint, factor in your labor.

 

Agreed, the only thing I would add to this is to pour a tube of BB's into the tank with gas. You get kind of a bead blasting effect and it works great. Removes loose rust & sealant.

 

Rich

The BBs thing is dry right?

 

Of course not. Must be BB pellets shot from at least a 22.

Seriously though, hoping to get this in my email reminder later today so I have a good excuse to call my Indy and ask him. He last told me my bike should (?) be done by end of month and only 2 working days left, Monday being the 30th.

 

last year I had to clean out some old liner -I started with a needle nose pliers to pull big sheets of it out ---then it was -Acetone to dissolve the rest [ worked good on the old liner]--next prep & etch -the phosphoric acid converts rust to iron oxide [ paintable ]--any way this year I did some welding on the tank and tried the acetone again --No luck --meuratic acid --No luck --quart of premium Zip Strip [ water rinse ] the stuff really works 10 min. the new liner bubbled right up

 

Man that's some really cheap prices. Can't come close to those prices in California.

To the OP, my original 49 EL tanks were in need of lining. (Back then the inside of the tanks were parkerized from the factory.) I had the tanks boilied and then sealed using Red Kote. According to the guy who boiled and sealed them the process does not harm your paint (my taks were just primed so I cannot verify what he said).

Just now finished having the sheet metal painted. Once it is all together I guess I will fins out how well the sealer works.