VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Gas Tank Sealer !!!

Someone before me put Gas Tank Sealer in my 32 , Now the crap is peeling off inside the tank . So the only thing I can do now is buy a New $500+ Tank because This one can not be fix !!
For Warned is For Warned Don't put Sealer in your Gas Tank !!

You might want to read through the following thread:

https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/240857/1

One of the contributors on the second page said that acetone cleaned out the old gunk.

Cheers, Dean

I must be the exception as I treated my Gas and Vac Tank with a 3 stage process back in 2007, no problems.

The biggest problem people have with the process is they rush it, I took my time over 2 weeks.

More importantly Ethanol does not like tank linings. Luckily in Oz we do have a choice, whereas in the USA I believe its everywhere.

Cheers

Ray

Agreed, I used RedKote nine years ago and it's holding tight. Nearly every time I've seen liner fail it was because the installer didn't follow the manufacturer's directions. I've used two different brands of liner over the years and acetone would degrade both.

I had two factory gas tanks with factory installed commerical liner in each. The liners in both tanks failed and completely plugged up the fuel system.

I sealed the new tank I installed on my 1963 Corvair 25 years ago and had no problem. Used a "cleaner" and white sealer I purchased at a Harley-Davison dealer.

Yellow is the color of the sealer you DON'T wan't to use. Red, blue, and white, all work on the tanks that will be using the corn squeezings.

So the ethanol is the culprit in eating away/ breaking down the tank lining being used ?

So if you line you need to find & use one that is ethanol (alcohol) safe ?

Every factory has occasional glitches where products fail. That's why they have warranties. We'd refer to them as FFUs (Factory #%&* Ups) and get on with building whatever we were building at the time. I've had excellent results with tank liners over the years.

I used aircraft fuel tank sealant in an American LaFrance fire truck fuel tank almost thirty years ago and there has been no problem at all. It is expensive but once you do it, it is done. I used the slosh type in a 30 gallon round tank.

I also used aircraft sealer more then 45 years ago in my 27 Gardner and it still is working.
Al

Yes....every factory has occasional glitches where products fail...and I agree. However.....this was no glitch but rather an inferior product. Two tanks in a row failed and in contacting the factory about the issue we found that many of their other tank liners had failed as well. We removed the remains of the liners from the two tanks, cleaned the tanks and then reinstalled them without the liners. No problems since.

I spent about 150 bucks having my tank sealed after two stall outs, one with a new fuel filter in less than 50 miles. Two years later the liner started to peel so I went for a new tank. The cost delivered to my door was about 50 bucks more than the clean job. New tanks only for me from now on.

I used the Caswell sealer in my 1960 Corvair , it's clear, I hope it doesn't fail:( anyone else use Caswell Sealer?

We have had several people say that their sealer pealed off, but no one has told us what sealer was used, how was it applied, did you give it time to cure, and many more questions, so just for the record tell us what the story really is.

Just to give you my story. I had a cleaned tank that was pristine and lined it with the YELLOW sealer. This was before the corn squeezings fuel. It is known that the YELLOW stuff was not compatible with the new fuel. I had to remove my tank and start all over with removing the YELLOW stuff. When it was absolutely clean and dry I coated the tank by sloshing a qt of RED sealer. It is now many years later and absolutely no problems. I have used the RED, WHITE and the BLUE in fuel tanks and it is a major part of my restoration of the vacuum fuel tanks.

Antique Mechanic.... Details as requested

I used a four stage process to eliminate rust, Gum, etch and seal the fuel tank and Vac tank.

The product I used was POR Fuel Tank repair kit, which I believe is made in the USA.

http://ppcco.com.au/por19.html

Over a period of 2 weeks I restored the tank to an "as new" useable condition.

Following the instructions to the letter, the tank was thoroughly cleaned, rust treated, etch primed and sealed with a smooth ceramic type lining.

I sloshed the coating about, rotating the tank and using a torch and mirror to ensure all areas were covered.

A key point is to blow very low pressure air through the fuel out let to ensure the pick up is not blocked.

I also treated the Vacuum Tank the same process. That was back in 2007, and so far 7 years later (2014), I have had no issues.

BUT I WILL MENTION WE DONT HAVE COMPULSORY ETHANOL IN OZ, THAT MAY CHANGE THE RESULTS.

Regards

Ray

Who manufactures each of the different sealers? Thanks.

My Corvair fuel tank was mint inside, no rust at all. I just mixed A&B and poured it in and sloshed mixture around the inside surfaces. Then I drained off the excess sealer.In Canada some of the hi test/premium fuel has no ethanol in it, at least thats what I hear??

My preference is Redkote.

If you are asking me what I used , Then you didn't read what I said . The tank was sealed by someone else the own the car before me !! So I don't know what was used but I can tell is the
what is peeling is sort of yellow but yet I can see RED sealer
at the fill neck . I'm buying a new tank from The F.S and I'm not going to use sealer .....

I wouldn't think you'd need liner on a new tank. I didn't have a choice with my '38. New tanks weren't available at the time so I had to try to save mine by brazing the larger holes & using liner. So far so good. Good luck with your new tank.

I have sealed a half dozen tanks over 16 years with the J.C. Whitney
white stuff. So far, no failures. Also used two component Epoxy to
repair severely rusted out areas on tank bottoms without failure.
Friends who have purchased new tanks have seen rust develop inside
rather Quickly. We figured it might be due to thin galvinizing.
Some folks might claim the ethanol in gas plays a role in rapid deterioration----but no hard data.
Most new vehicles that I have seen come with polymer tanks covered
with metal shielding. Perhaps that has been proven to withstand any
level of oxygenated additives.
Dan