Bought a couple of tins of Slosh from Draganfly; one for the WDM20. One for my BMW. Slosh is a tank sealant supposedly impervious to ethanol, in case anyone doesn't know.

Problem: The M20 has Petseal (or similar) flaking off in huge pieces. I think it will scrape out easily enough. But I don't want to use Draganfly's Petseal stripper. I'm advised it's pretty aggressive, and I don't fancy having the tank repainted when I slop it around and make a mistake. The instructions advise washing the tank out with a strong detergent solution or an alkaline solution to remove fuel deposits. I don't much fancy putting any water in the tank either. But I don't suppose it will do much harm if I don't leave it too long. I don't fancy mucking around with a strong alkaline solution either (whatever that is - caustic soda or just soda, probably).

Question: Is it really necessary to wash the tanks out in this manner? And if not, how long might you want to leave an empty tank to allow fuel residue to evaporate?

Basically, I just want to empty the tanks, scrape out the Petseal from the M20, leave overnight and slosh some Slosh around. Wise? Unwise?

Anyone got any practical experience of this stuff and procedure?

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

Assuming Petseal is something like the commonly used Kreem in the states. I lined a tank that had flaking Kreem inside. I was using Casewell's ethanol proof 2 part liner. It went okay. If you have big hunks falling off then scrape as much out as possible. As long as the stuff that is stuck dosnt come into further contact with ethanol then it wont cause any problems. I say drain tank, scrape anything remotely loose out. Then shake the tank with some screws to brake anything else off. Then wash with acetone. You should have no problems.

I might add that the 2 part ethanol proof tank liners tend to do better on a surface with a small amount of flash rust.

The nicest job Ive done was on a 1965 Suzuki T-20 tank. It was very clean and raw steel and I let it develop a very fine layer of flash rust in it before lining. I also highly recommend the Casewell's 2 part phenol novelac liner. By far the best Ive seen.


I think I finally found a good treatment for ethanol fuel. Star Tron treatment by Starbrite. It seems to work as described.

http://www.starbrite.com/sproductdetail.cfm?ID=1537

email (option): micran1234@yahoo.com

Hmm, tis a problem ,over the last ten years I have used Petseal on every bike tank,more than eight, and still have two unused tins, but last december I took off a bsa m20 tank, to find horror of horrers, huge lumps of petseal floating about,and cant get these lumps out, dont trust petseal the old product now, so why trust the new one,when I contacted petseal was told about the change in fuel types that had affected their product, but only a send me more money and the new stuff will fix the problem reply!! If I remember corectly, the old petseal was sold as the final cure, was it not aircraft fuel proof ? any way I have a problem, with possible loads of work on restored bikes to fix the problem , dont know the ones that will cause me a problem as was never told there was a problem, and I kept no records of when I did the work only when I bought the Petseal,So have waited till somone out there has confirmed that there is a reliable petrol tank sealer that I can replace Petseal with your thoughts folks, andrew H.

email (option): warbikes@gmail.com

I will put my word on Casewell's. I lined the first tank about 5 years ago. We have had 10% Ethanol Gas in the states for a number of years. I have had ZERO problem with Casewell's.

I worked in a fabrication and machine shop for a while and saw it used in airplane tanks, boat tanks, motorcycles of every type. Its the only one I trust. It essentially forms a plastic liner in your tank.

email (option): micran1234@yahoo.com

The American 'Tapox' sealant is definitely up to the job...it is guaranteed to be ethanol proof up to 100% ethanol!. I used it in the B30 after the previous sealant fell off at the first sign of petrol.
The problem is the preparation and application is not entirely straight forward. Also it took a week to harden off (though that was at the coldest time of last winter..however, I did keep the workshop heater full on for the week).
Also there was no way I could coat the tank twice (as recommended) with the amount that was supplied...which was supposedly correct for my tank capacity.(and in England it's expensive)
For these reasons I was planning to use the Draganfly product on the next tank I have to do, so I would be interested in more info. regarding the preparation for, and application of, their product....Ian

I did post my experience regarding the degradation of the old style Petseal that was flaking off in my Indian tanks.
I can't think of any real way to remove the old stuff other than to use Petseals removal solvent. Like Danny I didn't want to f*ck up my paint work.
I removed the tanks and drained them. I then wrapped them up in news paper and masking tape and cut a hole at the filler spout. I carefully poured the solvent in the tanks and replaced the caps. You have to gently shake the tank every hour, then leave over night. Next day I shook out the contents that resembles bran flakes. Then I used my garden hose to thoroughly swill out the remainder. I placed the tanks in front of my dehumidifier for the following night. In my case the tanks didn't need any further action and I wondered why I had put the Petseal in, in the first place. Had it been necessary, I would have re-sealed the tanks with a new formula.
I was lucky! I managed this without a mark on either tank.
IMHO I would use the solvent every time to make sure the tank is cleared of old Petseal.

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Draganfly's product, Slosh, is air drying and is supposed to need moisture to harden. 24 hours minimum. 5 days to fully cure.

I don't think there's much problem with the Petseal coming off in the M20 tank. It looks like it's ALL off - or, at least, is blistering nicely. Problem is, I don't know if there was a problem before. It might be that the Petseal was put in as a matter of course, rather than in direct response to a leak. The bike was restored by James Tennant Eyles before I got it.

The comment about flash rusting makes some kind of sense. I guess that helps key the surface or something. But I'm still reluctant to use any solvent. I'm generally not happy about using any unfamiliar chemicals. I'll have a long think on this.

My real concern is about petrol residue, and whether an empty tank can just be left to air for a few days rather than hosed out.

Anyway, I'll sort out the BMW first. That's got a very distinct weep on about one inch of seam. That will give me some "experience" of Slosh. I'll post something on the forum if I learn anything useful. Thanks again.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

A good quick way to dry the tanks out is to just drain out what you can and then put an airline through the filler cap for 10 mins. This is a useful tip if you need to weld one, it soon gets rid of the fuel and it's vapours too.

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

Hi Dave..That is part of the application procedure with the 'Tapox' tank sealer to help the curing process.
By the way..Thanks for the rim, and particularly the clip...much appreciated...Ian

You're welcome! I remember another pretty good way of removing the loose sealer and that is by using a steam cleaner (hot but not too hot) and if you have a drain jetting attachment all the better as it squirts in all directions, I seem to be doing this a lot for people at the moment and you can get it all done in about 20 minutes by using both methods

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

on a B31 tank which had a lot of rust dust in it i taped a piece of plastic pipe about a metre long and about 10mm diametre to a vacuum and sucked all the dust out would a larger bore pipe work on the flakes

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com