Cleaning rust and sentiment out of fuel tank.

[J3 Driver]

So while my son's cub developed a miss I first thought plugs. Got new plugs and put in and it wouldn't start. Had good spark at the plugs and coil. Compression is good so the only thing that was missing was fuel.

Here the sediment bowl was clogged up with rust and sediment. I'll take it and have it cleaned at at a friends ultrasonics cleaner tomorrow.

Also going to order a new sediment bowl screen as mine is missing. Is there anything that holds it in or does it just kind of sit in there at the top of the sediment bowl.

But what is the best was to get the stuff out of the tank. I've already swirled a bit of gas around a few times and poured it out the cap. Just wondering is there is anything else I should do.

Also going to have the generator looked at while I have everything apart. As sometimes it charges and sometimes it doesn't.

[Crimson Tim]

Doesn't take much rust in the tank at all to really keep you keep you fighting constantly to keep the lines and carb clean.

You should be able to find lots of threads on cleaning and then lining the tank.
For cleaning, a muriatic acid solution or similar. This will also remove the original tank lining, however, so you'll want to line with Red Kote or other fuel tank liner, so the rust doesn't come back worse. You'll get lots of opinions on the best products to use.

Not a super difficult project, but some nasty chemicals to deal with. And you definitely want to be thorough. The baffle in the tank makes it impossible to see if you've got everything coated. Make sure you shake the tank around enough to splash your sealer of choice over ALL of the inside.

I think there is a how-to on this topic, though if memory serves, the pictures might not be working correctly?

[Glen]

Hi,
The screen in the fuel strainer goes above the bowel gasket, this makes a good seal for the screen around it's edges.
You could use the flow chart for the charging system to figure it out why it doesn't charge.
Also try cleaning the points in the voltage regulator. They have 2 sets of points, file them, and then wipe out all filings with a clean rag.
Disconnect the battery ground cable before doing that.
You probably can't get the cover off the regulator if the hood is on, so you need to unbolt the regulator at it's base, and pull it out some. While it is unbolted, you could take off one wire at a time, and sand the connectors, and clean them up. It needs clean connections to work.