Urgent - rusty tank tonite!

[natedees]

Does anyone know why my tank will look nice and silver immediately after putting phosphoric acid in it, and then after rinsing with water and drying, look orange all over in the inside - looks much worse than when i even started! nothing will remove the stuff except more acid - i really want to get the tank back on, but not with acid in it - help!

[bradleymaynar]

Are you using a treatment system (POR-15, Kreem)? From personal experience with the Kreem system, you're supposed leave the acid in overnight. Then after rinsing (I'm sure I'm not remembering the whole process correctly) with water, you're supposed to treat it with an alcohol (included in kit) that gets rid of all the water. Then Kreem.

Brad tt

[lord1234]

if you are just using straight ACID you need to neutralize it with a base directly afterwards, and fill it with gas as soon as psosibly

[BikeNut]

You're getting flash rust. After you treat the tank with phosphoric acid, the metal is completely exposed to the oxygen in the air and will develop a fine layer of rust very quickly. You should get a liner kit like Kreem or Por-15 which will protect the metal. If you don't coat the tank, it will only rust again.

[b1ackd3ath]

The tank is probably flash rusting. It should not be air drying. You can neutralize with a baking soda wash. An alcohol rinse or acetone might get it to dry faster... use a hair dryer...

[mdole]

Yamaha shops sell a two part system that comes with an acid to remove the rust abd a neutralizer (passivator) rinse.

[Nessism]

In my experience the flash rusting is nothing to worry about but of course it's best to do as the other say and neutralize it.

[natedees]

Thanks guys - I was not aware of "flash rusting". I am sure that is what is going on - I was using baking soda and water to neutralize, and then drying with a hair dryer, but was not using a kreem kit. I guess I just wasn't drying fast enough.

Nessism - you feel like this flash rust will not dirty up my carbs in general??