Hi Folks!
I got my bike just about a couple of years ago with 700 kilometers on it. It was as new and still had all it's original stickers etc. It had probably never been washed and was very clean. Literally, as new. This was in 2012 and the bike is a 2008 - so it was 4 years old with 700 kilometers - not bad.
As I said, the bike was literally 'as new'. It came as quite a surprise when I went to fill it up and took the fuel cap off I found some rust at the very top of the tank right on the lip
How did an otherwise perfect and spotless bike get rust on the inside of the tank?
It was parked for a prolonged period with less then a full tank of gas.
Tank rust is a common issue with motorcycles because they tend to be used seasonally. If the bike is left with anything less then an absolutely full tank of gas (right to the very top) it will start to rust This is why, with any older bike, tank rust is the first thing a person looks for. It's also why a clean tank for a bike that's no longer produced will sell for a small fortune. It seems most everyone will neglect to park it for the winter without a full to the brim tank of fuel. And therein lies the problem.
So, if you want to protect your tank, and you should because nothing will clog up the fuel filter faster then rust, you have to either park it with a completely full tank of fuel or.......
coat the inside of your tank with special paint.
This is what I did after filling up a few times. I got tired of seeing the small amount of trace rust on the tank, watching it grow, and I know from experience that
rust never sleeps. It will grow over time and I also know that there's no way that I'm going to go through the effort of remembering to park the bike with a full tank and there's no way I'm going to keep a Jerry can full of gas nearby so that I can fill it to the top when I do park it.
This is where coating your tank comes into play and the best time to do it is when your bike is new and/or the tank is spotless. By coating it I mean the
inside of the tank
POR 15 is a preventative rust coating. You can actually use it on a rusty tank although it's much smarter to coat if before the rust gets a foot hold, ie, when the bike is new. So what you do is take the tank off the bike when it's nearly empty (very simple) and then remove the fuel pump/float assembly from the bottom and then follow the directions on the kit. Normally, you rinse the tank out with one chemical, and then another, and then some soap, and then dry it out completely and finally coat it with the included paint.
You turn and flip the tank around so that the paint gets into every nook and cranny and then, when done and completely dry, you'll have a rust-proof tank.
With mine, because it had a small amount of trace rust on the filler neck, I took a slightly different path first. I used reverse electrolysis to completely remove all traces of rust from the tank and then did the
POR 15 treatment.
What did I find when I removed the fuel pump/strainer/float assembly? Even with the very minor rust that my tank had, sure enough, the filter was almost plugged with rust particles. This really surprised me because my tank had very little rust and only on the lip. The rest of the tank was 'as new'. Yet that was enough to cause the filter to be nearly plugged. Contrary to popular belief, you actually can remove the filter and pump from the assembly and clean it - but why put yourself in that position?
What's the benefit of doing the
POR 15 treatment? It's two-fold. One, you prevent rust from ever forming in your tank and you can park it with
any amount of fuel in it and not worry. You don't have to run to the gas station and remember to fill your tank right to the very top and then top it up during the off season to make up for evaporation.
This alone is the real benefit. The second benefit though is that it makes the inside of your tank silver which is pretty bright and so you can see right into the tank down to the fuel pump. This makes it really easy to see what the fuel looks like, if it's clear, cloudy or if you got a bad tank. If the bike's been sitting for a long time and you're wondering about the fuel, chances are you will be able to see if it's so far gone that it should be drained or if it's good enough to run through and clear it out.
Here's some pics of my tank with the treatment. I can't recommend it enough and...tanks for listening