cleaning the insides of the reservoir tank

[harpomatic]

friends, i'd like to clean out the inside 'sediment" that accumulated on the inside of the reservoir coolant tank. What's a good way to do it - not every spot is reachable by the brush.

[DRVMN]

Is your recovery tank easy to remove? I'd remove the tank, let it soak over night with hot soapy water and then try a baby bottle brush. It might allow you to reach more areas inside. There are also some small baby bottle brushes for some of the special bottles with tube-like passages in them (my wife runs a home daycare) with a stem that is made out of wire. You could bend the stem to try and reach some of those hard-to-reach spots. Finally, if you can rinse the bottle with something like a garden hose w/nozzle so you can get some higher pressure water inside to blast out the rest of the sediment. That is what I've done with some of my car recovery tanks.

[harpomatic]

I will remove it since I'll be removing radiator to install the new fan, so I plan to attack that tank with all the suggested might. Thanks for the tips. I thought of maybe throwing some small pebbles(like a very fine gravel) in there and shaking it up - good idea, or not?

[John Hopkins]

[QUOTE=harpomatic;1438688]I will remove it since I'll be removing radiator to install the new fan, so I plan to attack that tank with all the suggested might. Thanks for the tips. I thought of maybe throwing some small pebbles(like a very fine gravel) in there and shaking it up - good idea, or not?[/QUOTE]

Bad idea..you don't say what bike it is but the tank is usually made of plastic and will crack easily enough without the help of gravel.

Just my opinion..

John.

[93gc40]

Turkey Baster

[superdiver]

i tried to clean mine out without removing it... like for 2 months over and over with air hose, water, vinegar, soap, alcohol, you name it...

FREAKING WASTE OF TIME !!

save yourself time, frustration, heart muscle and stomach lining.... remove the tank and do it right...ask me how i know....lol

[Alan Naylor]

For my VT700c I had a lot of rust and sediment in both tanks. Popped them off, tossed in a hand full of small nuts to each tank. There is a tank cleaner and sealant kit you can get which will reseal the interior. It comes with a chemical cleaner you use. I cleaned with that, shook it real well with the nuts in the tank. Then hot soapy water, then the prep kit's solution before draining and letting it dry out. Added the liner and after three days of work (about eight hours total time), I had both a main and reserve tank with a lovely cream coating on the interior and no more sediment problems.

One method a friend did was to take a length of thin chain, feed it into the tank, then connect the chain to a drill. Whipped the chain about on high speed inside the tank for a bit to knock loose the majority of the rust. Flushed the tank with hot soapy water then gave it a thorough examination for corrosion and rest. He didn't reseal and line the tank. Just got rid of the worst of the interior mess.

[Jammit]

Originally Posted by superdiver

i tried to clean mine out without removing it... like for 2 months over and over with air hose, water, vinegar, soap, alcohol, you name it...

FREAKING WASTE OF TIME !!

save yourself time, frustration, heart muscle and stomach lining.... remove the tank and do it right...ask me how i know....lol

Hey superdiver - how did you get that lower coolant reservoir out of the frame? I got the 2 bolts out and it's loose, but hangs up on that cross brace...stumped and hoping you've got a tip easier than removing the swingarm.....i've got the airbox out, rear wheel off, battery box out, plenty of room, but that sucker is form fitted to its little spot.

[superdiver]

, i folowed the clymer manual, removed the rear tire and losened things up and it came right out... WAY easier then it sounds...

[Jammit]

Originally Posted by superdiver

, i folowed the clymer manual, removed the rear tire and losened things up and it came right out... WAY easier then it sounds...

I looked for quite a while last night in my clymer and couldn't find it - will try again tonight. It's probably in some section unrelated to cooling, like the engine pulling section or something - Thanks for the reply!