Cleanng pickup truck fuel tank.

Fuel pump finally laid down on my 94 F-150. The rear pump was not working when I bought the truck and the front one quit a few weeks ago. I am just not getting around to getting to fixing it. Pulled the bed this weekend with some help from some friends cause both tanks were full of fuel and I didnt want to mess with dropping the tanks.

Pulled the rear pump and sender out tonight to install a new pump and the tank is got quite a bit of rust in it. I got the fuel siphoned out of the tank but there is still a little bit of fuel ( very little) and still some rust in there.

Ok, please dont flame me to bad but here are my thoughts. Leave the pump out of the tank for a few days to let the rest of the fuel evaporate ( I love me some EPA laws ) THEN use a wire brush on the inside of the tank to remove any excess rust. Fill the tank with water, and vacuum out the water / rust with a wet vac. Let the tank sit again for a few days to air dry..and vacuum any residual rust left in the tank.

I am SURE there is a better way of doing this. Im not in a hurry for the truck so if it takes a few more days to finish I'm ok with that.

Thoughts, I just dont want to pull the tank off even empty its a S.O.B. to work with..

you might be ok doing it that way . but if I was you I would go ahead and drop the tank and clean it good shouldn't be to hard with the bed off I have dropped both tanks on my 86 and replaced the pumps it was not that hard just alot of dirt in the face, if the tank is very rusted and don't want to replace it napa sales some stuff you can coat the inside with and it will also plug up any little holes work good used it in my 69 mustang when I had it

If it is rusty I would buy a new tank. The rust won't go away unless you coat it with one of those tank restoration kits. By the time you clean it, have it steam cleaned then buy chemicals to seal the rust you would have spent more than just buying a new tank.

When you say fuel, I assume with the description its gas?

Tanks are CHEAP, I wouldn't mess with a rusty tank. Rock Auto has them for 72-100 dollars, I'm sure you can find them locally for close to that.

If the budget is an issue... might think about replacing 1 tank with a larger capacity tank, if available. Then, it is only 1 fuel pump to worry about.

Here it us for $98 bucks. fuel tank


I can't believe you took the bed off. LOL. I used a floor jack last time I had to change ones like that. Do you put the truck on it's roof when you rotate tires? JK.

Both pumps had quit. The rear tank several months ago. I had been using just the front pump / tank since May. It was full of fuel when it the front pump quit two weeks ago. Much easier to just unplug the tail lights and lift the bed with a few friends instead of dropping both fuel tanks full of fuel.

I only turn the truck upside down when I clean out the ashtray.