Rusty Fuel Tank A Destroyed Fuel Pump

[Hohokam]

Hello,

I'm seldom ride anymore, I had a close call a couple times and parked the bike for over a year. I should have drained the tank but didn't have that much forethought.

I'm wanting to ride again but it was having a hard time starting, it would crank some, then start to "tick or click". If I let it charge for a bit it will start turning over again. I decided to remove the fuel from the tank and inspect the lines and what not. To my surprise it was rusted to . Note it was parked inside a garage for the year and I'm in Texas so mild winters (except this year maybe). Regardless it seem an excessive amount of rust for a "relatively" new bike. I took out the fuel pump assembly once I noticed rust from the top. No words.. A lot of the metal is rusted, the plastics tore, the boot near the fuel filter had a steel wool sponge? not sure if that was supposed to be there?

Can anyone one confirm? I'll be replacing everything! Just all seems weird to me.


Best,
Michael

 

[Greyfell]

I have no answers for you; all I can say is "Wow!"

 

[Qship]

If you parked it with low fuel or even half full the condensation will do that, especially if you don't use ethanol free fuel, (ethanol attracts moisture). Drain, add vinegar and shake. Let sit and remove. There are a few threads on here about dealing with rusty fuel tanks. After getting the fuel tank cleaned up, fresh ethanol free(if possible) fuel and Seafoam to clean out the rest of the fuel system and clean the upper engine components. Weak batteries are hard on modern bikes that like a strong 12 Volt power source.

 

[Glencoeman]

Looks like damage caused by ethanol being left in the tank for long periods as it separates from the petrol and basically turns to water. Seen it loads of times where bikes have been left standing for long periods. If you leave the bike standing, use a fuel stabiliser treatment to try and prevent such corrosion.

 

[Hohokam]

I appreciate the information, I'll be sure to take better notice of the fuel type and the length it was setting. I'm just going to replace the fuel pump assembly and may rebuild later on. I will treat the tank for rust as well.

Generally just confused on the steel wool in the tank but it could act as a pre filter?

 

[Qship]

Slows the fuel down in the bottom of the tank so there is fuel always there to pick up.