Tank Overhaul

Was minding my own business earlier, went to fill up and there was a pool of water around the lip of the tank filler hole. I realised after soaking it all up with paper towels and scraping the crud from the rim that there is actually a drain hole there, unbeknownst to me under the years of corrosion and shit that had built up.

When I got back home, I tried poking around/blowing up pipes and all manner of stuff to no avail. I didn't want to stick anything too pokey down the hole as looking at the parts fiche made me think it twists and turns through the tank itself rather than going straight out the vent lines. Is there a good way of clearing this drain hole without dismantling the tank internals or am I going to have to drain the tank and try and clear it from the inside out?

Also on a related note, the tank lining seems to be wearing away on the edge of the inside, what's the best thing to do with this apart from throwing a match in there and just calling it a day? I saw a couple of old posts mentioning POR-15 but it seems to sell for about 60 quid a litre, and I saw mixed reports about ethanol content in fuel destroying this lining anyway?

Any suggestions would be majorly appreciated.

You could possibly try poring some vinegar down the vent hole I believe that's good at removing rust by pickling it. If you taking the tank off to empty it you can put some smallish stone pebbles in and give it a good long shake to knock off any rust inside the tank.

Take an old inner brake cable off your old grifter and insert it from the exit of the overflow pipe. Don’t push it from the tank filler side as it will pop the pipe off inside the tank if it is block.

As for the tank lining paint I would leave it unless it is rusted badly, that’s what filters are for. The shape of the 1150 tank means that the petrol nossle hits the inside of the tank and most I’ve ever looked at have the red paint chipped off.

Andi_archer said:

You could possibly try poring some vinegar down the vent hole I believe that's good at removing rust by pickling it. If you taking the tank off to empty it you can put some smallish stone pebbles in and give it a good long shake to knock off any rust inside the tank.

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Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all, was avoiding putting anything down there in case the line split/came off and everything just ended up in the tank but I might get to the point where it doesn't matter anyway. And like a twat I filled the tank despite knowing this was ahead of me so I've made life hard for myself in that regard.

ian6760 said:

Take an old inner brake cable off your old grifter and insert it from the exit of the overflow pipe. Don’t push it from the tank filler side as it will pop the pipe off inside the tank if it is block.

As the tank lining paint I would leave it unless it is rusted badly, that’s what filters are for. The shape of the 1150 tank means that the petrol nossle hits the inside of the tank and most I’ve ever looked at have the red paint chipped off.

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Glad to hear it, I will avoid dealing with the flaking paint then until I have to do more drastic maintenance in that area like changing out the filter/internals. It can't be that bad anyway as I haven't had any starvation issues, was just something I eyed when I was peering into the void.

Well I have a clear drain hole now, I ended up putting a bit of carb cleaner down the vent hole, and then a bit of vinegar for seasoning and gave it the ol' poke up the back side. Wasn't too successful at first but I combined it with a can of compressed air. Lucky I was standing back and not looking in to the hole like a muppet as after a few attempts a shower of black tar stuff came flying out.

Will be periodically giving it a clear through but all seems a-ok now. I guess that's what happens when the previous owner only does 1000 miles in half a decade.

Well that's good news at least when your sat on the bike overfilling it will now go to the floor instead of over your lovely paint work

Any loose paint I would try remove and scour around the area it came from.
I used an 80 grit scourer cable tied to a bent length of plastic conduit.
Vacuum the bits out.

Adrian