400: Lagoon 400 fuel tank

[feebs]

Lagoon owners manual recommends cleaning fuel tanks at 5 year mark, so I am looking at draining/sucking any water/crud that may be in my L400 fuel tanks. So before I go ahead, looking for pointers from those that have gone before me.

From the outside, tank bottom appears flat ie without any low points. Is this correct?

Any tricks to gaining access to these tanks would be appreciated.

Thanks Brett

[arsenelupiga]

Mine has another year to go but this is what I plan once time comes:

get tank to near empty
then position battery lighting to light the tank bottom from outside - tank is transparent so hope to see inside well
loosen most appropriate/largest openings - delivery fuel line, i guess
then use remote $8 camera attached to my phone and get it inside
inspect visually for traces of water/dirt

and go from there

[feebs]

It's not as easy as Lagoon's throw away line - "Every 5 years clean the tank to remove possible sludge deposi-tion".

Franc -will your camera have sufficient definition to detect any water?

Am considering using some water detection paste on a length of dowel to see if/how much water is in my tanks. Was also going to add a couple water absorption tubes http://dieselqualityservices.com.au/...-WE-2-LEFT.jpg but as can be seen from photo, access to tank is limited without adding an inspection cap.



Also looking at these - Green Mag Filter. http://dieselqualityservices.com.au/product-1 Any comments on these?


Cheers Brett

[tuskie]

Thanks Brett, for reminding us Lagoon owners of yet another job.
Prevention better than cure, I suppose.

Your suggestion should work well, but I think I'll just insert a plastic tube to the bottom of the tank, suck out a liter or two of fuel and look at it in a glass jar.

We have glass bowls under our primary CAV filters and haven't got a drop of water in them, so don't anticipate much gunk in tanks.

[feebs]

So I ventured towards my fuel tanks on the weekend to see how a 2010 model is progressing. Happy to report all is OK.

Ended up removing two screw type plugs & both return brass fittings from each tank & having a look into tank. Pretty limited, but no visible contamination. Then spread a little water detection paste onto a length of dowel & inserted this into tank such that it touched bottom. Again all clear. So have decided that my tanks don't need a clean - I gather fuel additive is doing its job - so will keep adding that with each refill of tanks.

Here are a couple of photos of the access points - hope they help.

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by feebs

Franc -will your camera have sufficient definition to detect any water?

sorry missed your reply. I have done testing of camera only at this stage and it has it's own light and also mirror to see 90 degrees. So can't say how good it would be for tank inspection. Almost certainly illuminating tank with strong lights (if tank transparent ?) would be very helpful.

good outcome for you

thanks for sharing.