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Old 04-04-2018, 22:34   #1
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diesel bug tank cleaner

Is anyone aware of a product that will dissolve the remaining crud and diesel bug residue from a near empty tank which has already been given the anti bug additive treatment.My racor filter bowl is still collecting black globules which I am told will eventually disappear but I am inclined to a radical clean out if such a product exits.Yes I know the obvious answer is to get in there and physically clean it [which I would love to do] but this would involve removing the engine and the tank just to get access - a major exercise that fills me with dread. Any thoughts?
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Old 05-04-2018, 01:14   #2
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

It depends on the product you used. Maybe the debris is a result of the way your biocide kills the bugs. You should be able to setup a circulation pump and run thru the existing primary w/o manual cleaning.
My current boat sat 6 years, no conditioner and had little care before that. I used algae-x and later switched to Archoil 6200. And to make a long story short, after a couple years got access to the main tank tops and cut in entry ports an entered the tanks. 3 600 gallon tanks were clean. No water, no sludge, no build up in the bottom. Whatever was there apparently dissolved and was caught in the filter w/o notice. After the first primary change I ran 2 micron w/o problems. I always add Archoil 6200 every fueling. Filters got changed about 500 hours w/o clogging.
I've been around marine diesels for 60 years and never had to manually clean a tank. Even ships that were mothballed 20 years. But the diesel was better then. I always reconditioned the existing fuel and cleaned the tanks with filters, additives and circulation. If you're running an engine that pumps and returns large volumes of fuel, just using the engine should clean the tank. Keep spare filters. Use a good conditioner at fueling.
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Old 05-04-2018, 01:25   #3
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Quote:
Originally Posted by phildy View Post
Is anyone aware of a product that will dissolve the remaining crud and diesel bug residue from a near empty tank which has already been given the anti bug additive treatment.My racor filter bowl is still collecting black globules which I am told will eventually disappear but I am inclined to a radical clean out if such a product exits.Yes I know the obvious answer is to get in there and physically clean it [which I would love to do] but this would involve removing the engine and the tank just to get access - a major exercise that fills me with dread. Any thoughts?
Hi been there done that. Could the black globules be ashphaltanes? Remove some and add some metho and if they dissolve into a brownish sludge then that's what you have. I found that a high volume pump run through a 30 micron filter on the suction side and returned to the tank several times filtered a lot of the crud from the tanks and I now do it every year or so. So far so good (touch wood)
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Old 05-04-2018, 23:33   #4
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Thanks for the comprehensive replies which has given me some useful pointers to get on top of the situation. I am planning a 'poor mans' fuel polishing regime using an oil extractor pump to recycle the fuel via a racor filter funnel. Hopefully there will only be few litres left at that point.Encouraged to hear that it is possible to end to achieve a clean tank without full physical access. Unfortunately Archoil 6200 does not appear to be available in New Zealand so may try something else unless you have a recommendation. Thanks again
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Old 06-04-2018, 01:29   #5
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Knockoff 500fgs are available on eBay cheap.
The ones I have pulled apart alongside the genuine article were all interchangeable.
Walbro pump or similar to circulate.
Couple of hundred bucks, way faster and no mess.

Search the forum, numerous poor man fuel polishing threads to look through.
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Old 06-04-2018, 09:36   #6
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Polishing with a pump that has high enough flow to dislodge the dead diesel bug.

Have heard using Desl-Shok during polishing is very effective as well.

https://www.usafuelservice.com/product/desl-shok/
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Old 06-04-2018, 11:08   #7
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

The sludge was pretty bad in our boat when we bought it. We had the tank pumped out, pressure cleaned and vacuumed out, and fuel polished and returned with the addition of Bio Bor. We now add Bio Bor periodically to the tank.

The sludge in ours was such that just running the fuel through a filter continuously would not have gotten rid of it.
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Old 06-04-2018, 11:12   #8
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

My experience is the bug killers kill the bugs, but the debris is left. You need a filtering or drain of the existing fuel. The additives are great at prevention once you have a clean tank and fuel.
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Old 06-04-2018, 19:54   #9
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

We've been stuck in Darwin for over a year and have gotten sludge in diesel that gunks up the Racor bowls. Probably in the tanks as well. Found some stuff at [url=http://www.dazzlingmarine.com]Dazzling Marine Vessel Management Services of Perth called Fuel Right that claims to dissolve sludge. Have it in, but short time yet, so will see.
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Old 07-04-2018, 08:22   #10
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

I recently found the following article [ 12 diesel bug treatments tested - Practical Boat Owner ] which gives a good detailed description of the difference between biocide treatments and dispersion treatments and then conducts a forensic analysis of how well each of the treatments work. Clearly it's only relevant if you have access to the treatments reviewed but I found the article most informative.
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Old 07-04-2018, 10:42   #11
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Pri-D is the only additive recommended on BoatDiesel.com......using it for years with new fuel, had o filter the asphaltenes out over many seasons in sporty weather......fact of life if you don't go through your fuel fast enough.
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Old 07-04-2018, 11:18   #12
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Good luck, but the only thing I found that really cleaned the gloop of the sides and bottom of the tank was a 2" steel wall paper scraper.

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Old 19-05-2018, 13:51   #13
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Re: diesel bug tank cleaner

Fuel Right - recommended by Nigel Calder
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