DIY Oil TANK Cleaning Possible?

[2jmotorsports]

Is it possible to clean one's 83 SC oil TANK safely?

I already plan on taking my oil cooler up to Pacific Oil Cooler so I have them as a backup. I also understand the oil cooler has very small passages that can trap debris so it is best to let Pacific handle the cooler cleaning but what about the tank? I have no idea how intricate the inside of the tank looks like and if a DIY rinsing of sorts could be done safely. Externally my tank is in good shape, just needs a good degreasing.

I am completing a full engine rebuild of a formely running but tired motor, not one with a catastrophic failure, so bearing or other metallic debris is not a big concern.

Thanks in advance.

[juanbenae]

just use pac coolers and sleep more soundly. im sure a pressure washer with hot water through the fill and other ports would clean some areas, but there are obstructed areas you may never reach that pac coolers know how to get at.

['76 911S 3.0]

I took mine to Ultrasonic Cleaning in Carson, CA. They ultrasonically cleaned the tank and pressure tested it for leaks for me for less than $100. They also did the same for my case mounted cooler for less than $100. Well worth it.

For some reason their site is not working, but here is their details:

Address: 20730 S Main St, Carson, CA 90745
Phone: (310) 327-7103

[Bob Kontak]

An old school radiator shop hot tanked mine. $8

Takes the paint off.

[KTL]

I think the DIY tank cleaning should be pretty straightforward if you're confident the tank is reasonably clean. Because the tank itself is really simple and sort of crude. Here's some pictures of it cut open taken from the thread below

Oil Tank question



The above picture shows the tank as it sits in the car, with it cut in half and then the outboard/top half is "flipped" open to the left. So what i'm saying is that the right tank half in the picture is oriented as it sits in the car- to the right side of the picture is toward the front of the car and left side of the picture is rearward. However the left tank half is reversed direction because it's "flipped" open.




1. Oil level sender opening

2. Mesh screen is physically attached to outside half of tank and loosely press fitted against inside half.

3. Pressure oil line from external thermostat/front fender oil cooler. This is basically the return line from the engine that is scavenging oil from the bottom of the engine case. It goes directly to the oil filter mounted on the oil tank. This oil goes into the radial array of holes around the end of the filter

4. Oil spout out of filter. This is the filtered oil that comes out the large hole in the end of the filter

5. vacuum connection to throttle body (on '84-89). It's basically a PCV valve (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) port

6. Oil filler opening and thin tube for dip stick

7. Breather inlet from top of motor

Not numbered:

>Inboard side of tank at 7 o'clock on the side is the connection to the big fat "S" hose which supplies oil from the tank to the inlet of engine oil pump below the oil cooler and

>Inboard side of tank at 6 o'clock on the bottom is of course the tank's drain plug

You can see that the only thing at all sensitive to cleaning is the screen itself, which is basically catching a waterfall of oil. You can see if you look closely that the screen goes all the way across the tank. So any junk that has bypassed the filter, and is large enough to be caught by the screening, should be sitting on top of the screen. Or anything dropped into the filler neck like a dipstick or a oil bottle cap or whatever.

So when cleaning the tank, we should flip it upside down and run our cleaning agent in through the S-hose port and tilt the tank toward the upper corner to direct it out of the filler neck or the breather & vent hose ports

The array of holes in the oil filter housing is a critical location too because it of course delivers oil to the filter. But you should be able to rinse this location forward and backward pretty easily with some pressurized solvent or cleaning solution. Anything in the array of filter holes should backwash out the low side of the tank at the fitting

What's also cool about seeing inside the tank is that you can see how far down the dipstick goes. So that gives you an idea of how high up the oil goes when the tank is filled to 1/2 way between the marks. Granted this tank is all dented up because it's from a damaged car. But you can still see where things sit inside

[SalParadise]

Yeah, it's not like the engine oil cooler that I would trust to professionals.

Mine soaked in Super Clean (the purple stuff) made it come out like new. Also took the paint off.

[2jmotorsports]

Kevin, thanks for the link and photos!

Thanks everyone. The tank looks straightforward so I may take a crack at cleaning it myself. Its halfway cleaned externally since I have been cleaning the bottom of the car anyway.

When I opened up my engine it was remarkably clean inside so I dont expect too many surprises from the tank. If I start getting major foreign object debris I will consider sending it out.

[SalParadise]

Originally Posted by 2jmotorsports

Thanks everyone. The tank doesnt look too bad so I may take a crack at cleaning it myself. Its halfway cleaned externally since I have been cleaning the bottom of the car anyway.

When I opened up my engine it was remarkably clean inside so I dont expect too many surprises from the tank. If I start getting major foreign object debris I will consider sending it out.

I'd soak it in Super Clean (the purple bottle) as I said. No more than an hour though. If it needs more, take it out, clean it off, and then re-soak. It takes everything off. Better than any de-greaser or Simple Greene or even straight gas. It works very well.

[Elombard]

Wow that cut open oil tank pic is very interesting. I never thought about how that works. Really increases the understanding of the system.

Much simpler that I imagined.

Thanks for sharing that.

[2jmotorsports]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

I'd soak it in Super Clean (the purple bottle) as I said. No more than an hour though. If it needs more, take it out, clean it off, and then re-soak. It takes everything off. Better than any de-greaser or Simple Greene or even straight gas. It works very well.

The purple stuff is no joke. Im currently using it to clean my engine compartment and it works wonders. Especially combined with steam cleaning.

I had some Purple Power in a spray bottle sitting in a cabinet with other cleaning products and the bottle started to leak. Ate through all the paint on that shelf.

[KTL]

I had three aerosol cans of Joe Gibbs Racing degreaser that did that in my home garage. Pissed me off bigtime because I had previously stripped, primed and repainted that cabinet shelf because of an apparent similar occurrence during the previous ownership.

Definitely have to be careful with some of those enviro-safe cleaning agents because they'll go nuclear on aluminum if given enough time. I have a product from Franmar called Emerge that is soy based and is a really good degreaser. They used to advertise it as a parts cleaner and apparently they changed the product line (now called Blue Bear) and it's not promoted as a parts cleaner anymore. I soaked some nuts & bolts in it, along with a intermediate shaft cover plate, in a glass jar overnight. Forgot to remove the I-shaft plate and discovered it had grown a giant white beard the next day.

https://products.franmar.com/collections/blue-bear-commercial/products/700dg-degreaser-emerge

I haven't tried their actual parts cleaner product yet.

https://products.franmar.com/collections/blue-bear-commercial/products/200pw-parts-washer-bean-e-doo-parts-washer