It Just Keeps Getting Better!!!!!!

As mentioned in a recent thread ( https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?122391-Sudden-Engine-problem! ), I started having engine problems that seemed to point to a bad fuel pump. I tried the SeaFoam route and that did nothing. Got my new fuel pump and decided to install it today... this is what I found when I removed the old one :
















At first I thought it was rust but when I put it between my fingers, it looks and feels like mud... sand and silt! No wonder it started bucking when I would get on it hard. The fuel filter was just doing it's job. The entire lower tank is coated with this stuff and god only knows if there is real rust behind it! The good thing is that when I removed the fuel banjo when getting ready to take the pump out, I saw no sign of the colored gasoline that the lower tank is full of so it would seem that none of that crap made it to the TB's and into the engine... thank you filter for doing your job.

I smell a pissed off spouse or enemy of the original owner who dumped dirt in the tank.

Now I've got to figure out just what the hell to do. If the bottom tank is full of this stuff, it had to come from the upper tank so there may be some mud in it too though not as much. Anybody have a sense of how successful I'd be cleaning out the upper tank? The lower tank should be doable but I just don't know.

Maybe by this time next year I'll finally be able to ride this **** thing .

This is gonna get really expensive if I have to replace one or both of the tanks.

This sucks!

Wow... I'm thinking it sat for a while with no gas at all in the lower tank... it's hard to see that stuff when you buy a bike, ya just gotta address things as you find them.

It should be easy to remove the upper tank and sending unit and look inside and clean things up.. that's what I'd do, then tackle the lower tank.

Someone did it intentionally? Harder to do with the locking gas cap.

Now fuel and crud coming out of old 'Farm Use Only' tanks or from some really low maintained country gas station, that I could believe.

There are plenty of the lower gas tanks for sale on eBay. People pull the expensive fuel pumps and sell the tanks for cheap.

Wow Mick!
I suspect that the bike sat empty for a while (the metals being exposed to humid air).

Do you have a picture you can post, looking into the bottom of the lower tank?

I am with Joe this. Sure looks like a tank that has been setting empty for awhile. If upper tank is rusted ,take off & see if it can be cleaned.

BakerBoy said:

Wow Mick!
Do you have a picture you can post, looking into the bottom of the lower tank?

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There's so much mud & silt in there it's hard to tell if there's any rust or not. The red color seems to probably be iron minerals in the dirt (hematite, etc). At this point, I think the lower tank is a write-off. I sure hope I don't find this crap in the upper tank! If the upper tank has to be replaced, I'm going to have to buy a bunch of lotto tickets and hope for the best.

Edit:
By the way, some have hinted at rust. There may be some in there but I can tell you, most of it is dirt! The silt sized particles in it are a dead giveaway. Put it between your fingers and it mashes into a friable, muddy, sandy mess.

Does it stick to a magnet?

I think you are lucky the bike ran at all looking at all that crud! Well I would pull the upper and lower tank and clean them out before installing the new fuel pump!

Wow! That's some serious contamination! When I changed out the pump on my '03 this spring, my lower tank was absolutely pristine and shiny clean, not so much as 4 pieces of grit in the bottom.

Is there any metal left underneath all that at all? Yikes. Amazing that it ran at all..

That's rust.The guys in the shop here at work swear by to product call "Evapo Rust". Said it will clean the rust off of anything and will not hurt the metal.

Mick,

I have a clean lower tank you can have for postage .

LMK

v8-7 said:

Mick,

I have a clean lower tank you can have for postage .

LMK

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Thank you VERY much. I just sent you a PM.

BakerBoy said:

Does it stick to a magnet?

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Just tested it. No it doesn't.

T_C said:

Someone did it intentionally? Harder to do with the locking gas cap.

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Not if said angry spouse knows where the key is.

970mike said:

I think you are lucky the bike ran at all looking at all that crud!

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One heck of an understatement!

I rode that bike all the way from Lubbock to Houston back in August (~600 miles) and not so much as a hiccup from the engine! As mentioned already, the filter apparently did it's job. There's no way the injectors would have remained unclogged if any of that had made it past the filter.

If you need an upper tank, I found this on my local craigslist: http://salem.craigslist.org/mcy/3412839116.html. You'd have to paint it, though...

I wonder if it was a flood bike?????

The Dan said:

I wonder if it was a flood bike?????

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Given where the two previous owners lived, I doubt it. Original owner and the fellow I bought it from lived in dry climates. Besides, that, if it had been a flood vehicle you would think there would be other signs such as rust on the body. None to be seen.

TripleJ said:

If you need an upper tank, I found this on my local craigslist: http://salem.craigslist.org/mcy/3412839116.html. You'd have to paint it, though...

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Thanks! Tomorrow will tell whether or not I'll need an upper tank. If what's in the lower tank is truly rust, I suspect the upper tank will be OK.