Pony fuel tank sealer report

Feel sure rusty fuel tanks are a common problem. I have cleaned some out before with muratic acid & just used as is. This last tank had stopped the fuel valve up completely with rust particals so I decided to look into the various tank sealers. I settled on the POR-15 sealer and found the best deal on an 8oz can through Amazon prime for about $12.00. The directions state to use their brand of tank cleaner and etcher, but what I used was muratic acid followed by evapo-rust , every step followed by thorough drying in an oven. It took several trys to get the tank the way I wanted it. After applying the sealer I let it dry for a week. The sealer looks like a silver hammered paint job. It is very smooth, and the rubber disc I placed inside the fuel cap showed adhesion to the sealer even with out any preparation. I filled the tank with gas yesterday and will keep an eye on the sealer. A good test would be blasting a sample steel plate, coating with sealer, and sealing in a paint can with gasoline.

Stephen,

Don't forget to take the pony tank out of the oven before the turkey goes in this week! Those tanks don't slice worth a darn let alone taste like anything. (😊)

Actually, I thank you for your report. I thought I was going to need the POR-15 for my FIFTEEN tank but I was able to get it clean with some paint thinner and several risings. I had both vent assemblies off so I could look in there pretty well. Thanks for posting.

Jan

I had the same result as Stephen - I did use their solution to clean it because it came in the kit but same result. I also left mine to dry for a week, and it's been a couple of years now and the underside of the tank shows no signs of weepage (and it had some quite visible holes in it. I actually coated it again with the left over to "gum up" the holes and it worked a treat)

I have used POR 15 on three old tanks from automobiles. Cleaning, etching, and drying are not easy, but I had no problems with adhesion. My only problem, and something to keep in mind, is that it was hard to drain the sealer out of one of the tanks, and I ended up with a shallow "pool" at the bottom. This skinned over, but did not cure all the way through after about a month of waiting (I could tell because a stick moved the skin). I had to break it up, remove cured "skin", and sop up the excess sealer. Remaining sealer cured and the tank seems to work fine, but I would be much more careful about removing excess sealer in the future.

JRMunn