Slimy gunk in WVO tank, what is it

[CPUNeck]

I had to go back into my tank today and found this crap. My image is to big so please click on my SVO link in my sig and they should be on page 6 or 7. Any ideas?? :mad:

[Ryan DeWald]

Use of a galvanized tank with diesel or VO is a no no!

I don't know the exact chemical name for the gunk in your tank, but diesel and vegetable oil will react with the zinc plating and make globules as it seems to have done in your case.

There are acids that you can use to etch the zinc off the inner walls.

Good luck. :(

[cgoodwin]

I think Ryan may be right.

I am not sure you used thick enough angle iron for the brackets ;-)

Beautiful job! Please post a link to your images in the user conversions area, you should be proud of yourself!

Chris

[CPUNeck]

Ok, I'm pretty convinced that I need to do something with the tank. If I could get some direction on the acid to use, that would be great. It's a real PITA to work in the tank. The 5" hole is just large enough to cause bodily harm, not great mind you just paper cuts from knukles to elbows :(

Thanks for the kind words Chris, I'll post a link in the appropriate section. Didn't think my type conversion was main stream here. Seems mostly nice sedans :D

[cgoodwin]

That is only because no one has posted others, as soon as I have time I plan to post my BUS and a couple of work trucks I am doing.


Chris

[CPUNeck]

Got some updated info on the “slime”. I did two heating experiments and one cooling experiment. I’ll try to detail what happened and I took lots of pics here (http://community.webshots.com/album/281868009adUnaB)

Configuration: Pot of water on stove between 180-200F. Double boiler (small Tupperware bowl) to float in the water. Raytek Raynger ST thermometer.

1) Will slime melt? Placed small amount of slime in the middle of the Tupperware cup and placed in the pot of almost boiling water. Took about 5 minutes for the melting to begin and it started around 172F. After 5 minutes or so it was completely liquefied.

2) Will slime dissolve in Veggie oil? Placed small amount of slime in veggie oil extracted from my on vehicle tank in the Tupperware cup. Once oil/slime was up to 180F melting started to occur. I found the slime didn’t really dissolve into the oil, rather melted and stayed some what localized. After I was satisfied that the slime was completely melted and I took good pics, I mixed manually. This yielded a solution/suspension I’m not sure which, but the slime was uniformly distributed throughout the oil. You could see there was some discoloration but looks as though it would burn. I dissolved about and equal amount as the first to this hot oil to double the amount of dissolved slime in it for my next experiment.

3) Will slime stay in suspension when cooled/how does it effect the oil? Placed this container in the fridge and left it there until it was like 42F. There was a skin over the top of the oil and I tried to capture it’s consistency with the camera. When I agitated the mixture it appeared the skin just broke up and mostly settled to the bottom! By tilting the container to like a 50 degree angle and righting it I could see more and more small particles floating on the top. Tried to take a good pic of that too.

Conclusion: I have none. Hope I have gathered enough information and in a controlled enough manner that some of you smart guys can enlighten me. Thanks

[crazycal]

It looks like your vo pickup line is at the bottom of your tank. I'm not sure that is such a good idea, seeing that all the crud settles to the bottom of the tank. Even using quailty filtered oil will have stuff settle out. If your pickup is at the bottom, you will always be sucking up crud. I think you should have your vo pickup come through the top and have it stop 2-3" from the bottom. I think you would be less likely to suck up crap even if there is some in your tank.

You had asked for a picture of the heat exchanger I was talking about on the other forum. I finally figured out how to put it up, but there was no response. Did you see it?

[crazycal]

Another note. If you ever do another Ford, there is a factory tank that is made for the back of the truck that is about 40 gallons.

Here is a picture of my E450. The tank is 57 gallons. I bought a factory 19 diesel tank that will mount inside the frame behind the cab for diesel and I will use the rear tank for vo.

http://community.webshots.com/user/frenchfryfred

[DieselBurps]

That's bad link. Spank it hard and make it right!

[CPUNeck]

CrazyCal I was unable to find that reference. If you are speaking of the "awaiting moderation" I do remember, but never saw a pic. Removing this zinc is a PITA :eek:

[CPUNeck]

CrazyCal,

If by back of truck you mean aft axle there are two types. 1) the Excursion tank (it will work!!) 2) the 450-550 tank that requires modification to fit as the frame rails for a f250-f350 are "wider" than the F450-F550.


Also for the Excursion tank to fit I have to either have a long bed, or do as I have done and cut out the X brace aft axle.

[crazycal]

I changed the link. Please try it now. The pepsi cup is for added capacity.


http://community.webshots.com/user/frenchfryfred