Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Took a flashlight and I think I saw a flake of rust in the gas tank. Is this a super bad thing that has to immediately be fixed or will a good filter keep it at bay?

I'm just trying to get this thing running.

Evaporust at AutoZone is awesome for 7 bucks, swish it around fir a couple days and u should be good. If just one flake I wouldn't worry about it myself swish some gas, pour it out, and get on with business. An inline fuel filter woulnt hurt I don't guess

The tank can easily be removed and shaken upside down to get the fuel out, rinse with some clean fuel. The petcock has a fuel filter screen on it, clean it off and it should stop most large particles. Some others have had fuel restrictions when adding additional filters, so while that seems like a good idea, it could possibly cause an issue ( or not ) .

The first thing to do is identify the source of the rust, otherwise the problem will come back. It's possibly caused by ethanol in gasoline which attracts moisture. Rust is formed from steel or iron (iron oxide II) reacting with water in the presence of oxygen. So if anything is steel or iron it can rust.

I'd take a look at the fuel pump too.

There are many ways to remove rust. I think Naval Jelly (phosphoric acid) is a good way to go, as the chemistry makes sense. Iron oxide reacts with phosphoric acid to form ferric phosphate. (more commonly known as Iron Phosphate) this will convert 100% of rust into iron phosphate a semi corrosion resistant film. People seem to be happy with Evaporust, however it's hard to say how it will work without knowing the chemistry. Naval jelly will take more work but it will help stop future rust, even if you don't figure out the cause.

I'm fond of saying...An ounce of troubleshooting is worth a pound of cure. Good luck.

Greetings:

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