Fuel tank rust

[Buck99]

Ladies and gents
I was talking to a dealer in cardiff recently and he was telling about a rust problem effecting early GTR's (mine being a 2007). Apparently there is a small plate on the surface of the tank under the seat which gets rusty and will in time write of the tank. I was wondering if anyone else had encountered this problem and had any good solutions ? I was thinking just getting rid of the rust there and then filling in the gap with surface filler. Thanks in advance !


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[Debs]

I scraped off all the rust and covered the areas affected in Vaseline.. Problem solved. 

[Buck99]

That does sound easier lol. Tvm


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[BDF]

I have an '08 (first year C-14) that has the same thing- small lines of rust at the tank seams under the seat. They are really more of an eyesore than a real problem and I am not aware of anyone actually having a real problem with the tanks rusting through. More of a scary story than a real problem it seems.

As someone else said, wipe off the rust, and coat the whole area with some petroleum based grease and the tank should last two lifetimes IMO. I think I used axle grease way back when and it has not been a problem since.

By the way, I am a bit surprised that Vaseline is Vaseline in the UK too (I am in the US); that is the common term for that stuff here as well.

Brian

Ladies and gents
I was talking to a dealer in cardiff recently and he was telling about a rust problem effecting early GTR's (mine being a 2007). Apparently there is a small plate on the surface of the tank under the seat which gets rusty and will in time write of the tank. I was wondering if anyone else had encountered this problem and had any good solutions ? I was thinking just getting rid of the rust there and then filling in the gap with surface filler. Thanks in advance !


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[Buck99]

The dealer I spoke to said he had replaced a tank for exactly that reason. As for vasaline I think it's just a global brand


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[Lonewolf]

As a preventative measure, each time I wash the bike I always remove the seat afterwards and wipe away any excess moisture from the bodywork of the bike and in particular around the petrol tank which would normally be covered by the seat. Then I leave the seat off to allow any dampness in the underside of the seat to dry out. It's worked so far.

[Buck99]

Well I gotta wash my bike more often anyway so might give it ago lol


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[O.C.]

This was a fairly common problem with early GTRs, my 2007/8 bike suffered the same 

[Buck99]

What was ur cure ?


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[O.C.]

I identified the problem at an early stage, I removed the small amount of rust and re painted (it was only a very small area that was affected), it was then a case of making sure the underseat area was dried thoroughly after each wash   

[Buck99]

Yep more deep cleaning needed then just a small amount of surface filler lol


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[Lonewolf]

I identified the problem at an early stage, I removed the small amount of rust and re painted (it was only a very small area that was affected), it was then a case of making sure the underseat area was dried thoroughly after each wash   

Sounds like I finally did summat right for a change! 

[O.C.]

Sounds like I finally did summat right for a change! 

awww ~ bless 

[virginiajim]

I had it on mine and just put some rust remover/encapsulator stuff on it after I removed the sticky pad covering it up.  As I don't wash the bike that often or ride it in the British Isles, it hasn't appeared to have got any worse.  Some dealers here have replaced the tanks under warranty due to that condition but I'm not sure how the UK warranty works for your bikes.  Then again, slathering it with Vaseline isn't a bad solution but I would think it might attract dirt as a side effect.

[MGvalerio]

Raise the fuel tank from the front, you will realize how much oxidation hides, remedied the problem with rust converter.

MG valerio.