EVAPO-RUST AND A FUEL SENDING UNIT

-
CFD244

CFD244

"THE NEW OLDSMOBILES ARE IN EARLY THIS YEAR"
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2017
Messages
4,708
Reaction score
6,689
Location
Northern Ontario, Canada
Hi Folks

Electrical or Fuel & Air? Here goes........ :)

Does anyone have any personal experience soaking a complete fuel sending unit in Evapo-rust? I know the metal can handle it, but what about the rheostat winding?

ALSO............Does anyone have a link to a pick-up sock for the sending unit?

Thanks FABO
 
I have soaked a bunch of things in Evaporust.

The only negative outcome was a ashtray.

The black wrinkle paint came off the front of most of it.

I don't see any issue with the resistance wire or the plastic insulators or rubber o rings.

The fiberglass board the wires is on I doubt would be an issue but don't know.

When were you planning on soaking it?

I have a rotted OEM sender that I could soak the working end and report back. Figure 24 hours maybe 48

I decided to take one for the team...

PXL_20231213_005740516.jpg


PXL_20231213_005729692.jpg


I also purposefully "spilled" some on the floor board of my rescue 67 Convert. I wonder how many gallons would be needed to soak the entire car?????


Just did a back of the napkin calculation.

410 gallons at about $1000 for 55 gallons comes to about $7500

Oh well.... Pipe dream!
PXL_20231213_005834976.jpg
 
Last edited:
Dana67Dart said:
I have soaked a bunch of things in Evaporust.

The only negative outcome was a ashtray.

The black wrinkle paint came off the front of most of it.

I don't see any issue with the resistance wire or the plastic insulators or rubber o rings.

The fiberglass board the wires is on I doubt would be an issue but don't know.

When were you planning on soaking it?

I have a rotted OEM sender that I could soak the working end and report back. Figure 24 hours maybe 48

I decided to take one for the team...

View attachment 1716177719

View attachment 1716177721

I also purposefully "spilled" some on the floor board of my rescue 67 Convert. I wonder how many gallons would be needed to soak the entire car?????


Just did a back of the napkin calculation.

410 gallons at about $1000 for 55 gallons comes to about $7500

Oh well.... Pipe dream!
View attachment 1716177720
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. If your rusty sender is reading as it should now, it would be awesome if you could do that experiment. I am convinced that the rust would clean up nicely, just unsure how it would function afterwards. I only have one decent sender that is ringing out the way it should, and I would hate to ruin it.

Thank-You
 
We will know in a day or two.

I have a number of senders in various states functionality.
 
On a side note...

I recently had an exhaust manifold dipped ( acid I assume) before the dipping the crossover valve was rusted solid in place.


When I got it home I noticed it moved a bit. I put a touch of blaster on it and in about 10 attempts it's moving freely!

Chemistry at it's finest
 
My humble opinion is for the cost of. New unit- buy it. After going thru removing the old one, new gasket and possibly a ring plus a sock and it may or may not work plus after treating it.. what do you do to protect it from this crap fuel. It will just rust / corrode up again in a very short time.
SN I love evaporust- it’s awesome for chains here on my farm. Soak and mix a few days rinse with water and dry and coat with an oil based paint. Look good for quite a while.
 
Dana67Dart said:
I have soaked a bunch of things in Evaporust.

The only negative outcome was a ashtray.

The black wrinkle paint came off the front of most of it.

I don't see any issue with the resistance wire or the plastic insulators or rubber o rings.

The fiberglass board the wires is on I doubt would be an issue but don't know.

When were you planning on soaking it?

I have a rotted OEM sender that I could soak the working end and report back. Figure 24 hours maybe 48

I decided to take one for the team...

View attachment 1716177719

View attachment 1716177721

I also purposefully "spilled" some on the floor board of my rescue 67 Convert. I wonder how many gallons would be needed to soak the entire car?????


Just did a back of the napkin calculation.

410 gallons at about $1000 for 55 gallons comes to about $7500

Oh well.... Pipe dream!
View attachment 1716177720
Click to expand...
Recirculation is your friend. Might need to build a swimming pool though. People have done it. Gotta keep it wet but it is reusable.
 
Syleng1 said:
My humble opinion is for the cost of. New unit- buy it. After going thru removing the old one, new gasket and possibly a ring plus a sock and it may or may not work plus after treating it.. what do you do to protect it from this crap fuel. It will just rust / corrode up again in a very short time.
SN I love evaporust- it’s awesome for chains here on my farm. Soak and mix a few days rinse with water and dry and coat with an oil based paint. Look good for quite a while.
Click to expand...
Trying to avoid the linear rheostat effect with the new units. From what I've read, you are getting into the meter match thing etc. Will the gauge ever read right with a new sender.........Not sure??
 
Bodyperson said:
Recirculation is your friend. Might need to build a swimming pool though. People have done it. Gotta keep it wet but it is reusable
Click to expand...
My measurements were 6 feet wide by 4 feet high and 16 feet long

Some 2x4s and plywood, heavy plastic.

Build it around the car and start filling.

It would only attack the rust so it would be very reusable after.
Imagine 400 gallons the rust that can be removed!

On a side note...

I have discovered that if I take the used Evaporust and keep it separate from the new I can get much more life out of it.

I use the old for the heavy rusted stuff then use some new for the last amount of soak
 
Dana67Dart said:
My measurements were 6 feet wide by 4 feet high and 16 feet long

Some 2x4s and plywood, heavy plastic.

Build it around the car and start filling.

It would only attack the rust so it would be very reusable after.
Imagine 400 gallons the rust that can be removed!

On a side note...

I have discovered that if I take the used Evaporust and keep it separate from the new I can get much more life out of it.

I use the old for the heavy rusted stuff then use some new for the last amount of soak
Click to expand...
You don't submerse it. You flow it. 55 gallon barrel should do it.
 
Bodyperson said:
You don't submerse it. You flow it. 55 gallon barrel should do it
Click to expand...
Got you.

Could even plumb in some fittings to flood the inner body cavities!

And get the seams on door, trunk, hood and body seams.

I like where this is going!

Could even epoxy paint the inside of the body cavities that way!


Hummmmm!
 
evaporust at work
Dana67Dart said:
Got you.

Could even plumb in some fittings to flood the inner body cavities!

And get the seams on door, trunk, hood and body seams.

I like where this is going!

Could even epoxy paint the inside of the body cavities that way!


Hummmmm!
Click to expand...
Evaporust at work
1702445304530.png
 
Dana67Dart said:
Got you.

Could even plumb in some fittings to flood the inner body cavities!

And get the seams on door, trunk, hood and body seams.

I like where this is going!

Could even epoxy paint the inside of the body cavities that way!


Hummmmm!
Click to expand...
The funny thing about peoples perspective of rust is that it is bad. It is actually protecting.
 
12 hour report.

(I forgot to hit send Wednesday am)

The sender seems to have some yellow substance covering the inside. Parts. I suspect it is from fuel evaporating and leaving a coating behind, I have not seen this on any of the other senders I have.

The exposed rusted metal is getting better.

PXL_20231213_154137316.jpg


PXL_20231213_154147846.jpg
 
Well it's been 36 plus hours...

Either my used Evaporust has lost its ability to pull the rust from the parts or the yellow deposit was preventing it from working.

I ended up brass brushing much of the exposed metal.

I'm in the fence about the idea of soaking a good working sender.

Not the clean metal results I had expected.
PXL_20231214_160649078.jpg


PXL_20231214_160700888.jpg


I disassembled the sender, I have done this on a couple other senders that did not look this bad to start with and they came apart easily.

  1. Nut
  2. Lock washer
  3. Plastic standoff (broke taking off)
  4. Rubber washer
  5. Fiber washer
  6. Would have been a rubber washer (it was mostly desintredrated)
  7. Rheostat board and post
  8. Body of sender with float and sweep arm still attached.
(NOTE... #8 goes between #4 and #5)

PXL_20231214_163027785~2.jpg


So here is why I'm in the fence...

The plastic standoff (3) broke in half when using a wrench to remove it.
Others I have it just slides off. There was rust on the threaded shaft under /inside the standoff so that is probably why it was stuck.

The rubber gasket (4) that goes between the body (8) and the standoff (3) was intact but stuck to the body (8) and threaded shaft (7) and did not come off in a usable manner. Others I have have slid off

The fiber washer (5) was also stuck to the shaft (7) and took considerable prying to get it off. It looks a bit swollen.

The rubber washer (6) represented by the red circle was squished behind all usability and came off only with scraping.


The rheostat (7) wire and board look perfectly fine and the total resistance checks out at 84 +/- ohms

The sweep (8) and arm look fine but the arm is rusted to the body and will not rotate. The sweep has the typical doughnut hole in it where it wore off the dimple moving back and forth on the rheostat board wire for 56 years ( maybe only 9 years as this dart was last registered in 76, assuming it is the original sender)

From Evaporust bottle.
#4 is accurate, no harm to the brass or resistance wire. I suspect the rubber would have been fine if it was in good shape to begin with. The fiber boards seem ok (except the #7 board but that might be the way it is naturally?)

PXL_20231214_163425811.jpg


So why am I on the fence...

I don't know if any of the damage I see is a result of age / rust / bad fuel or the evaporust.


The sender in post #9 might be a list cause.

I suspect that I could send my sender and parts to a rebuilders and it could be returned from the dead. They have parts and the proper rubber washers etc.

All I can say is good luck.
 
Wow, thank you so much @Dana67Dart . That is going way beyond the call of duty.

Please know that I appreciate the effort that you have put into this.

Best Regards
 
CFD244 said:
That is going way beyond the call of duty
Click to expand...
I'm just glad I had a sender that I could test it on.

You could do a simple test.

Carefully remove the nut and lock washer. If the plastic standoff slips off easily you could disassemble the sender and then soak only the steel and float arm and sweep.

There is one part you have to bend slightly out to be able to remove the rheostat. But it also gives you access to repair the sweep like the how to shows.
 
Just some info I have had dealing with evapo rust
Evapo Rust works best warm or headed (summer out in the sun) I have not had good luck in the winter.
I did one fuel sender and it came out good.
 
And the evapo rust needs to be fresh and use a soft brush every few hours when rust is heavy.
Also keep the container you are using sealed.
 
davescuda said:
Still likes to be 90 to 100. I believe I read it works best somewhere from 80 to 120
Click to expand...
I can believe that.

Turns out my used Evaporust is still going strong.

I put some nuts and bolts in 4 hours ago and they are clean as a whistle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top