lecap
Bachelor Dog
This seems to affect all KLE's:
The tank has two very deep and narrow pockets. They are quite a bit lower than the fuel tap.
Means any water which ever makes it into your petrol tank (condensation, rain, pressure cleaner) will go down there and sit there until the destructive work is done and you have a pin hole rusted through the tank.
A proper repair is costly since it involves soldering the holes and a re-spray :-\ and you can't be sure how bad the corrosion is and it might rust through right next to the first hole a short time after you fixed it.
Best possible prevention is relatively easy and involves taking the tank off the bike, draining the tank and drying it out completely. Unfortunately there is no less time consuming way but draining as much fuel as possible and then waiting until the rest (including any water which sits in there) has evaporated.
You can speed up the process if you give the tank for chemical cleaning & pressure testing. Done by radiator places, costs a few hundred Rand, does normally not take longer than a day and you get the tank back dry and ready to use. Make sure the people cleaning & testing the tank understand that they must NOT scratch the paintwork if applicable.
Chemical cleaning is definitively a good idea if you can see considerable amounts of rust inside the tank already.
The tank has two very deep and narrow pockets. They are quite a bit lower than the fuel tap.
Means any water which ever makes it into your petrol tank (condensation, rain, pressure cleaner) will go down there and sit there until the destructive work is done and you have a pin hole rusted through the tank.
A proper repair is costly since it involves soldering the holes and a re-spray :-\ and you can't be sure how bad the corrosion is and it might rust through right next to the first hole a short time after you fixed it.
Best possible prevention is relatively easy and involves taking the tank off the bike, draining the tank and drying it out completely. Unfortunately there is no less time consuming way but draining as much fuel as possible and then waiting until the rest (including any water which sits in there) has evaporated.
You can speed up the process if you give the tank for chemical cleaning & pressure testing. Done by radiator places, costs a few hundred Rand, does normally not take longer than a day and you get the tank back dry and ready to use. Make sure the people cleaning & testing the tank understand that they must NOT scratch the paintwork if applicable.
Chemical cleaning is definitively a good idea if you can see considerable amounts of rust inside the tank already.
