While inspecting the inside of my gas tanks on my '94 Softail today, I spotted a foreign object in the tank. It's a paper/cardboard disk, about 1/2" in diameter. It looks like an inner cap seal from a bottle of Sta-Bil or similar, and it's resting on the bottom of the right hand tank. Yeah, my bottle of Sta-Bil is missing its cap seal, so that's what it is.


I can see it, but I have no tool that can reach it through 10" on gasoline through the tiny filler hole. Any ideas from the forum? Sure, I can leave it (it's been in there at least since last winter), but I'm afraid it might drift over and block the crossover outlet.

 

Long tube or hose connected to syringe or something to apply vac and grab it and pull it out while it's stuck to the tube.

 

I do have one of those oil suckers. I'll try it when the fuel level gets lower. Thanks.

 

Pinch the cross over. syphon the the right tank, wait for the fumes to clear and suck it out with a computer vacuum.
Or turn the bike upside down and shake it.

 

If the vac idea doesn't work get some grease and put it on an extendable magnet and use that to pick up the disk.

Or you could try one of those mechanical finger things.

 

maybe a claw-pick-up tool would work:

 

Yeah, claw pickup tool. They're only a couple bucks and everyone needs one of those anyway.

I would not use an electric vacuum around gasoline or gasoline fumes. JUST AS A SIDE NOTE, a guy I knew died in the burn unit I would a decade later run for a month. He was draining the gas from his bike and had the battery on a charger.

 

No way I'd use electricity for this. My "vacuum" tool is a hand pump to pull oil out of sumps.

 

If yours is similar to mine it should work. Mine you pump up and it fills in a ball like canister to dump. It will vac for a long time after a few pumps. You're going to get some gas in there but if you run some oil through it after it shouldn't get messed up

 

A spring loaded mechanics claw is the only till necessary for this issue.....