help needed with this petrol tank

[gasgas249uk]

I've got a white plastic petrol tank that's turned yellowish with the petrol vapour over the years.

Is it possible to get rid of this yellowing to restore to its former beauty and if so how?

Many thanks

[lee harris]

I've got a white plastic petrol tank that's turned yellowish with the petrol vapour over the years.

Is it possible to get rid of this yellowing to restore to its former beauty and if so how?

Many thanks

easy answer, no

Think of a bread roll thats gone hard abd stale....how do you make it eatable (?) again? It will become soft by soaking in water.....cant eat it though. Plastics are filled with various fillers and chemicals to make them white (or cloured) and soft. The sun, or to be more precise, UV light, leeches these chemicals out. This discolours the plastics and makes em brittle at the same time. It is not Petrol vapour that does this.

Leave a red fantic tank in the sun for a sommer and it will go white. This can be removed by dragging a razor blade across the surfaces which scratches off the top 0,2mm of "dried our" plastis. The tank will be red again underneath but will be scratched all over. (Ask a grown up to help you on that)

White takes that go yellow have lost their pigment due to the same leeching process and you cant put it back in!

Lee

Edited August 8, 2011 by Lee Harris

[motovintage]

white is the worst to try and restore the color on a tank, had a blue plastic Bul tank that had turned green, it had old fuel in it, after I drained the old fuel and let it sit for a week it turned back to blue, on white plastic I like soft scrub with bleach for bringing color back or getting a stain out, I feel with a fuel tank that the stain is from the inside and soaked all the way through, not sure there is anything you can do with it, might try bleach or painting it????