fuel tank on 454 international

2 questions

1 how do I get it cleaned?

2 how does the fuel gauge sensor work?

Hi, to clean the fuel tank, take the fuel lines
off at the bottom of the tank on both sides and
remove the outlet/shutoff valves and drain both
sides of the tank into a bucket.
Blow out fuel lines and outlet with compressed
air.

Re fuel gauge, IIRC it supplies a ground to the
gauge on the dash. Hint check the molex type
wiring harness connector behind the seat by the
fuel tank and the other thing is the ground wire
that connects to one of the bolts that holds the
deck plate on. Make sure ground wire is not broken
or corroded.

JimB

To clean a tank... Well, kinda depends on what's
in it.

First of all, you'll need to take the tank off and
remove the gauge sending unit, fuel strainer,
sediment bowl, cap, anything else attached to the
tank.

If it just has loose dirt, rust, water, etc., dump
it out while sloshing it around. Then add some
naptha, Safety Kleen, something not dangerously
flamable, and something to shake around inside the
tank, like some bolts and nuts, a short piece of
chain, something you can roll around in there to
knock the stuck stuff loose. This will take
several applications of clean solvent until you're
satisfied it's clean and you're tire of shaking!
Then stuff some clean rags inside and mop it clean
and dry through the cap and sender holes.

If the tank is severely contaminated with
varnished gas, best take it to a radiator shop and
have it vatted out. Let them do the dirty work!

But! Be aware, disturbing an old tank might start
it to leaking if it's rusty inside. Then the
options are seal it, (which I've never
successfully done, others swear by the stuff)...
Or replace it.

About the fuel gauge sensor... It is simply a
variable resistor controlled by a float on the end
of a rod. The fuel gauge on the dash is connected
through it's ground circuit to the variable
resistor. The more fuel in the tank, the lower the
resistance, the higher the gauge reads. As the
fuel level drops, the float goes down, the
resistor offers more resistance, the dash gauge
shows a lower reading.

I have had very good success cleaning tanks by simply siphoning, I use one of those $2.99 transfer siphons from the hardware store.

Thanks for all the ideas guys.

I should have said what is in the tank is bugs and parts of bugs.

I guess I should feel lucky its not rust.

Clean out as JimB2 says for bugs.

Fuel sender easy to replace, three screws top of tank under a cover that may or may still not be there. A little harder to do on ROPS (2 post) tractors but 454 shouldn't have an issue.