Other Why do gas tanks turn yellow?

icecoled007

Captain of this ship
Location
Colorado
I pulled the tank in my SJ today to empty the little bit of fuel for the winter. I then tried to clean the outside of the tank. My 97 SJ tank is relatively white, much more than others. Unfortunately, It was whiter when I bought the ski about a year ago. My SXR tank does not have ANY yellow on it. I know its super low hours and the previous owner always stored it without fuel.

What is your theory on why it turns yellow?



Here are my theories... does anyone know for sure?

Gas sitting in it full for too long. More gas (higher hours) ran through. To much oil. Ethanol. Too much sun. Fumes trapped if you leave the hood on all the time. Not leaving the gas cap off during winterization (My SXR manual says to do this?).

None of these theories really explain why it starts to yellow around the rubber straps first.... then it will be whitest under the straps. I might be paranoid a bit, but a white tank looks so much nicer than a yellow tank.
 
Location
dfw
Its just what they do over time. I have noticed that tanks with premix darken faster than with oil injection. I have a 20 year old tank that is brown.
 
I tried just about every method i could find on whitening with a 550 tank. Nothing even remotely worked, cut the tank open to discover the plastic was yellow all the way through.
 
To all newbe's
White tank = buy it
Yellow tank = pay attention to the man that yellowed the tank when he makes suggestions.
Brown tank = jet ski master (mechanic)
 
This is the reason I'm interested in the thrust carbon effect cover.

I just want to see more pics of one fitted before I get one shipped over here. I don't want to be able to see parts of the tank, so want to see what's visible from different angles
 
If the fuel/oil is the cause, why is it the tank maintains its color under the tank straps and factory sticker. It seems to stay white under straps and the sticker.
 
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