Hello all. It's been a while since the last post as there hasn't been much time to work on my '80 300TD (yes, wagon). I posted a while ago about bad fuel milage and rough idle below 1/2 a tank full. Found algae in the fuel and ran diesel doctor about a half dozen times.

The time came to jump in and do some fixin! Tanks out of the car and the fuel looks good, the Dr. did what it advertised. I think I got to it early enough. Looked inside and low and behold an extremely gunked up fuel strainer . How do you remove the fuel strainer? It fits a 22mm nut or what looks like a 7/8in nut. This thing is in there nice and tight! I couldn't get it to budge at all!

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for cleaning the tank since it is not in the car. I really don't have the time or money for a radiator shop type clean, and the tank doesn't look that bad at all. I have access to a low power pressure washer but there doesn't seem to be much access from the fuel sending unit hole in the top. There is no damage to the tank and my gauge read about 1 needle off of reserve when it quit and there was still 5 gallons onboard! That's milage I could use.

I checked the other posts and they were helpful but I didn't find my specific question. Any suggestions help as this is my first fuel tank teardown.