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Gas tank blues. :(

Bill Hanlon

Bill Hanlon

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Jun 4, 2002
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Location
Morris Ranch TX
Ken came by yesterday and helped me install a new vacuum advance on the new (to me) might 228 cubic inch '52 GMC six. Test drive after we got done was less than happy. Bogging down bad, backfiring both through the carb and out the tailpipe. Went back and checked the work, but couldn't find anything wrong.

After a while, Ken noticed that the clear plastic fuel filter between the pump and the carb (yeah, I know it is supposed to be before the pump) was full of brown crap. Ken and I picked up another filter and drove (very slowly) home. Changed the filter and the mighty 6 sprung back into action. Shut it off, drained the last 2 gallons of gas from the tank (it was pretty brown), added 6 gallons of fresh gas and called it a day.

Took it out this morning for the first long distance (just 15 miles one way) run since I bought it. Ran good getting there, then died. Looked at the new filter and it was full of brown crap. Got it home, but now what???

First, a little history. Previous owner paid a shop $1494.32 to put a new tank (Ken - the invoice did NOT say stainless - I misspoke) in this truck almost 2 years ago. Since that time the truck has gone very few miles, probably under 300 miles with more than 100 put on by me in the last month. I assume that the shop actually did change out the tank, but who knows?? When I picked up the truck it had less than 1/2 tank of fuel and I'll bet it had been like that for a long time.

What should I do? Obviously, I need to start by draining the tank. Then ..
A. Throw a few pounds of nuts and bolts in the tank and shake it until I have a heart attack?
B. Wash it out with .....?
C. Seal it with .....?
D. Completely replace the tank .....?
E. Something else .....?
F. Some combination of the above .....?
 
I would suggest watching Ken shake the tank while you have a beer and cheer him on~
But that's just me... ;)
 
Bill,

Do you have a bore scope with which you could make a visual check of the tank's interior? I would think that a good cleaning would suffice, but on the off chance that a new tank wasn't installed, it might be cheaper in the long run to just put a new tank in and be done with it.

Damon

PS. I'm in for drinking beer and watching someone else do the work. hahaha
 
Damn Bill, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you trying to tear that truck up!:D. Before you make me shake the crap out of that gas tank, let's run some sea foam or stabill thru it and see if that doesn't help. The gas we drained out yesterday really didn't have that much crud in it.
 
My truck sat in storage for years too. I drained the old fuel and refilled the tank and it was "pretty well behaved". I went through the same constant fuel filter change so I decided I needed to tackle the varnish and crap in tank. I asked around and got the suggestion of an old shop that would steam clean the insided of the tank for me. $20 later, and more fresh fuel, It was amzing the difference it made in the way it ran.
 
Old Rig , Old Fix

Jeeze ;

I can't remember all the old junkers I've pulled out of hedgerows that did this after only 25 + years of sitting....... :rolleyes:

Go find some spring typ hose clamps and keep two nickles in your pocket ~ replace the short hose bits and use the spring clamps (you'll need four) and go drive it ~ as soon as it begins to starve for fuel , put in the clutch , kill the engine and coast to a stop , pop the hood , use those nickles to pinch the hose clamp off , remove the clogged filter and blow it out backwards , re install and motor on , in a few days/stops the filter will remain clear , replace it with the new one you keep in the glove box and take a nice smooth test drive to the FLAPS where you buy a new filter and put it in the glove box .

Or , buy some beer & Phosphoric Acid , call up yer brother and have some hot spring fun shaking the bejeebers out of it with dilute Phosphoric Acid and Distilled water mix , don't forget ice cubes in the beer mug make it taste better :D .
 
I had this problem when I first got mine, the carb would clog up with fine brown silt to the point of crapping out on the side of the road. I got to the point that I could field dress the carb. on the side of the road , clean it out with carb cleaner, reassemble and install it in about 15 minutes. Take the 4 screws off the top and open her up, I'll bet you see sludge in the bowl. This stuff was fine enough to get through 2 filters.
 
I had that same problem after I bought my truck.. After much tinkering around with the old tank, I decided it was just simply easier to spend my money on new gas tank to avoid these problems down the road.
 
Russ, the fine brown silt describes what was in Bill's filter to a tee. How did you finally resolve your issue? I remember back in the day when I got a bad tank of of gas going from Houston to Tennessee and nursed a car for 400 miles having to remove the filter, shake it out, put it back on, run some prestone heet thru the tank and finally getting there before it straightened itself out.
 
I just did this with my wagoneer, It set for 8 years. The tank was dry, I put some Gum out and several gallons of gas in the tank. Made a collar of cloth around my Air Dryer attachment on my compressor. With a tight fit and little air leakage I blew out the tank, from the gas cap filler end. It blew out the fuel line all the way to the front fuel pump.

Did this twice, amazing the amount of reconstituted crud that came up and out. I then placed a cheap clear in-line fuel filter ($3) before my factory fuel filter. It filled up several times and spared the good filter. Now been running almost a year and I'm looking to replace the in-line just for the sake of it.

Unlike Nate I just chucked the in-lines, but I guess you could clean them.
 
Silted Carby

Well ;

When you're young & poor , a $1.50 gas filter is expen$ive plus those old nails were far from home....

I remember more than one where that fine red silt was so bad , I dropped a small magnet in the carby bowl to collect it ~ that works too .

I've gotten more bad gasoline in America than anywhere else I've traveled .
 
Decided to install a new tank. Ordered one from our host and it arrived last Friday. Ken begged of helping this time (something about Grand Kidz being more fun than me). I swapped the tank Saturday, put on another filter and tried to crank the beast up.

No joy in Mudville.

No gas coming from the pump. Opened the input line to the pump and got a nice gravity flow from the tank. Gotta be the pump.

Ordered a (Airtex 9803) dual diaphragm pump (maybe the wipers will work after I get them hooked up to the new vacuum source) from FLAPS. Pump should arrive tomorrow.

I decided to go ahead and take the old fuel pump off this afternoon, even though the replacement isn't due until tomorrow. When I laid it with the output fitting down a bunch more of the brown gook dribbled out. I decided to take it apart just to see what was wrong with it. Once opened up I removed about two teaspoons of brown gook. But the real problem was that the output check valve had fallen loose from the casting. It is just a press fit. I cleaned everything up real good, pressed the valve back in, mounted the pump in my vise and hooked up the pump's input to a 2 gallon gas can and gave it a few pushes manually. Pumps like a champ!

I still plan to install the new pump when it arrives, but I'll keep this one as a spare.
 
Glad you were able to figure things out, Bill! If Ken isn't going to come help, that should have at least saved you some beer money.

Damon
 
Good deal~ Soon you'll be driving that rig of yours. Sounds like a new gas tank wasn't a bad idea.
 
Fuel Pump Testing

FWIW :

Take it off and work the lever by hand a few times ~ if it's any good it'll make a rude sound like a $20 whore .

O.K. , it's 2013 , maybe a $150 one ? I don't know these things :rolleyes: .

In any case , when you're junking or out on the Open Road , it's a simple & infallible way to test .
 
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