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Gas Tank Horrors

vping

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The tank is suppossedly 8-10 years old. Still has a Moss lable on it (not that is means diddly)

Outside of the tank is perfectly fine. The inside is a horror show.

Who designed this pile a poo?

There is a screen on the bottom of the pick up tube. How in blazes are you ever to get to that?

So should I have it boiled or should I replace it? The sending unit is shot.

6-29-06-GasTankRemoval020.jpg


6-29-06-GasTankRemoval014.jpg


The crud in there is all very loose. Under that it cleaner metal. It's like someone filled it with a handfull of rocks, rust & sand.
 
make it stop daddy!!!! I'm gonna have bad dreams!
 
I doubt that it has anything to do with the design of the tank. Has the gas been sitting in there for a long time? Tanks should be kept full and if the car sits for more than a few months you should use a treatment to stabilize the fuel or you end up with a mess.

I recently cleaned out a tank I bought that had a lot of flakey bits (old evaporated gas) with Marine Clean that I bought from Por-15. Moss sells the same stuff but you can get it cheaper from Por. It took 3 applications (used a large handful of machine nuts with the first application to break things loose) but it got rid of all the crud.

As you mention, some radiator shops can boil out the tank. I guess the only way to know is to get their opinion.

Cheers,
John
 
Please have that mess boiled out. Yesterday... I don't want to have seen that. Ewwwww.
 
My got that was nasty, now whats in your lines?
 
I'll take a stab in the dark and say .... mud .... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cryin.gif
 
And believe it or not, she ran great for a good amount of time and only gave me trouble after it sat I tried to re-start.

I called the radiator shop and over the phone they said it would be $75 at the most.

To clean the lines I was thinking about either:

A. Romoving them & triying to clear out with cleaner & a piece of string soaked in a carb cleaner.

B. Attaching a hose to the rearmost line, adding carb cleaner to a small contianer and turning on the pump. Let it run for awhile to clean them out.
 
Ick. That's bad. Not sure, but a new tank might not be much more.

Might want to drop a length of proof chain in there with some carb cleaner and let it bang around to break up the chunks.

As to cleaning the lines, I'd squirt them full of carb cleaner and then use either compressed air or fish some .023 mig welding wire (on a spool).

Shouldn't be much crud in the lines if the fuel was flowing. Either the tank screen catches it or the fuel filter.
 
Wow, my tank wan't that scary when I dropped it. The outside of it was getting pretty bad though, and my sender had stopped working. If it wasn't so rusty, I would say slosh some Evapo-Rust around in the tank. Mine started rusting inside in the time I had it out to repaint the outside, but that took care of it nicely. In your case, I'd go with the other suggestions of either replacing it or pay the man to clean it up.
 
For cleaning the lines I wonder if that stuff I used to clean the transmission cooler lines on my wife's old Explorer would work? Following the directions on the can I just hooked it up to one side and turned it on – just had to have something ready to capture the stuff coming out the other end. BTW it worked like a charm – started out where you could see the cruddy red trans fluid coming out then gradually turned clear. To be safe I don’t know how it’d work with rubber hoses – so it’d probably be smart to just use this cleaner on the metal fuel lines and replace the rubber ones.
 
ya know vping, given the fact that my car has problems with prolonged driving, and the fact that my car sat in a garage for 2 yrs before (no telling how long it might have sat before the PO's picked it up) I bought it, I'm becoming more and more afraid to look inside my tank.

Anyone know how to check the vapor separator canister (the one in the boot) and possibly where to get a new one?
 
Bah, pull the tank and check it out. Easy job, easy fix.
 
I had my tank boiled out and used carb cleaner and comp. air on the lines and it came out good but my sending unit was ok even with 15 year old gass in it.
 
Pictures were taken with it out. I took the tank out last night & am bringing it over to the shop today. Hopefully he'll be up front with me about it's condition and will work with me. Purchased a radiator for my Ranger and I felt I was treated good so I am not that concerned.

I want to get it back in the car by next week either boiled or new.

If I decide I need to go new, anything I can do to the tank before I install it to insure it's longevity?

Nunya's, Does gas actually go through the vapor canister? I did'nt think that it did so it might be fine. I would try and look inside of it to determine crud factor. Looking in side with a flash light was tough. The picture I took with a flash and holding the camera at the right angle allowed me to snap some good shots. Only after I downloaded to my PC was I able to see how grizzly if was. I really get some amazing shot with this camera.
 
That's NASTY, Vince! Hope it works out!
 
Just got back from the Radiator shop. Keep in mind that LI is the most expensive place in the world to live so...

He's gonna boil it, etch it, coat it. Drill & Braize for a proper drain plug & remove the filter that is in there while he is at it. $150.

My options were to buy a new tank & I might stil have rust problems in the future. If I bought a new one & had the same stuff done to it, I'd be spending more so I figured, go ahead.

I could buy all the chemicals & do it myself but with kids & pets around.....

The TD tank needs a cleaning (54 years is a long time without a bath) & I can build a small relationship with a local shop.

It'll all work out. Always does. I am still having fun and have a smile on my face!

Still want a 1972 Blaze Midget though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
no... gas doesn't (well shouldn't anyways) actually go up into the vapor canister, but mine might be clogged since it's impossible for me to go full flow with any fuel pump at a gas station.
 
[ QUOTE ]
remove the filter that is in there

[/ QUOTE ]

That little filter should come out with the sending unit...& should go back in with it.

In Long Island, that might not be so bad a price.
 
At the bottom of the pickup tube is that filter. There is an inverted cup that is welded to the bottom of the tube. Then the filter is held by the cup & the bottom of the tank.
The second pic is of the sending unit and there is no evidence that a filter was there. I have an inline filter by the carbs so I can keep an eye on it.
 
So, you have the sending unit that doesn't have the pickup attached?
 
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