> >A friend of mine just called with a serious fuel storage problem. Upon
> >investigating the reasons for his 3 not starting, he discovered clogged gas
> >lines and upon further investigstion, he noticed that his gas tank is full of
> >funny stuff. He thinks someone tried to coat the gas tank with a sealer and
> >it has given up.
> >
> >Is there a recommended method of flushing out the tank so that it can be used
> >again reliably. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Funny you should mention this. I can tell you what NOT to try!
I'm starting to get close on Maggie's mechanical stuff. I startred
attacking the fuel system a couple of weeks ago. The gas line under
the car was clean, but the fuel pump was gummed up solid with a
residue that looked like violin resin. I bit the bullet and bought a
new pump. I soaked the lines out in carb cleaner, and then attacked
the tank. Maggie was sitting in a Texas field since 1964, so you can
imagine what poured out of the tank. A lot of foul smelling dark
varnishy stuff, but surprisingly no rust. To be safe, I bought a
quart of fuel tank sealer from Moss and carefully applied it. Cleaned
the float up and applied new gaskets. I was then ready to re-install.
At the last minute I decided to blow on the outlet pipe. Darn, it was
blocked. How could I have been so stupid as to seal the tank before
checking that tube when the others had been blocked! What to do? I
went back in the house and got a coat hannger, unbent it and rammed it
in. Pulled it out and found that same varnish. Oh well, back to work.
Pound, pound, pound, SNAP!!! The coat hanger broke off about 4 inches
into the pipe.
Time to get the tank from the parts car. Looked it over and found out
it had a hole the size of a dime :-(
I think I am now at the point where I need to find a good welder and
have the outlet pipe unbrazed from the tank and replaced. I strongly
recommend not using a coathanger as a reamer :-(
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Jay Nemeth-Johannes 87 Merkur XR4ti
Hewlett-Packard 83 VW GTI
VXI Systems Division 71 Saab Sonett
Loveland, Colorado 58 MG ZB Magnette
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