Dear Guys,

I have a clogged fuel tank. The lines are clear right up to the tank itself. Since this is the second tank I have found wtih this issue I was wondering if that is common in the junk yard parts? What can I do to unclog it?

Tony in New Mexico

 

Yea, especially if people throw junk into the tank, such as screws, instead of throwing it on the ground. One of the very common things is to have people stuff rags into the filler opening and to have the rags fall into the tank. Even before it gets to the junkyard.

 

Do you know what's clogging it?

My original tank was completely rusted on the bottom 12 inches. My truck stalled twice and each time the fuel filter canister was half filled with rust dust. I found one in the salvage yard that was brand new shiny on the inside for $55. I think the problem with mine was that it sat for a number of years and condensation formed in there that caused it to rust. I think the one in the salvage yard never sat (it looked like it had been worked to death) and most likely always had fresh gas in it. When I removed mine I found that the brass float was half rotted away, fell off the sending unit and was sitting right under the supply line. That may have been what plugged the line the second time.

Anyway, I thought I had made the find of the century when I found the clean tank but I've read where guys in this forum say they've seen many clean tanks in salvage trucks. So if you're gonna get another salvage tank, make sure you take a flashlight with you and look down in it real good and make sure you get a clean tank. Otherwise, you can take yours to a radiator shop and they'll hot tank it for around $100. That will also get the rust out.

 

My truck sat for a while before I bought it and the tank was so rusty inside that the pickup tube was plugged soild. When through a few fuel filters and even put in a new fuel pump, finally found a clean tank at the wreckers. No more trouble, at least with the fuel.

 

Is there no way to unplug this one???

Tony

 

That only way that I can think to clean the tank of is to blow compressed air into the line going into the tank but that will only put the rust back in. It has been suggested on previous FTE forums to put small stones into the tank and shake it to loosen the rust but it maybe fairly hard to clean the tank out afterwards. I was lucky to find a clean one so that saved alot of trouble and flustration. I was quoted about $150 to have mine cleaned by a rad shop and they didn`t really want to do it as it would be so time consuming.

 

It may not be rust, pull the tank, blow some air into it and see what you get. If not rust, rinse it out with gas, check what comes out when you dump it out. Look in side with a light. what do you have to loose? Just a little time to see want in there.

 

My 68 tank was in bad shape so we pulled the tank pulled the sending unit and put a tow chain in the tank then shook it back and forth then went to the car wash and hosed out all the rust went home and blew out the tank with air to dry it then coated the inside with 2 stroke oil and let it sit a couple of hours. After I installed it I put a clear plastic fuel filter inline just as it comes under the cab, had to change it out after 10 day but the next one have been going strong for 2 month now!

 

Here's how I unplugged mine. I had the fuel filter canister off at the time and no fuel was dripping. Fuel will continue to drip unless you clamp off the rubber hose in the engine compartment. I took compressed air and blew into the filler neck with my hand sealing around the filler neck and air blowing tool. It isn't a perfect seal but it was enough to force fuel to flow. Doing this was my neighbors idea.

My idea was to stick the air tool into the rubber line in the engine compartment and blow back into the tank. I can't remember why he thought that wasn't a good idea.

Did you ever figure out what's plugging up the line?