C

Colthebrummie

Well-Known Member
The front tank in my S3 station wagon seems to have some fine, white sediment in it which manages to get past the cheapo transparent fuel filter. I know the proper job would be to remove the tank and flush it out but that option looks like a whole world of pain, also it's more than half full. Can anyone recommend a decent in-line filter I could fit in addition to the cheapo filter. When I have run the front tank in the past, the filter gets very contaminated in a few days. Preferably a new filter would be one that I could clean rather than keep replacing.

Col
 
Hi Col, You could fit a fuel filter unit from a diesel series, large changeable paper filter and would probably fit on the bulkhead using fittings already there.
Cheers, John.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, the stuff in my tank is as fine as dust and although the cheapo filter catches some of it, I imagine a fair bit would get through to the carb. I like the idea of the diesel fuel filter, I'll scour the net for one. My fuel pump includes the glass sediment bowl but for some reason this isn't collecting the stuff from the tank. Probably because it is too light and just flows through. The filter I have now is very cheap and disposable, I think they were about £10 for 5. So I could just put two or three in line as a temporary measure.

Col
 
kermit_rr said:
Won't an inline paper filter work in the line to the carb?
Click to expand...
I guess it would if I could get a decent one. The cheapo one is paper in a transparent plastic cover, it does collect some of the contaminate but it soon becomes overwhelmed and the flow of petrol washes some of the captured dust through into the carb. I think it is mainly designed to capture larger debris particles like rust. Some of the more expensive filters don't have a transparent body so it's hard to judge how it is performing. I don't want to fit one and wait until the engine conks out before I realise it has become overwhelmed.

Col
 
Had this same problem a few times over many years. My first thought was an in-line filter with transparent body and paper element as has already been suggested, change the filter as often as necessary...
Having said that, it seem you have quite a big contamination problem on your hands and I think you will eventually have to 'bite the bullet' and drain and clean out the tank. Can you get the drain plug out? If you can you won't have to remove the whole tank, just take out the fuel gauge sender so that you can see what's going on and work from there with a light. You could even, (and I have done this myself), flush out the tank with a hose. Getting the tank completely dry again is easy with a hot air blower; get it nice and hot and no water could live in there.
Edit: just re-read and see that yours is a Station Wagon... tank at the rear? I was thinking under-seat tank, yours might be more difficult as a result.
 
Last edited:
What about cleaning the fool tank? Then possibly treat the inside? I know there's petrol resistance coatings you can get
 
Extreedoc said:
Had this same problem a few times over many years. My first thought was an in-line filter with transparent body and paper element as has already been suggested, change the filter as often as necessary...
Having said that, it seem you have quite a big contamination problem on your hands and I think you will eventually have to 'bite the bullet' and drain and clean out the tank. Can you get the drain plug out? If you can you won't have to remove the whole tank, just take out the fuel gauge sender so that you can see what's going on and work from there with a light. You could even, (and I have done this myself), flush out the tank with a hose. Getting the tank completely dry again is easy with a hot air blower; get it nice and hot and no water could live in there.
Click to expand...
I looked at the drain plug and it didn't give me any confidence it could be removed with tears. The front tank is under the drivers seat and has a filler cap the size of a saucer so I wouldn't need to remove the sender, although, I think the sender is faulty so I'll have to remove it one day. I have a spare electric fuel pump that I could use to transfer the petrol into a suitable container but it's cleaning the tank whilst it's in situ that worries me. Several years ago, a mate of mine who was a mechanic, used a vacuum cleaner to remove some debris from an empty petrol tank. Unfortunately, the tank was full of fumes and it caused a flash fire. No real damage but it could have been much worse.

Col
 
I think if I was to go to the trouble of removing the tank, I'd probably replace it for a new one. One of the things bugging me is what and where the contamination has come from. The tank was empty when I bought the landy, and I didn't look at it properly before I put petrol in. The contamination looks like that powdery oxidisation that aluminium develops when it is untreated and exposed to the elements. So I'm wondering if plating from the fuel sender or summat deteriated whilst the tank was empty. I believe the tank was empty for some considerable time. The plating on the underside of the filler cap isn't great but they are pretty rare and difficult to find a good one.

Col
 
Col[/QUOTE]
Colthebrummie said:
I looked at the drain plug and it didn't give me any confidence it could be removed with tears. The front tank is under the drivers seat and has a filler cap the size of a saucer so I wouldn't need to remove the sender, although, I think the sender is faulty so I'll have to remove it one day. I have a spare electric fuel pump that I could use to transfer the petrol into a suitable container but it's cleaning the tank whilst it's in situ that worries me. Several years ago, a mate of mine who was a mechanic, used a vacuum cleaner to remove some debris from an empty petrol tank. Unfortunately, the tank was full of fumes and it caused a flash fire. No real damage but it could have been much worse.

Col
Click to expand...
So what you have is a military tank with under-seat filler cap?
Last time I had to clean a tank in-situ I flushed it with water using a power washer and used a wet/dry vacuum cleaner to get most of the wet out, there were no fumes to worry about, the hot air blower soon took care of any wet left behind. I wonder what the contamination is that you have to deal with?
I remember thinking at the time: a steam cleaner would be the perfect tool to clean this tank out...
 
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