If you are going to vacuum it , at least use one of those air vacuums. Other wise this is probably the last goodbye.
I thought the myth busters proved that one wrong. Not that I would try it. Sure looks like a lot of **** in the filter to me.
a screw would get lost in that quan***y of crud! I only have one fuel pickup plugging story.....61 dodge W200, driving to work (30 years ago), and the truck quit running when I got on post. coasted to a stop, though about it, pulled the sender out, which was held in pretty tight by all the blue silicone a PO had used to seal it with. once I got it out, I pulled out the nice plug shaped piece of blue silicone that was plugging the intake tube. Put it back together, worked fine the rest of the time I had it.
Had this sweet Binder, never used it and drove/delivered it 100 miles when I sold it. Halfway there in no man's land it started sputtering, oh ****! Played with the points, blah blah blah, realized the inline fuel filter was plugged. Turned it around, left it open at the carb side, fired the motor up and blew gas through it the other way, turned it back around, full speed ahead! Miss that thing but it's in better hands now.
removing the tank and cleaning it out would be the best solution. i have pounded a short piece of steel line up into the bottom of fuel tanks so it stuck up above the crud. i inch piece would be plenty but remember you will run out of fuel sooner.
I like this whole thread (other than the shop vac idea ) and I'm enjoying the possible solutions but I am alone here in wanting to know how the OP dropped the screw in the tank? I need to hear this part.
You know that if you leave it there you will be in the middle of bum-**** on a wet and windy night with no torch or 'phone coverage and that is when it will block the fuel line. Get the screw out now! Try to get a magnet small enough to fit in the end of a hose so that you can at least maneuver the magnet around inside the tank.
I hope he doesn't use a torch to look in the fuel tank. We had a Mack Semi tractor that would run out of fuel for no apparent reason. Remove the filters, fill them with fuel and it was off and running again. I finally had them run the fuel low in the tank, siphoned the rest out and found the plastic cap from a fuel additive inside. The plastic is slightly heavier than the fuel so it just lays near the bottom of the tank and eventually gets ****ed up. The tanks had a screen but the truck drivers would pull it out to fill with fuel as it would cause the auto nozzles to shut off.
Can you remove the sender unit without dropping the tank? If not, Jack the car up onto stands [diagonally?] so the screw can roll to an accessible corner. Then get underneath and thump the underside of the tank so the screw rolls to that corner Then try and remove it with the gizmo on post #3
To expand a little on what you are saying. If you use a regular vacuum with an electric motor the spark from the electric motor will probably ignite the gas fumes that are being ****ed through it. Charlie Stephens
ha ha ha! Quite a few years ago I read in a Corvair Club conversation about repairing gas tanks, that someone used an Electrolux vacuum to dry out and vent a fuel tank in preparation for repairs. The guy who used the Electrolux vacuum did not take in to account the fact that the air going thru the vacuum cleaner also went thru the motor to cool the motor. He also decided to **** out the tank fumes instead of blowing fresh air thru the tank. OOOPS! You probably already are picturing the crazy inferno even before I tell you that the sparks from the motor brushes ignited the fuel fumes being blown through the vacuum cleaner and started a blowtorch and a vacuum cleaner meltdown. The club newsletter I was reading said that it became a regular club ritual at the next few gatherings. I do not know if they still do that at gatherings, but I haven't heard since the mid 1990s. I don't want to imagine the explosion hazard if the tank caught.... Just a funny bit of info... P.S. I would probably ignore the bolt in the tank, and just drive it believing it would likely never plug anything. why be ordinary?
That is a good one! A video of that would have been great! With my luck the intake valve would have been open ..
OK I will fess up .. For years I had no problem putting gas in the tank and then I started getting a lot of splash back episodes..It was figured on here [hamb] that newer fuel nozzles/gas pumps have higher pressure..Newer fuel fill necks have a specific size hole so only a no lead nozzle will fit..So I made a SS washer to fit in filler pipe with proper size hole to fit gas nozzle, wedged in place with a SS sheet metal screw; THE screw.. Having a separate tank vent the washer should act as a baffle and let the nozzle shut off....Worked great till I had a fight with a tangled gas hose and punched the washer with the nozzle while trying to find the hole which knocked it loose sending it sliding down the filler pipe stopping at a bend near the tank with the SCREW following close behind..TINKLE-Tinkle-tinkle-plop......
Well a happy ending! Half awake this morning I pondered at my screw in tank dilemma..Tapping tank bottom I could hear the screw bounce and it was on the same side as drain plug..I tried for a while but could not fish the screw out as the plug is slightly on the bottom radius of the tank...Then I noticed that the outlet bung is horizontal and even with bottom of tank but on the other side of tank [would have been nice if I noticed this earlier; I put it there]!..Jacked left side of car up and tapping on bottom of tank got the screw to move over but couldn't fish it to the outlet..Slid about 6" of light rope in the outlet to lay on bottom of tank..Jacked right side of car up and tapped the bottom of tank till I felt the screw was up against the rope and pulled the rope out putting the screw right at the outlet..Dove in with some Aluminum wire and by accident managed to stand the screw up on its head and I could see it through the outlet hole..Made a loop of wire and got it over end of screw and dragged it out.. ..
plop , plop what a relief it is . small victory for mankind , but great for one man . glad you overcame
Congratulations seb on your victory. I have renamed your thread "The Taming of the Screw" Now what are you going to do about that mosaic folk art looking filter.
Good going! I had installed the new tank in my Ford a few years back and decided then to remove the plastic bung out of the filler neck... you know the rest, right into the tank. I had to drop the tank and yank the sender out, jockey it around so I could grab it.
at least flush that tank out before you put it back together........nothing worse than a good running engine, a full tank of gas and they just can't work together.
Good idea. I'm going to put a few gal of gas/cleaner in and slosh it around the best I can by monkeying the car around the yard and then draining it out for GP. I couldn't really see any loose stuff in my trying to get the screw out; the outlet is so low that all the junk seemed to be in the filter of the electric pump..
The crud fell right off the filter; some carb clean and air blowing and it looks like new! Made a new gasket but scalloped the ID so as to let fuel flow to the rest of the filter while still allowing it to locate the filter central to housing..Like the re-name...
Just an added note..Culprit washer now held in place by three plated steel screws, I even beat on it some to make sure it was staying put! Thanks to all for suggestions..
Thanks for the explanation. I was driving one of my cars last week and the steering wheel felt loose. Took off the horn cap to find the nut had backed off and the wheel had backed off the splines. Pulled into a buddies shop to run the nut down. I had to put up with a few " there's a nut loose behind the wheel" jokes. I guess you have to tolerate a few"loose screw" jokes for now. HAMB on my brotha!
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