Fuel tank

[Steve Jarvis]

I have issues! Had the tank cleaned out, but since then I've had problems. Car would not start when reinstalled. New fuel pump fitted and the car was fine, it would start ok and run well. First time I took it out on the road it ran well, but when I stopped after only a mile it would not re-start. Pump had failed again. New fuel filter, pipes blown through, test bulb at pump shows feed is good, Main strange thing is when I blow through the tank to pump hose (towards the tank) I hear the bubbles as air goes into the tank, then a flow of petrol comes out of the pipe, but then the flow stops. Does anyone know if this is normal.

[grogee]

If the car has stood for a long period of time it's probably full of bran flakes. Mine was. This clogs the pump which sits before the filter in the circuit.

I bought a POR-15 tank repair kit for £90 to fix this and it's OK now. It's not an easy or quick job to use it though and you'll be without the car while the tank is off.

I think there is a new tank avaliable for something like £400 in Spain on ebay.

[Steve Jarvis]

Thanks for the thoughts. The car had not been standing. I have had the tank cleaned, but this morning a friend and I took the feed off the pump and forced compressed air in through the filler neck. Fuel flowed with a few particles. Possible cause? Going to take the tank off this week and give it a good swill out. The 'company' that originally 'cleaned' the tank said the inside of the tank was spotless. Rust in the tank would have been from a rusting filler spout/neck.

[Doctordiesel77]

Sounds as though they missed a bit when cleaning the tank...

[Steve Jarvis]

Problem (hopefully) solved. Dropped tank again and found small soft black particles. I suspect that when I had the tank cleaned out, they sprayed it black but failed to seal various pipe outlets. I think the paint particles solidified in the tank and were small enough to reach the pump and block it. I needed to put a gallon of petrol in, swish it about and then pour it out. Needed to do this around a dozen times before getting clean petrol out.