fuel intake tube occluded by tank itself?

[gifishguy]

I revisited the problem with the mechanics who tell me that they can't move the tube itself because it seems to be "welded" to the tank and that as the engine warms up and the vacuum increases, the tank itself seems to occlude the flow of fuel into the tube. This once again leads them to the conclusion that the tank needs to be removed , cut , and the tube needs to be repositioned, cut at a 45 and replaced. Lots of labor! Anyone out there ever experienced this problem? Hate to open this can of worms.[/u]

 

[Tuna Man]

Gifishguy,
I used to own a 1994 Grady Explorer with twin aluminum tanks. Although I never removed the tanks, I did work on the fuel line and the dip tube a few times. If memory serves me correctly, the dip tube (also known as pickup tube) is in fact welded to the tank. On a few occasions sediment was clogging the base of the roughly 3/8" diameter tube. I suspect the bottom of the roughly 15 year old tank (at the time) had a 1/2" or so of sediment of some sort sitting in it.

A trick I did that worked for at least a season was to first pull the deck plate cover and ring from the floor above the tank. Next I would remove the hose clamp and the fuel line at the top of the tank. I would them loosen the check valve (male thread x barbed adapter either made of aluminum or brass) and remove it. I would then blow air into the dip tube, this would blow the sediment away from the pickup tube. It was a temporary fix, but only took about a half hour. Basically I was creating a 'valley' where the fuel was being pulled from.

In a perfect world I should have pulled both tanks and had them cleaned. I suspect this would have taken more than a half hour...

 

[richie rich]

I've never seen this before, but instead of cutting the old tube out, why can't the shop simply plug the existing tube and simply drill a new hole and weld in a new pick up tube at the right length? It will probably take them more time to drain and clean the tank to make it safe than to reweld in a new tube.

 

[Seahunter]

I had a similar issue although the bottom of tank was clean. Disconnected the fuel line and removed the anti-siphon valve and used a blow gun nozzle on my air compressor to blow out the pick-up tube.

The first blast had some resistance, but a couple more quick blasts cleared the problem. I don’t know what was exactly was causing the problem but its has not resurface in the past 3 seasons.

 

[3rdone]

Fuel flow restriction

I HAD FUEL FLOW PROBLEMS AND CLOGGED FILTERS DUE TO FILL AND VENT HOSES WHICH DETERIATED SEVERLY FROM ETHANOL. CHANGE THEM TO ALCOHOL RESISTENT RUBBER AND PROBLEM WENT AWAY :lol: