4 year old fuel... 18 year old tank :(

[ixfxi]

Okay boys, lets get down to the nitty gritty. I did some work on the underside of the S13 yesterday and ran into a bit of a snaffoo. Since the car was sitting for such a long period (years), the fuel in the fuel tank turned to shit.. Dave Longo (driftfreaq) commented that it smelled like turpentine. There was only a few gallons in it, but boy did it corrode a bunch of shit. I pulled the pump out only to see that the entire unit looked really corroded, the plastic AND the metal. The gas tank looks dirty but I think it can still be restored/used. I may need a new fuel pump though.

I'll try to take some pics to show the extent of the damage, just curious if anyone here has restored their fuel tanks and know exactly what products or shops to recommend.

Thanks

edit: woops, i meant 18 year old fuel tank. :-)

[ranger240]

you might want to search how guys seal the inside of old rusty motorcycle tanks.

[druthafoo]

28 years? I want to see this s13! lmao..

I know nothing of rebuilding gas tanks but wouldnt the safest thing to do would be to replace it entirely?

[The Chad]

I'd say replace it if the price isn't too bad.

To comment on what was said above: Bike tanks can be bottle brushed with seafoam or whatever solvent and dumper over to rinse. I have no clue what to suggest for an automotive tank....hmmmm. I'll think on it.

[nrmskate]

Same thing happen to me, but mine sat for 6 years.

I syphones as much as I could out, put 91 octane through it with fuel injector cleaner and seafoamed it. Ran like new. As far as the corrosion, new pump?

[ixfxi]

the other question i had is this, does anyone have any photos of the s15 subframe? i also dropped and fully disassembled my subframe/arms/diff/hubs/etc yesterday, and i will be powdercoating the subframe & pressing in replacement nismo bushings. before I do any of that, I'de like to reinforce the subframe.

does anyone have any pics of key areas that need reinforcement or pics of the s15 subframe for comparison use? thanks

[S14DB]

After about 6 months the fuel turns to a point where it is not usable. 18 months it's varnish/shellac.

You are going to have to drop the tank.

Getting the gas crystals out can be a pain. Ether a good metal prep like MEK or the easier method if you know someone with a powder coating oven. Have them bake the tank till it's all gone.

Then you have to scrape all the rust and corrosion out. Ether by hand or with a media blaster with aluminum oxide.

I wouldn't do all that work. Just find another S13 tank. It's not a 50 yr old car that you can't find tanks anymore.

[ThatGuy]

Sounds like a good excuse to drop a fuel cell in the trunk.

If not that, then I would probably go the route of finding a tank in better shape and swapping it out.

Good luck, Mike!

[Phlip]

edit: woops, i meant 18 year old fuel tank. :-)

*poof*
It's fixed now

[Om1kron]

After about 6 months the fuel turns to a point where it is not usable. 18 months it's varnish/shellac.

fuck..........

looks like I'm dropping my tank, both of them... thanks jerk :ugh:

[S14DB]

fuck..........

looks like I'm dropping my tank, both of them... thanks jerk :ugh:

Deprecated Browser Error (http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/default.aspx)

[s13gebala]

yeah i dropped my tank.. it had a hole from someone drilling it

new tanks are expensive i say you just repair this one..

[Om1kron]

Deprecated Browser Error (http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/default.aspx)

LOL at the link name, I thought I was going to get rick rolled.


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[nismo 240sx]

just go to the junk yard youll prbly find a way better one for like a 1 forth of what your going to pay to restore it.

[ixfxi]

just go to the junk yard youll prbly find a way better one for like a 1 forth of what your going to pay to restore it.

Meh.

I decided to skip the funny business and quit while I'm ahead. I dont mind wrenching but I hate fuckin toxic fumes and even worse, I hate messing with chemicals.

I ordered a new one from the stealer. Cant go wrong with new.

If anyone (dousan?) has pics of the S15 subframe please post, I'de love to see what changes were made to the newer subframe. I dont think I'll run the S15 subframe since it requires offset (solid aluminum) bushings, a big no no for me.

edit: for future reference, you guys may want to check out this vid.. pretty good instructional if you're wondering whats involved in full restoration of a tank:
hjhRg1CpMQI
Most radiator shops should also be able to boil out and restore your fuel tank.

[ANVIL]

After about 6 months the fuel turns to a point where it is not usable.

that cant be true. i dont drive my car every winter for 6-7 months every year. always fires right up and never had any fuel issues at all. my civic had to have been sitting at least a year before i bought it, and then another 8 months before i got it running. if it had to guess, id say it would take at least 2 years for gas to go "bad"

[az_240]

Does Gas Go Bad? - AOL Autos (http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/does-gas-go-bad/20070703144909990001)

after a couple months the gas does go bad.

[projectRDM]

I'm glad to have a plastic tank. My fuel is about a year old now too.

[g6civcx]

How about an aftermarket fuel cell?

[mrmephistopheles]

After about 6 months the fuel turns to a point where it is not usable. 18 months it's varnish/shellac.

You are going to have to drop the tank.

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. While it won't be an ideal form of gas, it will still be quite flammable.

I stored our 240s for 4 years (albeit with fuel stablizer) and it just took adding some fresh stuff to the tank to get them to run decently.

My father in law has a truck that hasn't seen fresh gas in probably 15 years, and he was able to start it and run it without adding anything to it. Gas does have a shelf-life, and in an ideal world, one shouldn't try to use it after too long.

Anyway, I'll get around to changing out the fuel pickup socks one of these days and at that point I'll be able to find out if there were any long-term consequences of storing the cars for so long with shit fuel.

[mr.booie]

yea i bought an s13 with gas that had been in it for 4 years. it still ran, but not good. so i drained it all, put a new fuel filter in it, and now it runs great.

[ixfxi]

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. While it won't be an ideal form of gas, it will still be quite flammable.

I stored our 240s for 4 years (albeit with fuel stablizer) and it just took adding some fresh stuff to the tank to get them to run decently.

My father in law has a truck that hasn't seen fresh gas in probably 15 years, and he was able to start it and run it without adding anything to it. Gas does have a shelf-life, and in an ideal world, one shouldn't try to use it after too long.

Anyway, I'll get around to changing out the fuel pickup socks one of these days and at that point I'll be able to find out if there were any long-term consequences of storing the cars for so long with shit fuel.


you'll rethink your statement when you see the pics of my tank, it looks pretty bad. while i agree that it does not stop being gas, the octane rating does indeed go down and it becomes less usable. in addition i would imagine it also starts to mess with sensitive items like injectors, hoses, seals and such.

definitely gotta add some type of stabilizer if you plan on not driving your vehicle. i feel sorry for rich folks with car collections.

[dogg4217]

I had a s13 sitting since 01. Bought it last year and just finished it.

The gas tank smelled like ass. Fuel pump was rusted and corroded. I just found a used tank from a junk yard for $60 and then installed a new fuel pump setup

[WIKID S4TEEN]

Bump...

This thread was me debating whether or not replacing my tank/draining gas before bringing it back to life.
I'm worried about clogging lines...:smash:
My car has been sitting since July 08.

[jilo]

i dunno if you guys have it out on the west coast but 1800 radiator has replacement tanks and sending units for pretty cheap. i used to work for them.

[mr.booie]

Bump...

This thread was me debating whether or not replacing my tank/draining gas before bringing it back to life.
I'm worried about clogging lines...:smash:
My car has been sitting since July 08.


YES!!! DRAIN IT! a couple months ago in this thread you will see i posted that i drained the gas and put in a new fuel filter.
when i originally bought the car i ran the car for about 30-45 minutes on the bad gas in the car. then i drained it. yesterday i just had to replace a fuel injector and run some fuel system cleaner so my car would run on all 4 cylinders instead of 3.
so dont even start your car with bad gas in it. its easy to drain if you pm me i can just tell you how i did it.

[Howlermonkey]

I had a radiator shop try unsuccessfully to get varnish out of a tank but I found that Methylene Chloride did wonders.

Sadly, it is getting harder to find but it used to be used in oven cleaners and "tal strip" paint remover.

Another troubling thing about it is that you can feel every single molecule of it that touches your skin meaning......if it's been aerosolized and is floating around either you or something will suffer.

[WIKID S4TEEN]

YES!!! DRAIN IT! a couple months ago in this thread you will see i posted that i drained the gas and put in a new fuel filter.
when i originally bought the car i ran the car for about 30-45 minutes on the bad gas in the car. then i drained it. yesterday i just had to replace a fuel injector and run some fuel system cleaner so my car would run on all 4 cylinders instead of 3.
so dont even start your car with bad gas in it. its easy to drain if you pm me i can just tell you how i did it.

Yes but your car sat for 4yrs.
Mines less than a year.
Someone (Anvil) above said something very true, that they store their car for winter.
Surely there's many others on here that do the same.
Eastcoast people can u confirm?
What's the longest you've store your car?
Anyhow, please pm how you drained your car.
I might just replace the gas tank????

[HungryHank]

drop it and put a cell in the trunk.

[Mister.E]

Yes but your car sat for 4yrs.
Mines less than a year.
Someone (Anvil) above said something very true, that they store their car for winter.
Surely there's many others on here that do the same.
Eastcoast people can u confirm?
What's the longest you've store your car?
Anyhow, please pm how you drained your car.
I might just replace the gas tank????

just drain it and put new gas in the tank and fire it up. also add some fuel system cleaner for the lines and you should be fine. as long as you dont run the shitty fuel thats in the tank right now i dont really see where you would have any problems....

[ixfxi]

http://www.clearcorners.com/temp/fueltank_old05.jpg

how bout you quit being such a pusscake and pop open your fuel tank, take a look?

mine looked like piss n shit, its pretty obvious that it will need a boiling out before it could ever be used again.

http://www.clearcorners.com/temp/fueltank_old04.jpg
my z32 fuel pump and sender bit the dust too, literally.. shit looks like 100% rust.

you're probably fine, just suck out the old gas and put new gas in.. you'll be okay.

[Mister.E]

damn that looks like shit! how much did the new tank that you bought end up costing?

[jackal264]

i store my car every year for 6-8 months. every year i put in fuel stabilizer and fill the tank as full as possible (to prevent as much condensation as possible) and every year i'm fine.

[projectRDM]

http://www.clearcorners.com/temp/fueltank_old05.jpg

how bout you quit being such a pusscake and pop open your fuel tank, take a look?

mine looked like piss n shit, its pretty obvious that it will need a boiling out before it could ever be used again.

http://www.clearcorners.com/temp/fueltank_old04.jpg
my z32 fuel pump and sender bit the dust too, literally.. shit looks like 100% rust.

you're probably fine, just suck out the old gas and put new gas in.. you'll be okay.

Looks like one I pulled from a car to sell but then realized it was fucked. Did yours have a wonderful aroma too? The tank on this car was so rank I threw up the minute the odor hit me. I punched a hole in the tank and let it drain, it stained the asphalt so bad it started to break off in chunks and the lot smelled for three days.

I wouldn't want that shit in my engine, nor the lines, hoses, or injectors.

[S13 curtis]

i havent driven my car in a month and a half. i took it out the other day with month old fuel i floored it and it detonated like hell broke up badly and afr went to like 14. so i wouldnt use fuel any older than 2 weeks.

[ixfxi]

haha russ, dave said my fuel smelled like turpentine. i have no idea, i dont have the best sense of smell. all i know is it smells like shit.

i still have the tank sitting in my backyard evaporating out of the fuel fill hole. i need to go take a gas container and then go dispose of the fuel properly, but it hasnt fit my schedule yet. i figure if its been in there for 3 years, another year wont hurt. :-)

[xxtokesxx]

Not sure if you have done this already... but you might want to take the time to go over the hard fuel lines under the car as well. I picked up my nx that had been sitting for 5 years and had the same problem. Since the system had been exposed to air it had gotten into the empty hard lines and corroded they through the inside and they rusted. After further investigation I found out that the same happened to all the hard brake lines and ended up replacing all the hard lines underneathe the car with new ones from the dealer.

[ixfxi]

already ordered, new.

anything fuel related is history. cars are not designed to sit.

[Howlermonkey]

I bought a 1981 280zx turbo that sat for 4 years........but the tank was near full.

Drain and refill and it ran fine.........but the tank was near full.

Put a 3 gallons a week into my station wagon and it ran fine........but both tanks were near full.

[S14DB]

Yeah, when the tank is full you don't have the air and humidity to rust stuff out. Why Stabil tells you to add their stuff then fill it up. Best way*to store a car is full.

[Howlermonkey]

My bud had this problem with his 1967 mustang and another friend found this 2 gallon round can and welded a hose barb on each end and painted "fuel filter" on it.

Bud was not amused when presented the huge filter.

[mrmephistopheles]

haha russ, dave said my fuel smelled like turpentine. i have no idea, i dont have the best sense of smell. all i know is it smells like shit.

i still have the tank sitting in my backyard evaporating out of the fuel fill hole. i need to go take a gas container and then go dispose of the fuel properly, but it hasnt fit my schedule yet. i figure if its been in there for 3 years, another year wont hurt. :-)

You could also add it to your Miata's gas tank at a rate of 1 gal/tank

[aNskY]

Not sure if you have done this already... but you might want to take the time to go over the hard fuel lines under the car as well. I picked up my nx that had been sitting for 5 years and had the same problem. Since the system had been exposed to air it had gotten into the empty hard lines and corroded they through the inside and they rusted. After further investigation I found out that the same happened to all the hard brake lines and ended up replacing all the hard lines underneathe the car with new ones from the dealer.


That seems like a perfect opportunity to do all SS lines... Probably would have been cheaper than the stealership too. Did you look into it?

[ixfxi]

I bought a 1981 280zx turbo that sat for 4 years........but the tank was near full.

Drain and refill and it ran fine.........but the tank was near full.

Put a 3 gallons a week into my station wagon and it ran fine........but both tanks were near full.

were the tanks near full?




That seems like a perfect opportunity to do all SS lines... Probably would have been cheaper than the stealership too. Did you look into it?

ss lines suck. hard lines are the best.

[Tearlessj]

A kinda related question. Anyone have any info on how to drop the fuel tank on a S13?

[DreamN]

look under your car it's pretty much retard proof not to fail at taking it off. if you can't figure it out just by looking at it then get an FSM.

[projectRDM]

A kinda related question. Anyone have any info on how to drop the fuel tank on a S13?

Wow. Two bolts. Seriously, it's easier than taking a wheel off.

[projectRDM]

That seems like a perfect opportunity to do all SS lines... Probably would have been cheaper than the stealership too. Did you look into it?

Ugh. Hardlines are by far the best, and the dealership pricing for lines is pretty damn cheap. Cheaper than a set of custom SS lines for sure.

[Tearlessj]

Wow. Two bolts. Seriously, it's easier than taking a wheel off.
Well I've never really took notice to it. Thanks for the info!