Gas Tank Problems

Ray A from PA

Ray A from PA

Senior Member
My 1931 SW must have dirt or rust in the tank. I have a clear in line filter between outside shut off and carburetor. Several times in the past few weeks while driving,the engine died from lack of gas. I immediately checked the filter and no gas was evident in the filter. I taped the pipe that runs from bottom of tank through the firewall to shut off. The gas immediately flowed in to the filter. Is flushing the tank an option or better yet must the tank have to come off? If that is the case how is the tank on the SW removed? Thanks for all comments Ray.
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Is your gas cap vented?? Is there any "crud" in the filter?? Did this problem just start to happen?? What else have you done to the car recently??
Paul in CT
 
I would remove the gas tank valve and flow some clean gas through severl times into a bucket to flush out all you can. Filter the gas through a cloth and keep reusing it to flush until no more junk comes out.
 
Hi Ray,

Many recently have suggested that the Model A gas tanks "have" to be removed for a "proper" cleaning.

In remembering quite a few Model A's that were owned as a family's only car, (as opposed to a just hobby car), & in talking years ago to quite a few vintage car mechanics born between the 1890's & 1915, gas tanks were never removed for cleaning -- and they "all" got dirty!

Tom's suggestion above in #3 is "Right On" in describing how Model A gas tank cleaning was done years ago -- may take a little time & patience, but it always works.

If the tank is found to be rusty, "religiously" adding about 4 ounces of Marvel Mystery oil per 10 gallons of fuel, "every" time gas is added, will no doubt control all tank rust, especially if vehicle is "always" stored with a "full" tank of oiled gas.

Hope this helps.
 
When I first got my Model A I drained the tank by getting a long piece of rubber hose 7 feet,, cut a flapped notch in one end of the hose and got the wife to hold the other end in the tank. Stuck the end of my air compressor air nozzel in the far end notch, turned on the aircompressor and the resulting vacuum cleaned out all kinds of rust/stale gas that had accumulated in the bottom of the tank, ran the tank end of the hose all across the bottom of the tank and banged the hose around in there. Filtered the gas that came out and repeated the process several times. Have not had any rust making it to the carb since. If you utilize this procedure do it OUTSIDE.

I used a 5 gal plastic bucket to catch the gas.
 
Taking gas cap off made no difference, filter is clean no junk in it. It appears my problem is before the shutoff on firewall. Problem has been developing for several months. This year I started using ethanol free gas and haven't done anything else that may effect this problem.
 
Get about 1 1/2" of 1/4" copper tubing and drill several 1/16" holes in it starting about 1/2" from one end up to the other end.

Remove the gas line from the fuel tank and the section of tubing will slip right in about 1/2". This will filter out all the chips that float around the bottom, take about 10 minutes and cost nothing. The top end is open but the chips don't float up that high. Marvel Mystery Oil will help keep the rust down.
 
My 26' T coupe kept doing the same thing. (tank in cowl similar to the model A) No crud in the filter, just wouldn't come down the pipe. Come to find out, it was a small rag in the tank. It was mostly deteriorated away but was just holding together enough to plug the line. I would blow air back up the line and it would clear for maybe a 1/2 hour or so, then plug again. When it would plug, absolutely NO gas would flow! Unbelievable. Try dropping a piece of a rag in a leaky tank to plug the hole... yeah right, no chance in #@$.
 
BILL WILLIAMSON said:
Those stainless standpipe filters that go in the top of the gas valve work well. Bill W.
Click to expand...

I think Bill's idea would do you some good. This filter is in the gas tank and not after the firewall. Thus would filter out the crud that may be in the tank from getting to the line. Would need to drain the tank, take off the shutoff valve and insert this kind of filter in the top of the valve.
 
I would not install one of the screens in the shut off valve since it is in the horizontal position. I have a 31 SW Town Sedan and had the same problem. The small hole in the shutoff valve would plug or the fuel line would plug. I used to travel with an air tank with a blowgun to clean out the line. It would plug about every 40-50 miles. I finally installed a pipe nipple, valve and sediment bowl and it it has not plugged in the last 1500 miles, just need to clean out the sediment bowl. The valve is installed in the end of the nipple just in case the line in the bottom of the tank plugged, I can blow it out and shut it off instead of removing the shutoff valve and trying to screw it back in while gas runs out. I plan on reinstalling the original valve when the debris quits coming. Has worked good for me so far.
IMAG0873.jpg


Pete
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I would remove the gas tank valve and flow some clean gas through severl times into a bucket to flush out all you can. Filter the gas through a cloth and keep reusing it to flush until no more junk comes out.
Click to expand...


THIS!!!!

I had the SAME problem in my tudor

Did exactly how he said (i used coffee filters to strain the gas). And that fixed the problem! I also changed the fuel lines and the shut off valve while I was at it, but thats not 100% necessary!
 
The filter mentioned above is IN the gas tank. See item 1380 in Bratton's catalog. When the gas moves around in the tank, this screen will sort of self clean itself and should eliminate much of your problem,.
 
Fred, the item you refer to is #13280 and works well on a bottom outlet fuel tank. I do not believe it will work well on an indented firewall car since the crud cannot fall away from the screen when mounted in a horizontal position in a tube with nowhere for the stuff to go. I have used this part in cars with the fuel shutoff under the tank where the crud can fall from the screen. I posted a picture of my setup since I believe the original question invovles an indented firewall. My setup is kind of ugly and hope to get rid of it soon.

Thanks,
Pete
 
Thanks Pete for getting me squared away. I did not know this and it is good to know. My experience has been with my 1929's where you have the upright ones.
 
I have installed two screens in the valve on indented firewall cars, and they are working fine. Once you flush the loose stuff out, they should not clog for years, and if they clog then it's time for another tank flushing.
 
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