Gas Tank Strainer

bobgreco

bobgreco

Senior Member
I find it difficult to fill up the truck with the strainer in the gas tank filler neck. It causes the gas to splash back or shut off the pump. Is this strainer really necessary if I always fill up at a service station? I also have the screen and glass bowl correctly installed, so I am not worried about junk getting to the engine.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I don't use one for the reasons that you have mentioned. Actually it does strain to some extent but its real purpose was a flame arrestor.
 
It's really a flame arrestor. Stories are told of salesmen that would open the gas cap and light a match over the opening. Only a faint blue flame would appear and it your go out when the cap was placed back on.

Try just cutting the bottom off.
 
I keep mine on the shelf. Most gas pumps are now grounded so little chance of static electricity igniting the tank fumes.
 
The real danger is the static caused by the gas flow. That's why they have fires started by filing gas cans setting on truck bed liners. Tires today are made to conduct electricity and keep the vehicle grounded and you can keep the hose nozzle in contact with the tank. Odds are very slim but...
 
Ok. Has any A exploded from static when filling the tank. Similarly has any mobile phone ( "cell phone" to you guys I believe) ever caused an explosion when someone was filling the tank?.
 
You can make a cheap and easy filler neck extender from some PVC pipe, which gets the pump up high enough that it won't splash so much, and still allows the rubber safety neck on the pump to be compressed. i used two sized of pipe, one that fits down into the neck, and one a little larger that keeps it above the neck (sitting on the edge of the filler neck). is allows me to keep my arrestor screen in place.
 
700rpm said:
...rubber safety neck on the pump...
Click to expand...
Fortunately we don't have them here. (They are a real pain whenever I travel -- even in modern rental cars.) Therefore, I just insert the pump into the tank about half way, let it fill on a slow notch (yes we still have them on the pumps also) and it shuts off when it's almost full.
 
It only starts splashing at more than half way, so at that point I raise up the pump handle to almost out of the tank.
I just hold the gas nozzle up a little bit so I can see the fuel coming out of the pump handle and flowing into the tank. I watch visually to see when the tank is almost full.

On the ones with the rubber safety piece, after I'm finished saying a few curse words under my breath, I just grab the rubber with my other hand and push it back toward the pump. Then the nozzle starts working again.
 
The only model A fire that I have ever experienced was caused by a leaking glass bowl sediment filter. That was nearly 50 years ago.
 
I would leave the Gas tank strainer in to prevent a fire. Sorry about the false Shell oil report. I should have first checked it out before posting.
 
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In the mid '70 when I was working on my Dads 1931 Pick-up, I noticed that the flame arrestor was about 2/3s full of glass, looked like someone broke a mason jar over the filler. I carefully removed all the glass. The next time I went to fill-up the fuel splashed back and would cut off the flow. Then I realized that when the glass was in the arrestor the fuel would flow without restriction.
I never put the glass back in and I would not recommend this practice, but I assume that why it was in there.
I still have this Pick-up today.
Daryl
 
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