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Loose Parts Inside My Fuel Tank


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Posted

During the second half of Saturday's race, I had an intermittent complete loss of engine power at corner exit, which became worse every lap. At first it was only right turns, then it became left turns too, and then even sometimes on the straights.

 

I wasn't sure if it was because it was super hot and my gasoline was boiling inside the tank, because my ignition coil's entire mount un-welded itself from the car so it was flopping around and hanging by the wires, or if there was a problem inside the fuel tank (I remember Doug Grande having that happen). On Sunday, I ran a bunch of extra fuel, figuring that an extra 40-50 lbs would be better than no engine power, and I zip-tied the ignition coil the best I could. It was quite a bit better after I did that, but it still cut out a few times, and there were other times where it didn't cut completely but it seemed to be weak for a second.

 

Today, I pulled the fuel level sender out, looked inside the tank, and found some treasure...

 

Gas%20Tank%20-%20Parts%20Inside.jpg

 

Gas%20Tank%20-%20Parts%20Fished%20Out.jpg

 

The metal part came out easily enough with a magnetic pick-up tool, but I ended up putting it back in so that I could sandwich that plastic part between it and the magnet, to get it out.

 

It looks like they go with these sender parts...

 

Gas%20Tank%20-%20Incomplete%20Sender%20Parts.jpg

 

 

What other parts do I still need to fish out of the tank or fuel lines? I imagine there was a nut holding those parts on. Should I be looking for any washers too? Anything else?

 

Thanks

Posted

I doubt that the fuel gauge parts had anything to do with your problems. There is a long micro fabric sock in the bottom of the fuel tank that filters stuff out of the gas prior to it going to the fuel pump. Parts will never stop fuel flow if your sock is in and intact.

 

I suspect your issues were from the coil and not from the fuel tank. Of course, you would like to get parts out of it. Take the shield off the bottom of the tank, remove the hose that comes off the bottom of the tank and unscrew the sock unit. I think it is a 17 (maybe 19)mm fitting. With the sock unit out, you will have a hole about 1.25" at the bottom of the tank. You can get into the bottom of the tank with grabbers or ? and fish out anything that is left in the bottom. Mine had lots of hard particulate (like gravel) in the bottom that I had to clean out as.

 

Enjoy and clean the sock with brake cleaner prior to reinstalling it.

 

Jim

Posted

Weston,

Jim's sock idea has merit, but I had part of a filler neck fall off in my early steel tank. It caused power loss on turn exit in certain corners. What was happening was that the plastic was blocking the hole to the small surge tank where the hose connects. Once this used all the fuel I was starved of fuel until the car move and plastic part move out of that hole.

Posted

Another great reason to let us simplify the filler neck on our cars.

 

More reliable.

 

Sorry, Joe, I couldn't resist.

 

Jim

Posted
Another great reason to let us simplify the filler neck on our cars.

 

More reliable.

 

Sorry, Joe, I couldn't resist.

 

Jim

 

 

Well when I swapped the neck back with fresh it also solved a fuel leakage issue I had. In long left turns fuel would leak out the cap. Turns out there is a flapper door in the neck with a float. This closes to create corse seal when the fuel level hits it. Anyway part of the float fell off in the tank and not only did it plug the bottom it did not seal up top allowing the full force of fuel to run to the cap allow it to leak. Once I replace the neck with one from parts car all has been fine.

 

Jim often times it is better to replace a broken stock part with working stock part. The Porsche engineers were pretty smart about stuff and in most cases rigging up an aftermarket plan is not always the best espcially when it comes to mechanical/safety critical type stuff.

Posted

I understand your point completely, Joe. I have the fuel tank out of my car as we speak. It does have a float at the bottom of the filler as you say.

 

There are a number of hoses and lines coming off the filler that must be part of the vapor recovery/control system though. Some of those are not looking great, at this point 20 years later. There is also a rubber seal at the attachment point to the plastic tank that is known to leak in some cars as well. All potential failure points. Having all those parts in the gas tank area are going to become a bigger and bigger issue as our cars continue to age and get abused on the track. Of course, I, personally, never abuse my car.

 

I can assure you that a simple filler neck with a proper cap and vent systemwill NOT leak. Fuel cells don't leak. after all, so there are solutions. Getting rid of all that old stuff would be good.

 

The issue, like so many others on our cars, is that as they age, new issues will come up that we must address. This may be one that the time has come to adddress and allow for some alternatives since it is not a performance issue.

 

Big Dog

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