Fuel tank cleaning - easy job???

[naphar]

Evening all,

Having now to change my fuel filter for about the 5th time in 2000 miles, I think it's about time to drop the fuel tank and clean it out.

anyone know how to go about this? And when refitting it, how do i make sure that the fuel lines are full of fuel before starting. Will they drain when the tank is taken off, or is there some kind of non-return valve to stop them emptying? (I guess there must be, or surely they would drain back into the tank overnight?)

Anyway, the reason I think it needs doing, is the following:-
Ran on VEg oil for 2 months end of last year, ran smooth as anything (and had change the filter oncfe when it got clogged after some miles on Veg. went up to about 50%). Then back to diesel. Tried on veg again this year, straight into 50% ratio. Filter clogged straight away. Ran OK after changing, diluted tank as soon as I could etc. then tried running 25%, clogged filter again etc. then to 10 %, clogged it again. Have now gone through 3 or 4 filters. now running on 10%, and got down to nearly empty tank tonight, suffering symptons of a clogging filter again. so, this time I think it's worth dropping the tank and cleaning it out, but might try draining it through the drain plug first, after giving it a bit of a shake about down the odd track.

If I do need to drop the tank, what's the procedure. It's a 1998 3rd Gen.


Thanks

Neil

Cheers

Neil

[MAUI]

Getting the tank out, is a bitch, mainly cause the bolts holding it on are hard to get too, and getting them loose aint easy.
Definitly try the bung first , might suprise u how much crap comes out. good luck!

[BioHazard]

i dropped the on on the breaker off the other day .......it wasn't too bad ...

there is a access pannel under the rear seat and some of the fuel pipes are rubber so you can use a brake hose clamp to stop them from draining



Are you running WVO and has it been filtered properly

[BUSHWHACKER]

i dropped the on on the breaker off the other day .......it wasn't too bad ...

there is a access pannel under the rear seat and some of the fuel pipes are rubber so you can use a brake hose clamp to stop them from draining



Are you running WVO and has it been filtered properly

pssst he's got a 3rd gen.

[naphar]

thans all...

yep, it's a 3rd gen.

Drained it out from the plug the other day. no crap came out at all, all clear fuel. So now puzzled.

Never ran on WVO, only ever a bit of SVO last year. Then tried again this year, but too higha ratio and all went wrong, filter clogged, even then ran slugishly until I could dilute the mix.

Now gone to bought biodiesel, no sediment in the sample I checked, also mixed with a bit of SVO I have left over. But, fuel filters still (I think) seem to be clogging, hence the thought to drop the tank.

As the fuel I drained was clear, am not so sure that is the prob now...

Any other ideas?

Basically, it gets to the point where at hight revs, the truck lurches, because I think not enough fuel is getting through the filter to maintain acceleration. The longer the filter goes unchanged, the lower down the rev range the problem comes in.

Change the filter, and all is OK again, but it's getting expensive on the filters!