Contamination in fuel

[Ronbo]

I have one of those glass fuel filters you get from the part store and over a period of time, say six months, it catches a whole bunch of what I thought were metal slivers. Well yesterday I pulled it apart and I swear its broom bristles??? It looks like a whole bunch of cut up, 1/4" to 3/8" long, bristles! What the hey? They get past the filter and plug the carb so eventually it wont idle. I've changed all the rubber pieces and most of the hardline on the thing so what is it?

I'm hoping someone here has seen it before because I'm stumped!

I did use Octane booster ONCE, would that tear up a 40 year old gas tank?

Ron

 

[fordconvert]

Ethanol is good at cleaning things. Did you perhaps just get that stuff down there?

I ran into the same thing with a diesel tractor last summer except mine were maybe as long as 2 inches. No idea how they got in there. On the tractor the tank was a split design so I was thinking it may have been gasket material.

 

[Ronbo]

Straight up wierd stuff!! I was thinking the fuel pump might be coming apart. Maybe I did put some fuel with ethanol, I dont remember it though.

 

[ludwig]

If you used any E-grade fuel, you put in ethanol. Some states only sell mixed fuel. That alcohol starts eating away at rubber and plastic.

 

[fordconvert]

On my tractor there is a valve on the bottom of the tank that makes a 90* turn and that is where the bristles were sticking. On that rig its a gravity system right up to the injector pump so it dont take much to stop it.

 

[Ronbo]

You know, now that I think about it, a guy in the shop had me try some Shell fuel that had a really high octane rating. I need to go look and see if that was some sort of E fuel. The other thing, I was staring at my fuel system (best way to fix it, right Mike?) and realized the regulator I'm using (advanced auto piece) is old and hasn't been replaced. Pressure gauge reads good but fuel is just dribbling into the filter. I always confuse my self with this one, its like electric current right? The system only lets in what it needs? Otherwise the filter would always be full. Or, it should be full and as the floats drop the supply is there to meet the demand?

This just has me going in darned circles! Part of the problem is the quality of parts these days. Just because you replaced something six months ago (six weeks for that matter) doesn't mean its still working.

Ron

 

[Lazy JW]

Clear filters will often show only a small amount of fuel inside the filter; this is disconcerting but of no consequence, it will only flow as much as needed, and when the pressures are balanced (input, output) no flow occurs. Getting all the air out of the filter is not necessary and nearly impossible anyway. Normal flow is indeed just a trickle.
Joe

 

[Ronbo]

Thanks Joe. Like I said, I confuse myself with it sometimes. You stare and think, think and stare...and just maybe, you might figure it out

I need to pull the fuel bowl off now and clear that out. The fuel I was thinking of supposedly has nitrogen in it? I'm thinking it's ethanol in the fuel though, just like Ludwig said most states have it now. I guess a fuel filter down stream of the pump might help some. I seem to remember someone commenting on that though, caused some sort of problem. Time to do a search.

Ron

 

[Bradbutlernc]

Shell gas has 10% ethanol in it, ethanol can be real rough on carburated engines especially on aluminum, but im not sure i would worry about it with such a low percentage, unless you put something in your gas tank that was pure ethanol.

 

[Ronbo]

Nope. Guys, thanks for the input on this one. I'm going to start a new thread with some new symptoms. I REALLY appreciate your help!

Ron

 

[fordconvert]

The 10% blend is enough to increase the solvent action. Usually its not a problem but if your fuel system is really dirty it can clean things too quick and plug things up.