Went to take the 69 Dart to a car show today. NOPE

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SGBARRACUDA

SGBARRACUDA

ROY
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The wife and I decided since the weather is nice we would take the 69 Dart to the local Car show which is the third Saturday of the month. Car sits for extended periods so I prime the carburetor so it fires right up. it did, and then it died. Tried again, it died. Got it in the shop on the lift and found fuel line empty. Thought it was a bad Fuel Pump? Nope, fuel line back towards the tank was plugged. Found the sender was plugged in the tank. I removed it and found this, Yuck! I bought a new one and will put it back together tomorrow.

Fuel sender old one 69 dart.jpg
 
Well though the tank was replaced about 15 years ago with a new one and this sender, while the old sender was out I looked in the tank and it looks poor. So I'm using a Spectra unit for now and will be buying a new tank and SS sender in the future.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
. Found the sender was plugged in the tank
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That looks almost as bad as the OEM sender I pulled from a wrecking yard tank. Ended up the only salvageable parts were the sweep, wire wound rheostat, the long rod and the float. While the pickup tube is intact, after soaking for a few days in evaporust, it was Swiss cheese
 
It's weird that the sock is still intact, but the tube is stopped slam up. I'll blow it out tomorrow and see what it was clogged with.
 
I’ve seen cars sit for decades that had cleaner tanks than that.

That’s not a parts problem. That’s a “stop filling you tank with water” problem. I dunno what was in there, but it wasn’t just fuel.
 
72bluNblu said:
I’ve seen cars sit for decades that had cleaner tanks than that.

That’s not a parts problem. That’s a “stop filling you tank with water” problem. I dunno what was in there, but it wasn’t just fuel.
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I think it was from ethanol gas drawing moisture before I went to ethanol free gas.
 
Got any pictures of inside the tank?

I have the OE tank in my 68 and my buddy keeps bugging me to buy a new one. I see very small dust like rust in my fuel bowl and clear filter.

-Low humidity here
-Ethanol in gas here
-vented tank yes. But you have to run a vented gas tank, right? If it’s not vented it builds pressure, float level gets screwed up, car doesn’t run right.

2134004B-D8CD-46BB-940B-1D4A3083B4BE.jpeg
 
Last edited:
autoxcuda said:
Got any pictures of inside the tank?

I have the OE tank in my 68 and my buddy keeps bugging me to buy a new one. I see very small rust slivers in my fuel bowl and clear filter.

View attachment 1715454909
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No I don't, but I'll try and get some before I install the sender. This tank had a drain plug and I drain the tank before removing the old sender. I used a big funnel with a screen in the bottom to fill some gas cans. Not much in the way of rust or trash came out.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
Yes I have used it in the past. Now days I just run non ethanol in it.
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If what you are running is really non ethanol, it has to have had a HIGH moisture content in it. I am not a fan of additives....and I know I recommend some, but only a few. There's a product called HEET in the RED bottle that removes moisture. It works really well too.
 
RustyRatRod said:
If what you are running is really non ethanol, it has to have had a HIGH moisture content in it. I am not a fan of additives....and I know I recommend some, but only a few. There's a product called HEET in the RED bottle that removes moisture. It works really well too.
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Since I switched I haven't had carb problems at all. Before on ethanol gas it would foul up a carb within a few months. I would have to take the 600 Edelbrock off and go thru it to clean it up.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
Since I switched I haven't had carb problems at all. Before on ethanol gas it would foul up a carb within a few months. I would have to take the 600 Edelbrock off and go thru it to clean it up.
Click to expand...

Well maybe that's what did it before you changed. At least it's no mystery. You know what it is.
 
I know it didn't help that the car would sit sometimes for months at a time before I would drive it.
 
I’d be really surprised if that was just an ethanol problem.

I run pretty much nothing but fuel from the no-name, economy price gas station on the corner. And it’s California, so it’s always ethanol fuel, and has been for a long time. I’ve never had carb issues because of it other than a few gaskets that dissolved before they started making them ethanol resistant and my original tank looks fine inside. So did the spectra replacement that was in my Challenger forever too.

All tanks are vented, so it’s not like you can do anything about that. I get that Florida is practically underwater already and the humidity is very different there. But I think something else was going on there. That sender looks like it was underwater, not just in fuel that absorbed some water from the air.

Also, if you’re storing it with less than a full tank that causes condensation to form regardless of the ethanol in the fuel. A full tank doesn’t have the airspace to allow condensation to form.

Or you could just drive it.
 
Roy, take the sending unit and use either methanol, ethanol, or isopropyl alcohol on it to see if the brown/dark material dissolves. If it does, then you can remove the tank and wash the inside with a few rinses of the type of alcohol that dissolved the material from the sock. A buddy of mine has done that with one of his project cars with no problems for a few years now.
Gas station fuel tanks must be periodically cleaned because a tan residue will build up on the tank walls and a brown sludge will be at the bottom of the tank if the water drain is not working. This residue will build up over time no matter if it is non-ethanol fuel. Ethanol containing fuel will have this build up especially upon long standing as others have noted.
 
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