[SOLVED] water in gas tank Solved

Water can clog a fuel filter.

I would disconnect the fuel line at the engine carb/injectors and purge the lines.

Are you sure the tank is dry? In some, the pump is sitting in a sump of sorts and water can be in there, this purging the lines.

One of those bush survival TV shows said put a litre of methylated spirits (denatured alcohol) in the tank, which blends with the water. Never tried it myself, sounds a little dodgy.

Not dodgy at all , alcohol will blend with the water and while it won't burn well , it will burn well enough .

No, it's standard practice. There are fuel additives such as Heet and Ban-Ice that are composed of methanol, for exactly that purpose. If your area gets below-freezing temps, it's a good idea to add some to your gas at least every fall to dry out the tank and fuel lines of water and ice. A liter sounds a bit much. The additive label tells you how much to use for how much gas.

If your gas contains ethanol, that may also accomplish the same purpose.

Yes, this works very well if you have small amounts of water in the gas, not so well if you have a whole lot of water in the gas.

These days it's superfluous, though, since we have ethanol in the gasoline already and this will get water into solution. Unfortunately the original poster probably has gasohol that is already saturated with water, so the best thing to do is pump as much out as possible and then refill with clean gasoline, and hope the ethanol in the clean gasoline gets as much as possible of the water into solution.

--scott

I'd do a bit of both. Put in some alcohol and just a few gallons of clean gas. They will help purge an residual. Once you are sure it is running OK, then fill it up.

The water will mix with the ethanol and settle out. Mix in some Ethanol Shield to blend the water/ethanol back into the gas so it will burn.

My opinion: Put gas in the tank... does not matter how much. Disconnect the fuel line at the injector manifold then use the tank fuel pump to pump a gallon or so of new gas through the lines. In the USA we use ethanol blended gasoline in highway cars so no point in adding more ethanol. Too much H2O will cause the water already suspended in the ethanol blend gas to drop out of suspension potentially causing more issues.

My opinion: Put gas in the tank... does not matter how much. Disconnect the fuel line at the injector manifold then use the tank fuel pump to pump a gallon or so of new gas through the lines. In the USA we use ethanol blended gasoline in highway cars so no point in adding more ethanol. Too much H2O will cause the water already suspended in the ethanol blend gas to drop out of suspension potentially causing more issues.

Used to be standard. I've done it. I remember putting perhaps a gallon of the drained water/gas mixture in a glass bottle and taking it back to the gas station and screaming at the attendant.

I don't remember how much denatured alcohol ("gas dryer") we used or how well it worked, but I know we drove that van across the country a couple of times afterward. We still have it, in fact. 1960 Dodge van.

Thank you so much! Seems like forever since I read one of your sigs.

Thank YOU. Usenet just isn't what it used to be and there are fewer opportunities to contribute :-(

I blame Facebook.