BratRod Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 So today was the day I had planned to test drive Brat #2. I put 4 gallons in it. Turned the motor over longer than it should have taken to prime - no dice. "Ok, weak fuel pump." Swapped with a known working fuel pump and still nothing. New filters, so WTF? "That's alright; i'll just shoot a little compressed air to clean the crap out." 120psi and nothing moved at the pump inlet hose. "Really?" Then I take the hose off the tank and shoot air into it. Hardly any air moves through. I can hear it, but it ain't much. What in the world could this thing have in the hard lines to prevent 120psi from blowing it out. Is there a check valve in the tank that could be stuck? I'm at a loss here. A really disappointing thing to be held back by. I would like to have this thing registered before summer so I can drive it. Please suggest anything that could help, Thank you, guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 (edited) No check valve. Depending on how many times it's sat and how long it sat, the gas will turn to solid varnish and plug the fuel outlet. Easiest thing would be to pull the sender assembly out and inspect. That line should pass 120psi fairly easily with a good amount of noise. Are the lines on right? You can't draw fuel from the return side.... Edited January 14, 2014 by skishop69 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr sarcastic Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 120 psi? Your brave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 They have a sock in the tank that gos bad if you pull gauge sender you can look into tank and see whats up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BratRod Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 (edited) 120 psi? Your brave. Your handle precedes you. No check valve. Depending on how many times it's sat and how long it sat, the gas will turn to solid varnish and plug the fuel outlet. Easiest thing would be to pull the sender assembly out and inspect. That line should pass 120psi fairly easily with a good amount of noise. Are the lines on right? You can't draw fuel from the return side.... The pump is hooked up to the larger of the 3 hard lines. The one in the middle of the tank, IIRC. The brat has been sitting since 2008, but I think the tank was drained. Edited January 14, 2014 by BratRod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BratRod Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 They have a sock in the tank that gos bad if you pull gauge sender you can look into tank and see whats up Ok, I guess that I will have to pull the sender out. The gauge doesn't work, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallaby Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 have had a similar problem on 2 different brats, fuel in tank, wouldn,t come out, pump good... i opened 1 of the old tanks with a can opener to see what happened... inlet is just a tube sitting on the bottom of the tank, gets rusted/crudded up and fuel won't go though it no real way to fix as far as i have been able to determine, get another fuel tank and hope its good both times the tank came from a "hadn't run for a while" car so results of not running vary or drill a hole and put in a bulkhead type fitting so you bypass the original one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 (edited) Could have been me writing this two weeks ago. 90 psi would not shift anything between that 3" bit of hose at tank supply pipe outlet until I shoved a coat hanger wire down and shoved as hard as I could, busting sock off? or hole? then I could get air in the tank ! Then I could get fuel flow for first time in 8.5 years !! BRUMBY runs !! Also discovered that with IGN on , no pump power, while cranking, no pump power - only when engine runs did pump power come on, so a small flood down carby got things going to start with. Odd thing is I pulled third fuse from one end marked as fuel pump and ignition, while cranking with this out _ I heard pump go on cranking ?? Edited January 14, 2014 by jono Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BratRod Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Could have been me writing this two weeks ago. 90 psi would not shift anything between that 3" bit of hose at tank supply pipe outlet until I shoved a coat hanger wire down and shoved as hard as I could, busting sock off? or hole? then I could get air in the tank ! Then I could get fuel flow for first time in 8.5 years !! BRUMBY runs !! Also discovered that with IGN on , no pump power, while cranking, no pump power - only when engine runs did pump power come on, so a small flood down carby got things going to start with. Odd thing is I pulled third fuse from one end marked as fuel pump and ignition, while cranking with this out _ I heard pump go on cranking ?? Excellent. I shall try this when I get home. I'm pretty sure the pump needs a signal from the disty(?) to run the pump. I took that into account. Will report back with an update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferox Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I have had good luck cleaning hard fuel lines with stainless steel cable. You can get a size so it is pretty close to the ID of the fuel line and even chuck it in a drill and basically polish the inside of the line. Of course you can only run the drill in one direction, but it works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BratRod Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 So after some... um... forceful persuasion with the hanger. I still didn't have anything. So then surgery began... Here is what the inside of what I presume any gen 2 looks like... For science Then after some "careful" maneuvers we have this guy. After I beat it with a hammer and blew some more air through it; we achieved no blockage. Resulting in this. So to answer my question: "Yes, my gas tank REALLY was that clogged". And it is once again, by the good will of USMB members, that I didn't pull my hair out over a small problem. The gas is SUPER, SUPER dirty. The beautifully running EA81 wouldn't even idle. I had to play the two-foot-tango to keep it running when I test drove it. The Weber needs a rebuild, for sure. Thanks again. P.S. there may or may not be a piece of hanger broke off in the fuel line... and I may or may not ever get it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 on my lifted car is a gen two it had same problem so I put a trans cooler line with a 3/8 banjo bolt threaded right into the tank drain hole this increased the line from tank up from 5/16 to 3/8 then ran it to a 3/8 clear filter then to a VW high output cis pump then to my 2.5 turbo engine never runs out of fuel no matter how hard I push it. Then I used the stock feed line as a return line this worked realy good and 8 years later no problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 That is what I should have done ...shoved a camera in the hole with flash ! I couldn't see a thing thios time around. last time I made a light globe on a stick and shoved it in tank. Ivans banjo idea crossed my mind but clearance issues ?? could just see the banjo getting snagged on something Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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