What have I done??! A truely screwed fuel tank

[verg]

Hello Everyone,

I just picked up an old '04 Sports Trac. From 20 feet, it looks pretty good. Mechanically, everything seems to work. Already had a few interesting discoveries.

At my first fill-up, a few gallons went into the tank when fuel began dripping onto the ground. Getting down, I noticed the fuel was coming from up above the fuel tank. The leak stopped almost immediately after stopping to fill the tank. What REALLY caught my eye was a wood screw sticking out of the bottom of the tank. Nope, not kidding, flat head wood screw, screwed in to the limits of he thread . . . No leaks from that but very odd.

Fuel filler pipe has rusted out above the rubber fuel inlet fitted onto the fuel tank. A few friend conjectured that winter time salt got splashed up there and just never got washed away.

Junk yard filler pipe (stated as being for my model/year and rust free southern car) on its way.

The adventure begins.

Best Regards to all,

John+

 

[1991 sploder]

Well, you may want to use that screw in the future. My suggestion is that somebody made that hole in the tank in order to remove the water from the fuel that separated to the bottom of the tank. With the vapors leaking from the filler hose they are attracting water that eventually makes its way into the gas and settles to the bottom. Replace the hose and you will still have water left in the tank causing corrosion and other issues. There are many ways to remove the water,,,, I would suggest the screw : )
I am also a new member thanks for joining!

 

[verg]

A water drain . . . well, I guess that could be it. I remember draining the water from an aircraft tank every time I flew - although the aircraft tank had a purpose made drain for that purpose.

I received the fill pipe, it was in nice gently used condition . .. but no rubber fuel hose to connect to the fuel tank itself. We put the "new" fuel fill pipe in, clamped it down to the old rubber hose, filled the tank and . . . . fuel dripping down off the tank again. Turns out the rubber fuel fill hose had a crack on both front and back of where it clamps onto the fuel tank. The cracks were not there previously. I suppose the manipulation of inserting the "new" fuel fill pipe was too much for the 12 year old rubber fuel fill hose.

On this model, that hose is a molded piece making two compound turns. We tried sourcing the hose separately from the fuel fill pipe. Not even Ford offered it alone. Soooo . .. we had to ante up for a complete NOS unit from Ford. It was suggested we utilize a "replacement" rubber fuel hose but with the two compound bends it has to make I don't know that the fuel flow would be good enough.

A welcome to you in joining the forum, thank you for your suggestion and enjoy your ride.

John+

 

[1991 sploder]

yep you too sounds like a pain in the butt maybe do a pressure test after your done to keep the fuel system healthy/prevent future corrosion.
Sounds like a possible flood car.... no offense Katrina was in 05 maybe check the paperwork

 

[shucker1]

yep you too sounds like a pain in the butt maybe do a pressure test after your done to keep the fuel system healthy/prevent future corrosion.
Sounds like a possible flood car.... no offense Katrina was in 05 maybe check the paperwork

Doubt many flood cars made it out of Katrina without being totaled.

I was there....

And I'm still here.

Just call me stupid.

 

[1991 sploder]

haha well let us know how it goes!