Fuel filter clogging

R

roadster27

True Classic
My X has been parked since September when I ran into a sudden loss of power.

My car had been running great, but suddenly lost power and would only idle. When depressing the accelerator pedal the engine would sputter and die.

Initially I was going to replace my pre-filter as I have had issues with the filter clogging, but previous issues have come on slowly where this was a sudden loss of power

I checked fuel pressure, which was in spec. Intake leaks, none found. And finally swapped in a known good AFM with no change in fixing the problem.

Finally today I replaced the pre-filter and the car now is drivable again.

This is the third pre-filter replacement in less than 8k miles. I haven't dropped the tank, but I'm wondering if the ethanol fuel is eating the insides of the tank and causing this problem. Has anyone else experienced similar issues?

Lesson learned. I'll always replace the filter first.
 
Sounds like a dirty tank.

I have a similar issue after the car had been standing for a 8 years or so.

I still need to drop and clean the tank, but in the short term I have a cleanable primary fuel filter, so every so often this gets disassembled and cleaned. I am putting off dropping the tank as I don't have a stable way to get the car high enough to drop the tank.
 
Pretty much any old Fiat with the original tank has a now rusty tank. Cut the old filter open and see if it's full of red rust particles. I know some guys like to change filters on a weekly basis to keep their rusty gas tank Fiats running but I'd rather bite the bullet and get a replacement tank.
 
There was a thread some time back describing how to properly clean and seal a rusty fuel tank. See if you can search for that thread to get an idea of what needs to be done.
 
carl said:
Pretty much any old Fiat with the original tank has a now rusty tank. Cut the old filter open and see if it's full of red rust particles. I know some guys like to change filters on a weekly basis to keep their rusty gas tank Fiats running but I'd rather bite the bullet and get a replacement tank.
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I'll cut it open and report. This car was garaged or at least in a carport it's entire life. It did sit unused for about 10 years, so who knows.

My '79s tank failed along the bottom seam. That car was always garaged and the tank was generally kept full.
 
Midwest Bayless has none at the moment according to their catalog. Auto Ricambi lists one for about $170 but they are out of stock.
 
Mine was sitting for almost 30 years and I did not drop the tank, just drained the fuel. I'm on my 3rd or 4th prefilter after 4 years/5k miles. I think I'm over the crud hump because this last one hasn't given me trouble yet (knock digital wood).
 
roadster27 said:
I'll cut it open and report. This car was garaged or at least in a carport it's entire life. It did sit unused for about 10 years, so who knows.

My '79s tank failed along the bottom seam. That car was always garaged and the tank was generally kept full.
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Before you cut it open you might want to confirm that it is rust. I thought my tank was rusty but it all turned out to be old gas deposits. I used OxiClean on it and the inside came out nice and shiny. The inside of my tank appeared to have a clear coating on it that beaded water and prevented rust.
 
dllubin said:
Before you cut it open you might want to confirm that it is rust. I thought my tank was rusty but it all turned out to be old gas deposits. I used OxiClean on it and the inside came out nice and shiny. The inside of my tank appeared to have a clear coating on it that beaded water and prevented rust.
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I have no intention of cutting open the tank, but will cut open the filter to report if it's rust or something else clogging up the system.
 
You can remove the fuel level sending unit / fuel pick up. Once removed, clean or remove the pre filter, at the bottom end of the fuel pick up pipe.
I removed the in tank pre filter, added a larger filter between the tank and the pump. Don't normally have a filter between the tank and the pump, but I figured this was better than the partly clogged pre filter.
 
I had to remove and clean my 85 of fuel that had turned to varnish at the bottom of the tank. I then installed two fuel filters one a screen based filter to trap large items and then second regular fuel filter. So far so good.
 
roadster27 said:
I have no intention of cutting open the tank, but will cut open the filter to report if it's rust or something else clogging up the system.
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When I pulled the fuel hose to drain the tank it was just a dribble which told me it was clogged, that should be your first test. If you get a dribbble you can drop the tank. It is really pretty easy to do. Then drain it and remove the sending unit, that will give you your best view inside the tank to decide on the level of cleaning required.
 
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roadster27 said:
My '79s tank failed along the bottom seam.
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Once you determine the exact issue, and if it is a failed seam, you can reseal it with a quality tank liner material specifically designed for that application. But this sounds more like accumulated rust inside the tank. A proper cleaning and prep will resolve that.
 
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