My fuel tank is completely filled with water/gas. -UPDATE-

[Wakko]

I walked past the Charger today and smelled fuel.  Looked down and was greeted with THIS:


Well that's not good, says me.  I popped open the car to see if there was any sort of pressure and was greeted with THIS:



The fuel/water is coming out of the overflow, it's that high.  No other leaks apparantly.  Only thing I can figure is that during the past two days of torrential rain, it pooled and entered through the poor gasket on the fuel tank.   FORTUNATELY I had just filled the tank, so the water overflowed and made it's presence known to me before driving the car, which I was just about to do.  UNFORTUNATELY it's blocking the GN in the garage, so I'm quite carless at the moment.   

Anyway, I have a loose external electric fuel pump that I was going to hook up to my fuel line under the hood, right before the carburetor.  Figured I would drain the tank this way first and then put a rubber hose in through the filler neck and attempt to suck up any residual water.  After that I was going to use my two cans of emergency fuel to refill the tank (ten gallons) and put a few bottles of Dry Gas in there.  Will that be adequate? I really don't want to drop the tank if I don't have to.

One of my buddies said to put the contaminated fuel in two liter bottles and put them in the freezer.  The water will freeze then I can pour the fuel out into the gas cans, put some dry gas in there and it'll be fine to use.   

Any thoughts?

[Rocky]

Are you sure you didn't just fill it up when it was cold, and maybe it overflowed because it got too hot?

Happened to me once.  In my girlfriends driveway.  Her dad wasn't happy.

[Wakko]

Ummm, I live in South Florida.     It was 80 when I filled it on Saturday and it's been no lower than 75 since then. 

[8WHEELER]

Most all electric fuel pumps are made to push fuel, When I bought my wife's charger in 82 it had a pump in
the engine bay, it was burned out because it was pulling fuel and the engine bay made it to hot.
He had a new one in the trunk, I hooked it up and got sick of the noise it made, then put a stock
correct pump in it.
Is there a reason for the electric pump? are you racing the car?

That is pretty strange on the water in the fuel, never come across that one yet good thing 

Dan

[Wakko]

No, the car is equipped with mechanical pump..but I have an extra electric that I will use to empty the tank.  I think only about a gallon or so of water is in the tank as I had just filled it up at the filling station before coming home.  The cap leaked during the torrential rain and the water collected in the fuel cap indentation, I figure.

[1970440RT]

     Without googling, I'm pretty sure gas is lighter than water, so that gallon of water is probably in the bottom of the tank.  I think you are stuck emtying the whole thing out and dropping the tank for piece of mind.  The comtaminated fuel is probably not worth saving; that is a lot of 2 liter bottles and a stinky freezer after you are all done.  I don't know if I would trust the gas even after all that.

[Wakko]

Ok, I hooked the electric pump up to the fuel line feeding to the carb and drained 18 and a quarter gallons of fuel from the car.  Not a single drop of water seen and no dirt/rust, etc, but this IS past the fuel filter so I wouldn't expect to see any anyhow. 

I am thinking of putting three bottles of dry gas into the car and then putting the 18 gallons of fuel back in the car and rolling with it.  My thoughts are that this is not the first time it's happened, since the car has been through some bad rain storms, and I didn't do anything at that time, so the dry gas will be sufficient.  I'm really trying to avoid dropping the tank.

Any thoughts?

[dodge freak]

Well in the late 70's people had what was called water injection systems to stop ping with low lead gas, it sat on top of the carb and  sprayed water down the venturi to cool off the combustion temps. The motors lost some power but did not ping, the only time there was a problem was if too much water got in it could lock the piston up but that happen only on homemade systems. The reason I bring this up is to say a little water won't kill your motor. No I never heared of mixing water and gas together but in the old days water in the gas did happen, thats why they sell dry gas in the first place. I would reuse that gas on a cheap motor if you have one or in your car, not anything new with fuel injection and smog stuff. just keep a eye on it, if it starts missing then I would throw out that gas and get fresh. thats almost $60.00 worth of gas so I would try to burn it up. The big problem with water in the gas is it could freeze up in the winter but you don't have to worry about that.

[Steve P.]

Wakko, if you had water in the tank you would have pulled most of it out in the first few gallons. Check those containers again. The dry gas will not hurt either way. If you have any water left it will break it down into very small molecules and pass them through your system in such a way that you would, or should never even know it.

One thing I might recommend. While you have the tank empty, this would be a good time to pull the sending unit and inspect the pickup tube and sock. You can also get a pretty good view inside the tank through the filler and sender hole to check the condition of the tank.  A small MAG light and extendable inspection mirror help allot here also.   Just a thought...

[Wakko]

How does the sending unit come out?

[Steve P.]

Jack up and support the rear end of the car. Go under and look at the forward end of the tank close to the axle. You will see the sender with the fuel lines. You would first remove the lines and electric. Then with a wood dowel or brass punch and a small hammer turn the collar ring counter clockwise 1/4 turn to release the unit. Then slide it out and inspect it all. It goes back the same way only one addition. Before putting it in put some white grease on the seal to aid in the seating procedure.  It's not a bad job and can save you down the road.  If you get it apart and things don't look so good, now is the time to upgrade.

[73dodge]

buy a couple of cans o seafoam, available in most parts stores usually the non-chain types. This stuff is better then dry gas. and it does wonders for cleaning the varnish and gunk from the fuel system.


I love this stuff only stuff I have ever used that actually made a felt difference in the performance of my car.

[Nacho-RT74]

If I had that problem I just throw the gas and add new one...

OH sorry, I spend $2.5 to fill my gas tank completelly hehehehe , I forgott you need a little bit more

[MOPARHOUND!]

I'd burn the gas you removed in the lawn mower, or weedeater, something like that.

[Wakko]

The only thing I that I use gas in is my Charger.  I almost never drive the GN and I'm not putting that fuel in there.  It's been a couple days and the fuel still looks perfect, so I'm not concerned.  It MUST have happened before with the torrential rains we get here.

[4402tuff4u]

     Without googling, I'm pretty sure gas is lighter than water, so that gallon of water is probably in the bottom of the tank.  I think you are stuck emtying the whole thing out and dropping the tank for piece of mind.  The comtaminated fuel is probably not worth saving; that is a lot of 2 liter bottles and a stinky freezer after you are all done.  I don't know if I would trust the gas even after all that.

Gasoline is lighter (.74 specific gravity) vs water @ 1.00 sg. Any water will be at the bottom of the tank. Gasoline will melt any liter soda plastic bottle. If you are going to freeze the water out, makesure you use special container and your friends freezer. 

[Wakko]

I didn't find any water in the fuel, it's still sitting in my garage in milk jugs.  Thursday I will refill the tank and go from there.

[dodge freak]

I hope you and your friends never smoke, that garage is a fire bomb with 18 milk jugs fill with gas. Be careful.

[bull]

Now, get that thing into the garage so it doesn't happen again.

[Wakko]

Yeah, I keep opening the garage door to vent it. 

That's the problem, the car doesn't FIT in the garage!  The GN barely makes it.

[Steve P.]

You better get hot on that project, Wakko. That gas open vapor in your garage is a bomb waiting to go off. Also keeping it in milk containers is NOT a good thing. Plastic milk jugs are not made to handle gas..

[Shakey]

You better get hot on that project, Wakko. That gas open vapor in your garage is a bomb waiting to go off. Also keeping it in milk containers is NOT a good thing. Plastic milk jugs are not made to handle gas..

and if it does go up in flames, I'll bet your insurance doesn't cover it.

Anyways, when I was installing my fuel tank and my fuel cap, to ensure I got a good seal, I dabbed a bit of grease around the rubber seal on the underside of the cap.  I then would close the lid and make sure that there was grease on the top of the filler neck.  As long as you see grease at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock if you will, then you should have a good seal.

[JimShine]

I don't know exactly why, but I will have the same thing happen if I attempt to top off my gas and come straight home. It doesn't happen right away. The gas on the ground usually shows up the next day. Now when the handle clicks, I stop right there. My uncle said I overfill the tank and as it pressurizes, the excess fuel pushes out. He could be full of it, but since I stopped at the first click, I never had had this problem again.

[NHCharger]

I had this problem once with my 71. I filled up just 2 miles from home, then parked the Charger in the garage. The next day when I got home from work I had gas on the garage floor. My theory is the gas is stored below ground at a temperature of 55º. The temperature in my garage was around 90º. Due to the heat the gas expanded and forced it's way out of the tank. Since then I alway make sure I burn off a few gallons before parking in the garage and haven't had a problem since. Again, that's just my theory.

[Wakko]

I ended up putting the fuel right back in the tank with three bottles of gas dry and I had no problems.  I have since purchased a brand new cap with a fresh seal so I won't have that problem again.  But considering the car isn't going anywhere for a while, I guess it doesn't matter.