Water in a gas tank... normal?

[dysiu]

Hi. I have lot's of problems with water getting into my carb. I drained the gas tank but apparently there is still some left. Every now and then the car stalls and I find water inside the carb. I put a transparent filter on the fuel line and I can see some water depositing all the time.

I don't really have a way to drop the tank and clean it. My question is: Can I get rid of it with one of those alcohol based products?

Also, is it normal to have some water in your thank? It seems to me that with time as you gas the car the would be more and more water depositing eventually flooding the fuel system...

Thanks a lot.
Greg.

[chriskatana]

I don't know of any additive that removes water, dropping the tank is really the only way I know of to get rid of all the water.

If it is a consistent problem, consider one of these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2569241199&category=41505

[dysiu]

FUEL/ WATER SEPARATOR - nice idea. I accualy build sth like this but it's leaking because of the pressure and gas dissolving most of the glues and sealants. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Gregg86DX]

The alcohol based gas "dryers" are designed to fix this. I'd give it a try. You can also try keeping your gas tank fuller, i.e. don't run it low and just add 5 bucks all the time. Fill it up and re-fill at half tank. This is supposed to reduce moisture from condensation.

You might also try a different gas station, maybe your getting bad gas.

I believe water sinks to the bottom of gas and since your fuel pump draws off the bottom of the tank, water should not normally accumulate.

Gregg

[dysiu]

Yes, there is a lot of crappy Thortons gas stations around here. They sell cheap but I've just found from a reliable source that the gas is very low quality and has water in it many times. Well, I don't like french but I'm affraid I will have to gas at Chevron.

[DeathRat]

There IS Water Removers out there if there isn't too too much water in the tank. Best advice I can give is to use a water remover, fill up with gas at a station that has lotz of traffic & then when it reaches 3/4's fill it up again. This will accomplish 2 things. 1) It will dilute the water in a larger volume of gasoline. 2) It will allow a known "Good Gas" to be in your tank. Some gas stations that don't have much traffic, will have their gas accuumulate alot of condensation as their gas sits in the ground. A busier station will have more fresh gas added & thus not allow condensation to accuuumulate. Just remember to change the Fuel filter(s) once you add the Water remover & top up with fresh gasoline.;)

[danronian]

Never use the clear filters made my Spectre, they say in real small print somewhere that you should use at least two of them to properly filter the fuel. Just thought I'd say this to warn you. I used one in my malibu and had problems with dirt clogging up the carb all the time. I switched to one of the clear plastic fram filters and it works wonders. Just use a bunch of Dry-Gas or the off brand fuel system "anti-freeze" products and you'll be fine. Make sure your gas cap is sealing and that the fuel neck isnt rusted out, that could be a source of water vapor.

[dysiu]

What I did finally I connected constant 12V to the fuel pump and pumped out all the gas mixed with water from the tank.

Now when I look at it I would probably be better off droping the tank and cleaning it. It doesn't look like to bad of a job.

The tank itself keeps the vacuum and I never kept it half-empty for a long time so it must have been low quality gas from Thoirtons gas station. It's usually 10 or 15 cents cheaper but you pay for the water.

When pupming the gas out I had a chance to see the suprisingly big output of this little fuel pump... I can't imagine a reason for many people on this forum changing the pump for a bigger one... Stock one pumps like a 1/2 galon a minute...

Thanks againt for all the suggestions. It always gives me more info than going to 10 shops and talking to the mechanics for hours...