Originally Posted By: steve20
Originally Posted By: dave5358
Originally Posted By: A_A_G
So I filled up my tank on Saturday and hadn't driven much until this morning on my way to work. My truck is stumbling and shaking at low speeds and shaking violently at idle. Is there anything I can add to the tank if the fuel is in fact contaminated? The closest place to my job is an O'Reilly auto store.
If you can't find a miracle additive, have you considered just pumping out the tank? Depending on your fuel filler neck, you could siphon the tank. Or remove a fuel line and let the pump empty the tank. You could probably just empty half or 2/3ds of the gas and then fill up with premium.
Dave-I've read a couple of your replies throughout this board - you have some strange ideas
I'll take that as a compliment. Actually, I thought it was a rather conservative reply.
Some months ago, I had a bad batch of fuel in my Forester. So, out came my siphon hose... NOT! The fine folks at Subaru have engineered the fuel filler neck so it is darn near impossible to get anything down it. There is a little trap door affair, plus all sorts of anti-siphon things which were more determined to keep the fuel in than I was to get it out.
I looked for fuel tank drains. The fuel tank is built in two large lobes - with a drain plug in only one side. Odd. Plus the drain plug was under 12 coats of tar, undercoating and Japanese chewing gum. Removing it did not look like fun.
I pondered this situation, but then I got smart. I simply disconnected a fuel line under the hood - a screw-clamp affair. It was easy to jury-rig a 1/4" hose to the fuel pipe. When I turned on the ignition, the pump started working to build up injector pressure. I had the tank emptied in less than 3 minutes, and I got to sit down on the job. It probably doesn't matter if you open the main line or the return. This is good, because it's not always obvious which is which.
Many years ago, I was working on a VW Dasher, and had the fuel filter out of the line - probably changing it or something. This particular fuel filter looks like an artillery shell - all metal, with wrench flats on each end - gross German overkill. Anyhow, for some stupid reason, I turned on the ignition. The electric fuel pump emptied the entire tank in about 4 seconds - the fuel came out of the open line like a fire hose... there was gasoline everywhere. It's a miracle there were no sparks around.
The Forester was much more civilized, perhaps due to smaller fuel lines. In any event, it's prudent to have a second person holding the hose into a gas can.
