VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 General Recovery

I'm working on a 1991 fuel injected Jaguar that has been sitting in a garage for 10 years. The gas tank gauge indicates there is 1/4 tank of something in there. The car was towed so the tank was probably shook up pretty good.

I know that there may be sludge in the tank, should I add some gas cleaner and rock the car to mix? Wait, a day, two? Should I drop the tank? Are the gas lines a problem? What about the injectors? What about the fuel pump? What is the worst case scenario if I try to start it now?

I posted this here because you guys know about recovering long-time stored cars (these cars are not left in barns all that often) and some of you may have some ideas about that effect on more modern cars. If your answers are generic recovery answers then post here, otherwise maybe you should email, since this isn't strictly a Chevrolet question.

Thanks,
Brian

I would not attempt to start the engine.Starting the engine will bring the
"junk" that is on the bottom of the tank up into the fuel pump,fuel lines and injectors.The result is that these things would then require replacing and on a Jaguar this could amount to thousands of dollars.
I would drop the tank and have it cleaned.If the fuel pump is in the tank I would have it tested to be sure it is working.After this long period of non-use and the bad gas in the tank there is a very good chance the the pump is "gone".....

I'll probably have to wait on a repair manual (it took ten minutes to locate all the spark plugs) before I attempt to drop the tank. I put some gas cleaner in the tank and rocked the car to mix. That will at least start the cleanout process.

I think the gas flow is a loop so I may try to run the pump with gas cleaner to clean the lines. There does not appear to be anyway to get the last bit of the lines clean, so that may be a gamble.

Question. The only time I have seen bad deposits in a gas tank or carb is when the gas had completely evaporated. Is that just my experience and is there likely the same stuff in this tank and lines or is there a possiblity that there are no deposts, just sludgy material?

Thanks,
Brian

Also, clean out all of the fuel lines and the blow through them with compressed air to make sure the lines are open. The gasoline that is in the tank is either gunk by now or the remaining liquid could be all black, like oil. As Chev Nut mentioned, under no circumstances should you start the engine until you have gone completely through the fuel system!!

On a 38 chevy that's not a problem. On this car I can't find anything.... I'll syphon some gas and see what it looks like.

Thanks,
Brian

The gasoline is 10 years old.....it doesn't matter what it looks like. You need to remove the gasoline from the tank and then clean the tank.

Are there any clean in place techniques that work, this tank is im a bad place.

Thanks,
Brian

With fuel injected systems the fuel does a loop with a pressure regulator (set at about 30psi)on the outlet of the fuel rail. Dont turn the pump on until the tank has been fully cleaned, even if it means getting it out of a hard to get at position. Disconnect the regulator from the injector rail and pump a pint or so of clean fuel towards the pump (reverse flush) catching it in a separate container, not the tank. Reconnect the supply lines but not the return line, fit new filter and power the pump with the return line into the separate container until you get clear fuel flowing, reconnect return line to tank.
The injectors may need a thorough off car clean as well but try getting it running first.
It is a slow process but will be better in the long run.
Tony

I found the tank, it's behind the back seat. I'll clear the lines tonight.

Thanks,
Brian

The car started, smoked a lot from the oil, then I noticed the smell of wet burnt straw and relized there must be a nest somewhere in one of the tail pipes. I'll try to rout it out tonight.

Brian

I worked on a Model "A" %#$@ in the shop a few years ago. It had been stored for about 10 years in a barn. When I fired it up for the first time it blew nuts down through the shop like a machine gun. Some animal had packed the tailpipe full of filberts. I still find a nut in the shop occasionally.

I found a really good book written by a guy using experiences from all sorts of people that details and explain how to repair almost anything with this car. It has tips on where to find non-standard parts, tricks to get the job done, etc. We should do somehting like this for the club. You can download and look at it at this web site:
Repair Book
It's called "Experience in a Book".

Brian

Now that I posted this it dawned on me that there may already be a document like this and I’m the only one that doesn’t know about it….

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