VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Car cut off when the tank get below 1/2?

Hate to be redundant,

I have an original 36 Chevy Master with 6V 207 engine.

yesterday (it happened last week too) my car has stopped after an hour's run,? it felt like it was running out of gas and wouldn't start but what I notice is that twice I had to gas up 7 gallons of gasoline.

TODAY 1/05/22 IT HAPPEN AGAIN, My fuel gauge is not working! (SHOWS 1/4 TANK ALL THE TIME) My wife brought me 2-gallon of gas, still, only went 100 yards and stall, (Nice Wife) she went back to the gas station for another 2 gallons of gas, the car started right up, drove to the gas station, and put in 4 more gallons of the gas, total (8 gallons). Drove it home 16 miles at 45 to 50 MPH, no problem.

I thought it was the Coil but it's too consistent with 1/2 tank empty or 1/2 full.

Appreciate any Ideas?


Thank you

Marco Sanchez SR

First thought is the pickup tube in the gas tank has rusted off 1/2 way to the bottom. The other is that there is trash in the tank that blocks the pickup tube (if that is the problem it shouldn't always be at 1/2). I put it in since the 2 gallons brought by the wife only kept it running for a short time.

Hello Marco, Like Chip said it could be rusted off. That is exactly what happened to our '36 Master Town Sedan when we got it 4 years ago. I described our trials with it in some posts in this forum late last year. I replaced our tank but with a little more time you could try the other approach. The tank fits well but the filler neck will not match up with the original style union.

On another note there is a small but active VCCA region in the Phoenix area if you would like to get together with other like minded members. We belong to that region as well as the Columbia River Region.

Art

Thank you all, I will see if I can replace the pick-up tube and check with the VCCA Phoenix region.

Art and Chip

could not find your old thread? could be just me, do you know if the pick-up line can be changed without replacing the tank? I did notice that on my tank the fuel line is in the back front passenger side, could it be an after-market tank? and how difficult is it to drop the Gas Tank.

also played with the fuel gauge wiring, if I disconnect the wire it goes to full, put it wire back and it shows 1/4 tank?

any feedback would be appreciated


Gratitude

Marco Sr.

The post was from Nov 17th 2021. And replacing the pickup line is a rather involved process that would still require removing the tank. To determine if it is a after market tank look for the inlet union in the trunk. Dropping the tank is about a 1, to 1-1/ 2 hour job.

Art

Thanks will look it up, I did replace the fuel filter in the back of the gas tank, it was dirty, and a lot of orange dirt or dust came out, I might have to remove and flush the gas tank. Have a great weekend!

Marco SR