Nasty Fuel System

[Lccountryboy89]

Hey guys I'm starting to overhaul the fuel system on my 87 m35a2 and drained and dropped the fuel system today and the tank is an absolute mess. It has a thick, sticky, tar-like residue on the inside of the tank (bio-diesel reside?). I took the fuel pump out the tank and it is covered in all that junk too.. I honestly don't know how the truck ran bc all the mesh wire intakes were completely clogged with this goo.... I'm taking apart the pump and cleaning it up best I can.. soaking everything in carb cleaner and what not...

I have two questions.... 1.) If the in tank fuel pump fails from all this junk... are any of you running the 24v Electric fuel pump kit to replace it? I really don't want to spend the extra $$$ to replace the in tank pump if that one is sufficient.

2) About this bio diesel residue... how do I go about cleaning it? Or is it even possible to clean? The local radiator shop said they can't clean it b/c of the baffles inside the tank... I'm honestly thinking about biting the bullet and getting a new tank to get rid of all that stuff and start over... I don't want contaminated filters and what not to be a constant problem...

Thanks for the input and advice in advanced!

 

[Warthog]

We have been discussing this for years. One of you options is a 5gal pail of Berrymans Carb Cleaner.. I'll see if I can find some of the old posts.

 

[Woodsplinter]

I don't know what that crud is but it looks nasty! You can buy a new in-tank pump on that popular auction site for $50. I have one in my deuce and it works great. There are some threads on here about the pump.

Personally I wouldn't waste my time cleaning that tank and I would be concerned about it being in the fuel lines too. Looks like you have a lot of work ahead.

 

[Doug Roberts]

I'm probably in the same boat . Matt ( auctionaddict ) picked up one of these trucks too . He probably got the nicest one but they were all being fueled the same at Warner Robbins AFB . I've cleaned and changed fuel filters and I've run through at least 4 tanks of clean diesel + an additive. I'll try and PM him to see what his tank looked like and/or what he did.

 

[clinto]

In short; read these:

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?83052-Get-rid-of-that-biodiesel-for-new-MV-buys

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?74936-Red-Sludge-In-Fuel

You want some stuff called "Wild dog", it's a cleaner. Clintogf bought 5 gallons and her tank looked like your pump (it genuinely had 2" of sludge in the bottom) and after a week or two of sitting, it looked like this:



You'll need to soak your pump as well -when you're done, it may work, it may not. Mine did.

You'll need to soak your filter cans and heads in it as well and obviously replace the filters. Probably wouldn't be a terrible idea to remove the copper fuel lines and clean or replace them.

Do all that and see how it does. My IP was ok luckily. YMMV.

 

[Floridianson]

I have same stuff in two old 5 ton tanks that are removed from the truck. Been wanting to set up a cattle trough and see if it would boil out just for smit's and giggles.

 

[FloridaAKM]

I got one of those trucks from auctionaddict that came from Warner Robins AFB back in March of this year & the tank was relatively clean on the bottom, but had that red stuff on the sides of the tank. The fuel pump works great, but it has not been pulled out to be closely inspected. During usage, the new fuel started the red stuff to be dissolved & be pulled into the filters plugging them up. I bought a new Parker pump, in case the original one died (the original will not go bad now), & replaced all the filters in the system. I don't know what Warner Robins AFB used for fuel in these trucks, but the residue is really bad & very hard to clean out. The tank strainer was plugged with this red varnish to the point of it had to be removed to allow the tank to be fueled. Acetone soaking removed the red varnish in the screen & out of all the filter cans after much scrubbing. Acetone was my friend as I had a volume of it to help with the cleaning process . The fuel is dissolving the rest of the goop & transfering it to the filters over time. Always an ongoing project!

 

[clinto]

It's not restricted to Warner Robins-I've had trucks from Albany and Redstone with the same issue.

 

[Flyingvan911]

What type of fuel was in the trucks? JP-8? I hope their aircraft aren't having the same issues.

 

[Warthog]

Here are the pictures of the fuel tank I cleaned.




http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?29359-m35a2c-clogged-fuel-system

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?74936-Red-Sludge-In-Fuel

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?112016-Algae-crud-or-what-Best-way-to-clean-it-up-M923a2

 

[Lccountryboy89]

Yeah mine looks exactly like the pics that y'all posted. My fuel strainer was gummed up with that stuff so bad it had to be removed to put fuel in the truck (should have been my first warning sign!) I will def have to try some of that cleaner and see what it does, def couldn't hurt. Also... what is the best way to clean out the fuel lines? I'm sure they're lined with that lovely tar substance too...

 

[Lccountryboy89]

Looks all too familiar!! Idk what was going on there at Warner Robins for real! I'm surprised these trucks even ran to be honest with you. I'm curious to see how it drives with the fuel system clean bc I honestly didn't notice any driveability issues with the truck even though all my parts looked like this!

 

[FloridaAKM]

Thats because the trucks are built to Mil-Specs & this condition was probably thought of years ago, just not the sell off to the GP that is occuring again. They wanted the trucks to run under all conditions, including, sitting for long periods of time. We are lucky that we can continue to add to the Green Iron disease from the trucks that are released. Tomorrow is another recovery day for a Tan 2011 M1102 trailer from central Georgia. You can buy trailers when the trucks aren't available, their fuel tanks are clean so I hear!

 

[Jeepsinker]

Gasoline works pretty well to clean all that stuff out. Avgas works even better if you have a local place to procure it, like a small airport.

 

[welldigger]

I have wondered if a few gallons of 91% isopropyl alcohol would dry the water from the tank and organisms causing that bioslime. Maybe help break up the bio slime.

 

[Jeepsinker]

It won't dry the water, just make it all collect together. It may kill the slime, but I'm not sure. I know gas works.

 

[welldigger]

Thankfully my tank is clean. However, I'm sure I'll run across this stuff eventually considering all of the equipment I constantly collect.

 

[bonedoc]

You should be able to clean that pretty easily but it is time consuming. I just cleaned my tank thoroughly and sealed it. I used stuff from Por-15. Was called Marine clean. I only used a gallon of cleaner, did 3 separate cleanings diluting the cleaner with hot water. Shake it around in the tank, flipping tank from standing on one side to the other quickly will bathe the baffles. Then you need to just let the cleaner set on the every surface of the tank by turning it every hour or so. Rinse...repeat. Worked great on mine, mine wasn't as bad as your but it is amazing how much crap comes out of the tank!!

 

[Jeepsinker]

Much better to deal with sludge than rust.

 

[Captaincarrier]

The fuel tanks we hate to clean are those that have been "bio-fueled". Most recent customer had two 130 gallon saddle tanks that were severely contaminated with "bio-fuel". He would call and ask "how we doin", maybe the end of the week I would reply.
First thing his crew did when we returned the tanks was get their flashlite and inspect.
They came out great!