Take out the gas tank or use the drain plug

[dirk619]

Before I start sorry if this has already been answered.

So a few weeks ago I ran out of gas (Dumb I know). Thought my fuel pump died, just ended up being clogged from dirt/crap at the bottom of the tank. Got some Seafoam in a bucket and just ended up cleaning it out and worked great. Same situation happened again yesterday and I decided to clean out the whole tank. My question is, is it better to take out the whole tank or use the drain plug? 2nd question is, I have a full tank of gas, is there any way I can filter out all the dirt and put it back into the tank when it's been emptied? Any suggestions and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[browntown]

The e24 I bought that had sludge in the tank, I filtered the gas through cheesecloth and ran it in my lawn mower.

Anywho, to do a real thorough job you'll need to drain the tank, drop it, clean best you can, then consider por15's tank sealer or similar. Or just find a good tank somewhere.

My inclination is that if your tank truly is that dirty, drop it and replace all the bushing on your rear subframe while you're back there.

[jlevie]

I suspect that you have a tank that is loaded with rust. In which case you can replace the tank with a new one or acid clean and seal the tank that you have. In either case the tank will have to come out of the car. The fuel that is in the tank can be drained in to jugs, allowed to settle, and the fuel in the jugs siphoned off through a fuel filter and reused.

[mikeedler]

if your pulling the tank, just replace it. lately I have seen alot of rusty tanks over here(completely rusted through) to include my own car.

[nando]

replace it. pretty sure you can get one from an autoparts store for about $200.

[dirk619]

Sorry my failure to update, dropped the tank. Dumped all the gas into buckets and checked the inside for any rust, sludge, ect. Found a little bits of pieces of dirt particles and took it out. Put in some new gas and still looks like I have a problem. :(

After putting new gas and running it, on some streets/freeway. It died again. I decided just to change the fuel pump all together but heres the question. Bought a used fuel pump for the meanwhile while I can save up the money to buy a new one, I just need something that can work while I go to work for few weeks. Ended up picking this one up but for some reason it didn't fit the housing of the stock one, technically it dose but the bottom part can't connect. Can I just leave out the bottom part and just run the pump by itself?(Left is the original Bosch part and the Right is the replacement) I know the top parts are pretty much ok, the bottom part is confusing, 1st It has 2 slots to open and on the 2nd one it has just 1 big hole. The 3rd picture is the part I'm asking if it's ok for me not to have.

[bmw325csi]

its an early pump thats why the bottom doesn't fit. I would at least zip tie a piece of cheese cloth or something under it. Your pump will burn out if it sucks up any debris