Rusty gas tank causing issues?

[Oats]

Picked up lovely 318is two weeks ago... When I test drove it in January it ran fine, but driving it home there were some issues. When accelerating in second gear, it seems like the car was about to stall out until it hit 3k RPM, and after shifting it was fine. If the car was put in neutral(slowing down for red lights) it would stall out, but could be restarted just fine.

I changed the spark plugs and fuel filter, but that didn't help anything. When I pulled the old filter, the fuel was brown and murky, as you can see in the picture below. Would a clogged fuel pump/fuel lines be causing this? I'll be getting another tank soon, but until then she's not going anywhere :(

[jlevie]

A rusty tank can cause fuel starvation from clogging of the filter or the inlet screen of the in-tank pump as well as wear in the high pressure pump. That picture says to me that the car needs to have the tank acid cleaned and sealed or be replaced. It will also need a new filter and pump(s).

[matthugie]

A rusty tank can cause fuel starvation from clogging of the filter or the inlet screen of the in-tank pump as well as wear in the high pressure pump. That picture says to me that the car needs to have the tank acid cleaned and sealed or be replaced. It will also need a new filter and pump(s).

This. Here is a picture of what my fuel pump sock looked like out of my rusty tank. Pretty obvious why not enough fuel was getting through.

[Oats]

Thanks guys! I've already sourced a good used tank, and hopefully I'll be able to get it within the next week. Any recommendations on fuel pumps?

[jlevie]

OE/OEM pumps are best.

[Q5Quint]

This is happening to my tank as well, but after changing the filter about 8 times (the car sat for years before I got it) I used a cheap fuel pump from amazon and it sings a bit.... worries me because they do that before they die. However it has been working 2 years so who knows. The tank also stopped rusting and clogging my filters.

http://www.amazon.com/Airtex-E8138H-Fuel-Hanger-Assembly/dp/B0023QP9F0/ref=au_pf_ss_2?ie=UTF8&Make=BMW%7C31&Model=325is%7C174&Year=1989%7C1989&carId=001&n=15684181&s=automotive

By the end I would just blow a filter out backwards and re-use it- and switched to cheaper $10 versions that fit the same as stock. I think I spent more on filters than a brand new tank (like $150 shipped).

Edit: I recomend buying the oem pump ($150) and replacing just the pump part of your assembly. About the same price as the cheaper airtex pump+the assembly and hopefully without the squeal.

Also always keep your tank full so it cant rust anymore. That helped stop the filter issue too.

[matthugie]

This is happening to my tank as well, but after changing the filter about 8 times (the car sat for years before I got it) I used a cheap fuel pump from amazon and it sings a bit.... worries me because they do that before they die. However it has been working 2 years so who knows. The tank also stopped rusting and clogging my filters.

http://www.amazon.com/Airtex-E8138H-Fuel-Hanger-Assembly/dp/B0023QP9F0/ref=au_pf_ss_2?ie=UTF8&Make=BMW%7C31&Model=325is%7C174&Year=1989%7C1989&carId=001&n=15684181&s=automotive

By the end I would just blow a filter out backwards and re-use it- and switched to cheaper $10 versions that fit the same as stock. I think I spent more on filters than a brand new tank (like $150 shipped).

Edit: I recomend buying the oem pump ($150) and replacing just the pump part of your assembly. About the same price as the cheaper airtex pump+the assembly and hopefully without the squeal.

Also always keep your tank full so it cant rust anymore. That helped stop the filter issue too.

Did you change the sock as well? When my fuel pump died I didn't realize that my tank was rusty (I was told that the socks kinda age to that color), so I just swapped everything over. The new pump was louder than the old one, and that sock was the reason. New sock and the pump became super quiet.

Also, a new tank is ~$220 shipped from US Auto Parts, but with discount code I think can be had slightly cheaper from Advance.