What is this crap????

[greg g]

Doing some under hood fiddling around. Noticed on shut down that the rear carb was burping some raw gas at the throttle plate. I took the top of the carb off to check the float level. After I pulled the float, I found this stuff. Not rust, granular, consistancy of kitty litter but smaller pieces. Decided to pull both carbs, and between them there was probably 3 tablespoons of this stuff in the float bowls. What the heck are they putting in gas these days?

The stuff in the back carb has blocked the feed to the accelerator pump, and the pump was stuck in place. Got it freed up and the stuff cleaned up, both acc pumps working. Anybody else encountered this crud in their carbs??

[Norm's Coupe]

Greg, I'm assuming you have a gas line filter, so that only leaves one thing, "Reformulated Gas Residue". Here in the mid west there was a big problem about 3 years ago with just that sort of thing clogging up a lot of peoples fuel injectors. Then it would cost them a couple hundred or more to get them cleaned out or replaced. Guess it's a problem sometimes when they first switch over to winter gas formulations. That's my guess at what you have there.

[greg g]

Well NY mandates winter blend from late OCT to end of April so chances of me running a lot of it through my car is minimal Since I usually run May to Sept or so. Running three inline filters. Wonder what the residual sugars in Ethanol will be doing to our everyday cars. Guess I'll get a couple bottles of gumout to run through on the trip.

[Norm's Coupe]

Greg, like I said the gas turns to a powder like substance. What does it do to the modern cars. As mentioned, those little flakes get stuck in your fuel injectors, then they either have to be taken apart and cleaned, or replaced if it does damage. It's a real mess. Can't remember what chemical they say causes that. Also think it has something to do with the refinery cleaning their tanks, if I remember right. Either way, that can cause a car with fuel injection to suddenly come to a stop on the road. Not sure what kind of problem we could have with our old cars. They didn't report on that at the time, but from the looks of yours, it's not a good thing.

Since that came up about 3 years or so ago, I usually run a couple of tanks of gas with a can of cleaner in my modern cars per year. I was one of the lucky ones a few years ago when all that started and didn't have a problem.

[Jeff Ivan]

Recently my inline filter right out of the tank clogged up with no sputtering or warning until 20 seconds before the engine stalled. No spare filter with me (DUH!) so I did a quickie roadside fix, just put in a piece of new hose in place of filter. Then later at home when I was under the front end I noticed my glass fuel pump bowl has some of that gunk in it. I thought it was because of me using the fuel STA-BIL which I think has alcohol in it. I thought it maybe loosened up stuff in the tank, which has been drained and checked. Now I can blame the poor quality of gas sold in this region:D That gas also makes you cuss at a cheapie lawnmower that has no filter. I bought a couple new inline filters to have a spare with me, the clear plastic ones I'm trying for the first time. Right at the tank outlet so heat should not be a factor on the plastic.

[JerseyHarold]

Jeff,

You can get an early-seventies Ford fuel filter that has male threads on the outlet side and a hose nipple on the inlet. The threads are a perfect match for the fuel line inlet on the pump, then you can put fuel hose on the inlet to the filter. I used this on a couple of my '52's and have recommended it to others on the board with good results.

[Jeff Ivan]

Herold, when I first got my car it had a filter at the pump. I always had a vapor lock problem in the hot weather. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, THANKS to this forum and all the smart & experienced old car guys here it is no longer vapor locking. I put the filter back at the tank in place of the rubber flex hose between the short steel line from the tank and the line that runs along the frame. Then I insulated the steel line from the drivers side floor all the way to the pump, then pump to carb, with rubber fuel line split lengthwise and zip ties. This was 2 or 3 summers ago and still works great. I know there are other ways to keep the steel fuel line cool, and my car is already a clunker, I just could NOT bring myself to the desperation of clipping wood clothes pins all over it as seen in pics posted here long ago:eek:

[Captain Neon]

I use premium gasoline exclusively in my P15. I also use a fuel system cleaner in my first fresh tank of gas in the spring. I use PRI-G during winter storage. I've never had a fuel related problem since I began this regimine about 15 years ago. I used to have a 1976 fuel-injected Eldorado, and its injection system was very sensitive to fuel so I am a real stickler for fuel system maintenance. My "modern" vehicles, newest car is a 10 year old Neon Expresso, get a bottle of fuel system cleaner every time I change oil, every 2000 miles. I also see long trips (~300 miles or more) as an opportunity to run a bottle of fuel injector cleaner. Never had any problems with the ethanol they run in Minnesota and Colorado (we'll see, I've only been here in CO a month or so). The gasoline (MTBE?) in Arkansas was tough on fuel systems and exhaust. When I lived in Arkansas, I had to reset my engine computer every 6 mo. or so. My fuel system maintenance program came into full bloom there. BTW, I've been running fuel system cleaner in my '92 LeBaron continuously for over 6 years now. I'll never forget the Dodge dealer that tried to sell me a new throttle body because my LeBaron's was dirty. Think it's clean by now? LOL My wife says I suffer from OCD when it comes to the convertible's fuel system.

[greg g]

As a follow up, I put about half of the stuff I pulled out of the carbs in a glass vial. I buy 90% percent of my gas at the local Sunoco Station, most of the rest is either Sunoco of Mobil. I took the vial to the station and asked for the manager. He seemed interested and said he would send the sample to the distributor ( I did save about half of it in reserve). Wonder if I will ever get a response???

[Captain Neon]

My brother-in-law is an ASE Master Expert mechanic in NY. He's convinced that Mobil is the worst gas around. When I'm closer to the East Coast, I seek out Sunoco stations. Good enough for Richard Petty, good enough for me. My cars like the 94 octane Ultra Premium from Sunoco. Couldn't get Sunoco when I lived in Minnesota, and I can't get it here in CO either. ConocoPhillips and Valero dominate around here. I've been buying most of my gasoline at Western since I moved to CO.

[Frank Blackstone]

Ohio has no law that octane ratings must be as stated on pump. Fuel delivery drivers save there low octane to bring to Ohio that they can sell to dealers who put in in the high octane tanks. A Cincinnati area congressman has tried several times to legislate this issue but has never succeeded. I buy low octane because I am unsure of what is in high octane pump. I am concerned about the affect of alcohol in the gas on the carb rubber parts. beware, Frank