Thread: Never Had This Happen Before

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Our club I belong to meets every Saturday at a local breakfast place. I stopped at the local "O thank heaven" store for gas. Put about 7 gallons in and left. I got about a mile and a half down the road and pulled up the the light and the engine wont idle. I had to keep pumping the gas to keep it from dying. Going down the road no noticeable issue. I know i've got water in the gas. I took the truck home and went back to the station and told the guy what had happened and he said no problem he would call the owner and they would shut the pump for that grade off. I am thinking I can get the truck started and try to run the gass thru. Do any of you guys and gals think there is a reason not to do that?

I've had it happen twice, both times at the same station. There is a Mobil station near our shop and I got gas one time. A few miles later the car started running badly. I got some dry gas and put it in the tank and it ran a little better and I was at least able to run it until I used up that tank. A while later I thought it must have been a fluke, so I stopped there again, same deal. I don't stop there any more.

Don

Drain the tank as much as possible and pour off the bulk of the water then put the gas back in the tank

Put a quart of Alcohol in the tank, it will mix with the residual water and the gas and burn off when the engine is used.

Yep, alcohol is the answer. In the tank, anyway, haha.
Where there's water, there's usually dirt, too, so after running the gas out, change the fuel filter.

Today I took it out and drove about 10 miles than to the local Azone and bought a can of Bmans put about 10oz. in and drove for about 30 miles. I have to fight it to keep the rpm's up at a stop to keep it from dying. I may just go ahead and pull the tank and dump the old gas into a couple of cans and see how much water is in it. If I do this and refill the tank with good gas is there any issues with what is in the filters and mech. pump.

Originally Posted by sfort

Today I took it out and drove about 10 miles than to the local Azone and bought a can of Bmans put about 10oz. in and drove for about 30 miles. I have to fight it to keep the rpm's up at a stop to keep it from dying. I may just go ahead and pull the tank and dump the old gas into a couple of cans and see how much water is in it. If I do this and refill the tank with good gas is there any issues with what is in the filters and mech. pump.

Don't know Bmans - dump a couple of bottles of HEET or some other methanol based additive in it and drive it. If you pull the tank and drain it that is a plus. The alcohol will mix with the water and burn it out of the system. No worries with filteters and pump, IMO.

I got a load of water in the tank in 1956, flathear v8 would not run below 3000 rpm.
My fathers friend told me to pull the pipe plug from the bottum of the tank and run the gas through a shammie? it held the water but not the gas.

Sorry RS Berrymans

Originally Posted by sfort

Sorry RS Berrymans

From what I see, Berrymans products are cleaners/solvents, not anything that would mix with water. Still suggest you need a bottle or two of HEET or another methanol product, or just a jug of alcohol.

yep... station in my town used to have rusted up tanks that got water in them all the time.. bottle of HEET usually did the trick, but rarely did we ever use the station... they closed the doors a couple years ago, and the EPA said it couldn't be opened as a gas station again due to new regulations as to how close it was to the creek behind it... 4-5 months ago, it opened again except there pumping diesel only.

Question for ya - what kind of carb is on that engine? Edelbrock Performers will gasp and gag with only the slightest amount of dirt and almost feel like there is water in the gas. I still use one but do have a big filter in front of it on my current car. Of course, if it is water, a can or two of Cristy Dry Gas or similar will run the water through

IC2 it has a Holley. I am going to have to change the auto supply I have been using! Did not see any of these products there. I do have alcohol though. Thanks for the help guys!!

Originally Posted by sfort

IC2 it has a Holley. I am going to have to change the auto supply I have been using! Did not see any of these products there. I do have alcohol though. Thanks for the help guys!!

You don't want to use regular isopropyl alcohol from the drug store - it is 70% alcohol, 30% water. Denatured alcohol from the solvents section at the hardware/paint store will work OK - it is a clean burning fuel alone if you cannot find HEET or something like it which says it removes water.

Heck - even some of the STP and injector cleaning products will work - but even Texas has to have some sort of dry gas product. Wally World/Advance/Auto-Zone/Pep Boys/Checkers/ should have something - just look in the chemicals aisle.

Everclear(95%), pure moonshine, or 100% alcohol will bind with the water and make it burnable so you should be able to drive it without problems. . HEET does the same for the same reasons.
Like IC2 said, check the filter. It may not be gas, but crud or rust that got in there. I have a Mikuni carb on a Harley that used to have the float stick open and pour gas out the overflow. It drove me nuts, when it first started. I had my Harley Mechanic rebuild the carb. It worked great, he bench tested it, and no problems. The minute I ran the bike, boom, stuck float, gas everywhere. He rebuilt it a second time, still same problem. We sent the carb back to Mikuni at their request. It turned out there were microscopic glass beads in it. Ultimately, the gas tank liners were wearing out, and small amounts of glass beads were leaking out of the seems, into the gas. I had to get both tanks, relined, but have never had the problem since. It seems that when painters do custom paint jobs on gas tanks, they glass bead the metal. Since we are talking microscopic residue, it's near impossible to see.
Point is it may just be crud in there.