water in the gas

[V8Pinto]

I noticed that my range to reserve dropped off sharply but didn't think too much of it because I had recently swapped on a free flowing exhaust and did a rejet.  I figured my mileage had just left me because of the performance increase.  But then I checked my mileage and it was within 2-3mpg of stock...hmmmm.  It still didn't register on my radar that something was wrong.

Then It started to get worse.

At 150 miles on a refill it pretty much stalled out on me and almost left me on the road.  Then it started to do it at 130, then 120, then yesterday it died at 100 miles on a tank.  I couldn't get it started even after bumming a gallon of gas from a car dealership and I had to truck it home.

Today I swapped my carbs out for a set I had rebuilt (all new with 150 mains, 40 pilots, etc) added a fuel filter, fiddled with screws, no-joy.  

When draining the bowls on the new carbs I thought "hey, I can't see through that gas...".  So I drained it into something clear and low and behold - pause for the dramatic

dum dum dummmmmmm.

WATER.  There was over a gallon of gushy-opaque-cruddy-yucky water in the bottom of my tank.  Just sitting there fat dumb and happy - I don't know how long it's been collecting but the bottom of the tank has discolored.

I drained the tank and put in some new gas, tweaked on the new carbs (now that I don't need them I guess I'll sell them), and it runs great..  What a way to waste a friday/saturday!!!!  At least it's back on the road.  Out of 3 vehicles, I was down to 1 and getting worried.  Now I guess I'll take it to the strip and see what the new carbs run in the quarter.  Been meaning to do that anyway. :dunno:

[Hugh Jardon]

Here is part of what I wrote in reply to someone with a similar problem yesterday, not that it helps you now...

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...there is ALWAYS some water in the bottom of your gas tank, from simple condensation. Think about it; the gas tank heats up during the day, just from the presence of sunlight, and when the tank cools down at night, condensation forms on the INSIDE of the tank, then trickles down into the fuel, and eventually settles to the bottom of the tank, because water is heavier than gas. Of course, that helps explain the reason for the notorious rusted-out crap pockets on the GS5 gas tanks.

One basic way to reduce the amount of condensation that occurs in your tank is to simply keep the tank full of gas. The less air space there is inside the tank, the less room there is for condensation to form.

The good news is, you can add a little Dri-Gas to the fuel tank on occasion. The alcohol in the Dri-Gas will mix with the water in the gas, and that will make the water at least semi-combustible. Every time you gas up, the new gas shooting into the tank mixes everything together, and until the water in the tank has time to settle to the bottom again, you're actually burning slightly diluted gasoline.

I've run motorcycles down to Reserve before, then drained the tank into a clear glass bottle. After a while, the crud and sediment from the tank begins to settle to the bottom of the bottle, and it is easy to see the gas floating on top of the water. As you can guess, that's another good reason to clean the screen on your fuel petcock occasionally; it gives you an opportunity to drain and flush the gas tank, so you can monitor the tank crud / rust / sludge / water situation.

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I'm glad you found the problem; if you have carbs for sale, how much are you asking? What is your zipcode; I'd like to calculate shipping charges from you to me.

Good luck; see you in the forums...

[Rema1000]

Dri-gas is just alcohol.  Now that MTBE is being replaced with ethanol, you should be able to find "reformulated" gas, which has the alcohol already there.  Ethanol can also be found in cheap mid-grade gas, as an octane booster.  It mixes with water, so you don't get a layer of water in the tank (and you don't get frozen fuel lines in winter).

[Hugh Jardon]

Dri-gas is just alcohol.  Now that MTBE is being replaced with ethanol, you should be able to find "reformulated" gas, which has the alcohol already there.  Ethanol can also be found in cheap mid-grade gas, as an octane booster.  It mixes with water, so you don't get a layer of water in the tank (and you don't get frozen fuel lines in winter).

Well, now you've exposed my secret; I tell OTHER people to buy Dri-Gas, but I simply put a few ounces of 99% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol in my gas tanks, which includes my car and pickup. I recommend Dri-Gas on the advice of a friend, who is also an attorney; he said something about assholes who like to file frivolous lawsuits, and liability issues... :lol: