How does a pickup tube work?

Old Iron · Sep 24, 2018

Glad you found the issue.
Unless you like the mystery problem solving, it'll drive ya bat guano crazy.

MercuryMac · Sep 24, 2018

I have to disagree with Donsrods. This was not an easy fix. There was a lot of detective work at first, diagnosing the problem, right up 'til the 'bat guano crazy' part, [or shortly after that]; AND then there was the figuring out a solution that didn't involve sending the tank back for a replacement. Ninety-five % of the people could not have done what you did. Congratulations. That's why I'm proud to be part of this group.

soltz · Sep 24, 2018

Glad it worked out in your favor.
Animal, you have a little fun with mystery stories, yes[S

donsrods · Sep 24, 2018

MercuryMac said:
I have to disagree with Donsrods. This was not an easy fix. There was a lot of detective work at first, diagnosing the problem, right up 'til the 'bat guano crazy' part, [or shortly after that]; AND then there was the figuring out a solution that didn't involve sending the tank back for a replacement. Ninety-five % of the people could not have done what you did. Congratulations. That's why I'm proud to be part of this group.

Any repair where you do not have to dismantle things to fix a problem is certainly easier than pulling the tank out. I think all of us have learned to do the easy/obvious things first, like starting right at the tank and seeing if it is flowing freely, instead of tearing into the car and creating more problems.

MercuryMac · Sep 24, 2018

Sorry Don, I guessed what you meant; the actual fix was easy. I was trying to point out that a whole lot of real good thinking went on first, [by Animal and our guys], to make this look like a cool, easy fix. We are in agreement that there should be quite a bit of thinking things out before a problem is broken open.

animal · Sep 25, 2018

MercuryMac, you're right...figuring out the problem wasn't easy. [S I had the tank out twice, looking inside it and scouring all the other components for failure or bad performance. The actual "fix", once I spent a few days fixing one perceived problem, test-driving the car, over and over, until tracking down the actual culprit was simple, but not as simple as just knocking the filter off and changing the inline pre-filter every 1,000 miles, as I thought about. Dealing with the tab welded in the tank to prevent the filter coming off of the tube made things a little different. Add to that the niggling thoughts about fuel line size and routing, the advice I got that made me look at things differently, the fact I was bed-ridden (at least was supposed to be in bed, according to my doctor) for almost a week (during which I worked on this problem) with a severe pain in my spine, the fact that the pump itself seemed to be the problem until I spent some time moving from one link in the fuel delivery chain backwards to the next, until the most unlikely link proved to be the problem...a brand-new filter inside a brand-new tank.

I know what Don meant, and I do appreciate his input. I also appreciate everyone else who chimed in with encouragement or advice. But what it came down to was days of head-scratching combined with a lot of disassembly and assembly in turns, combined with self-doubt and periods of pain so intense I couldn't move out from under the car, making me irritable and grouchy, mostly because I couldn't figure out a "simple" problem.

I'm not telling you this for sympathy. I just want to make the point that all of us who do this have a different way of looking at things than nearly all our neighbors, friends, and family. After all, it's "just a car" and there's no reason to take it so seriously, right?

We are a breed apart, and I recognize in all of you a kindred spirit, a fellow inmate in this asylum we call rodding. I thank all of you for your support and willingness to help someone you don't know deal with a problem in order to make his life a little better.