Water and rust in petrol tank.

[Richard Reynolds]

[:(!]Had problems the last 2 weeks with misfiring, spluttering ,from my 7 . The local garage said it was ignition and removed my old electronic ignition and replaced with points. However problem still there. I removed float lids and found rust / water in chambers. Would this cause missfiring. ?
Cleaned out chambers and ran ok for while. But then noticed loads of petrol coming from overflow. Claned again and found rust behind float needle presumably stopping it closing.?

Am i looking at tank replacement ?





Richeee

[tr7jim]

Richard,

Possible not but suggest you fit a inline fuel filter before the fuel pump.

Visually Check the condition of the underside of the tank from underneath usaully rust out around the strap areas.

Check the black plastic fuel filler area is clear and the water should drain away underneath not into your tank.

If this is ok you can purchase a product from Halford a fuel additive, which mixes in the water with the fuel so cleaning out the water. Add it with a full tank of petrol.

Jim

[busheytrader]

[quote
Am i looking at tank replacement ?
[/quote]

It comes to all of us sooner or later. The bottom front corners of the tank will start to rot from the inside out.

I fitted a large capacity in line filter and had to change it every 6 months as it got clogged with orange powder pretty quickly, even leading to fuel starvation once. Imagine all that flowing through the carbs and cylinders.

Cheers,

Adam

TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & Solid Bushes, Anti- Dive, Granada Vented Discs & Calipers, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AllyCat 5 Spokes. No Door Stickers.

[John Clancy]

I detailed the symptoms and remedies for the rotted tank I suffered last August. Ultimately there was nothing that could be done and the tank had to be changed for a new one.

I've attempted a couple of modifications to the fuel filler just to try to prevent water seaping in via the cap and neck in the future. Only time will tell if it's successful in the long term. Once you have the tank sorted though the first thing to do is renew the rubber seal on the filler cap. For the sake of a quid it's certainly worth doing... actually it's probably worth everyone doing this every few years or so.

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[Dave Dyer]

My question is,
What happens to the rain water that goes around the filler cap? (not into the tank) Does it drain down a pre made route or does it find its own way down to the ground?

I hadn't thought about this until reading this post, I'm a bit concerned as this is going to be a major water trap?!!

Has anyone thought of this and a possible solution ?

Thanks, Dave

[busheytrader]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Dave Dyer</i>

My question is,
What happens to the rain water that goes around the filler cap? (not into the tank) Does it drain down a pre made route or does it find its own way down to the ground?

I hadn't thought about this until reading this post, I'm a bit concerned as this is going to be a major water trap?!!

Has anyone thought of this and a possible solution ?

Thanks, Dave
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Hi Dave,

Take off the filler cap and you'll find 3 philips type screws holding the plastic surround on. Rainwater basically flows through the gaps and down to the ground, probably via the fuel hose. When I replaced my tank I half expected the top of it to have surface rust because of this. None at all in more than 25 years.

Cheers,

Adam

TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & Solid Bushes, Anti- Dive, Granada Vented Discs & Calipers, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AllyCat 5 Spokes. No Door Stickers.

[Odd]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Has anyone thought of this and a possible solution? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Yes, the factory thought about it
- the water that ends up around the filler cap is supposed to drain through holes in there. (Problem is:
with time/age they get gummed up with debris...) The water then runs down along the piping and
drips off the outside of the tank.

[Red]

You're all lucky then!

I'm in the middle of sorting out the rust areas at the back of my car, and the fuel cap is a major problem - basically, all the metal at the bottom of the recess (where the filler pipe is screwed in) has corroded, big time. [B)]
This has obviously been an ongoing problem, as the area has been previously repaired (read: bodged!) I'm going to have to do a lot of work here to get it solid again - and I'll make sure it's as rustproof as I can get it this time!

Garry

1976 2.0 (soon to be 3.5!)FHC
http://reds-tr7.blogspot.com/

[Richard Reynolds]

Well, I have taken the bull by the horns and my new tank from S&S arrived today.[:)] Rear axle has been dropped. Next job is to wriggle under car between axle and tank and release the old straps to drop the tank. Really looking forward to that job.[:(!]

I must admit the colour and sediment from the dregs of the tank that i have managed to drain off leave me in know doubt that the tank was made 28 very long years ago.

I have also poured some water around the filler area and must admit that the water did run away very well fom the area of the 3 screws.

Anyway wish me luck!!!!



Richeee

[Hasbeen]

Richard, put some lock nuts on the top of the tank strap studs,
inside the car, before you start. 2 in the front of the boot, & 2
behind the seats. Otherwise the studs screw out, destroyimg the
straps.

I think a lot of the water that finds its way into our fuel tanks is
from condensation, rather than comming in through the filler.

Both my fillers are a tight fit, & would not admit water. However, I
got almost 1 cup & a half of water out of the 8 last spring, & none
from the 7.

The 7 lives in a shed, giving it some insulation from the cold, but
last winter, the 8 lived in an open car port. It does not get wet
from rain, as its a large 3 car job. Only the 7 got caught
out in the rain. I am always carefull not to get too much water in
the filler recess when washing the things.

We have a large temperature range in winter, it can go from
-2C to 25C, [23 to 77F], & there were 32 days below zero, last
winter.

So keep your 7 in the heated lounge room. You should not have any
trouble with water in the tank, although there may be trouble from
other directions.

I can't believe I was stupid enough to not weld a drain cock, or
bolt into my tanks, while I was repairing them. If I ever have a
tank out again, it will get a draining system installed.

Hasbeen.

[Richard Reynolds]

Update.
Eventually managed to remove old tank. Yes ! after destroying the straps but those kind chaps at S+S had already sent me some with my tank kit. Anyway fitted new battery and coil and she fired up and is running fine. Havent taken her for a test drive yet as have brakes apart to fix a couple of advisory's from MOT last year. I thought that while it is in the air and i had taken rear hydraulic pipe apart to get the tank out i thought there was no time like the present.

Yes Shaunie you caught me good and proper . i was going to e-mail to complain until i saw your pics. Honestly that does seem the best way to change tank.

Richeee