I'm trying to get my "new" Gen 1 running again. It's a '90, LWB 3.0 truck (pretty much exactly the same as my "old" truck ;-) The truck has been sitting for a long time; when I bought it in January he said five years, though the inspection and registration stickers expired in '03.

I know that I need to deal with whatever is in the gas tank and fuel system, but I'm not sure exactly what all I should consider doing. Just thinking through it, I imagine:

-Drain existing "gas" from the tank and dispose of it (any suggestions as to how to properly dispose of it?) I'm hoping it's just a few gallons, but I have absolutely no idea how much might be in there.

-Replace the fuel filter

-Blow out the fuel lines between the filter and the engine? Between the engine and the tank?

what else? Do I need to drop the tank and have something done with it? Are there other screens/filters around the tank that I need to clean/replace? What about the fuel pump, should I do anything specific with that? What about the fuel rail? I plan to send the injectors out to be flow tested and cleaned.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks,
steve

1) There's a drain screw under the tank that you can use. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cyclops.gif" alt="" />
2) Contact your local garbage/waste company and ask how you should dispose of it.
3) You can access the inside of your tank including the fuel pump via an panel in the floor in your cargo compartment.
Not sure about the rest but I'm sure others will chime in. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

It would be a good idea to pull your fuel pump and sending unit assembly out of the tank to have a look at it, as well as check out what the inside of the tank looks like. I just dealt with the same issue on an ATV that hadn't been used in about 4 years - http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showf...&an=0&page=1#Post1277965 - it took a new fuel pump, filter, in-tank hoses, and filter screen to get it running again, as well as some major cleaning of the bottom of the fuel tank. You won't know what you're dealing with until you take a peek inside the fuel tank.

So I dropped the gas tank and took it to be cleaned,leak-tested and sealed. I've got it back now. The fuel pump was a mess, but I managed to separate it from the mounting hardware and cleaned that up so I can re-use it with a new fuel pump.

I have questions about the fuel gauge sending unit though. Does anyone know how to test it electrically to see if it's still good? It's not beautiful, but I managed to clean it up so that it will move freely. But before putting it back in (or deciding to replace it) I was wondering how I could test it to see if it's in working order. I didn't find anything in the FSM about this.

steve

While you have the system apart, replace all the existing rubber hose with new hose.

WRT to testing the sender, I just went through that with my jeep. I am aware of no test. But, as long as the sender arm has free movement, that is a good note. Not sure of the construct of your sender, but in general the arm does contact a circuit board which is the level indicator. I cleaned the contact points and made sure there was physical contact. When the tank was reinstalled, the level sensor does read more correct.

The sender is a rheostat. The resistance varies with the position of the arm. Connect a ohmeter to the two sender wires (if there's only one wire, connect the meter to one wire and ground) and move the arm. The resistance should change smoothly with no areas of no contact. The usual range is from sometwhere around 1-5 ohms (full) to around 103-117 ohms (empty).

Acetone from home depot or any paint store will clean stuff up. I'd pour what's left of your gallon of acetone into the tank and run the fuel pump to flush the system, then add gas and run the pump again to flush the straight acetone from the lines. The mixture of gas and acetone will burn fine on fire up, and further flush the system as it circulates and burns out. Acetone is a component of most fuel injector tank added cleaners.

I dispose of the old gas by mixing in a little over time into the tank, and just burn it up, or if it's truly foul and sludgy, I pour it into sand in a steel container and burn it, or use it on ground hornet nests <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />