I'm about to take my GTA to a shop to have the fuel pump changed. When I changed the filter a few weeks ago I found a light coating of some brown substance on the filter pleats. No actual flakes, just a coating. So I'm wondering of there is some slight amount of rust in the tank.

Whatever the brown stuff was, I couldn't blow through the filter at all, after it dried out, but gas would drip through it.

Probably overanalyzing, probably no rust in there at all.

But what would a new gas tank cost, if they say I need a new tank? I saw one at carparts.com for $107.

Do they still 'boil out' gas tanks anymore?

Thanks

 

This "shop" thing just doesn't compute for me. I'd say pull the sender, and look in the tank. The Harbor Freight Blue El Cheapo freebie LED light works well if you need some light to see. fold out he hangy hooker and hang it on the lock ring so you can see past it. Any rust or garbage will be at the bottom, where the gas settles and the pump picks up fuel. When you slosh the residual fuel around, if it looks like it has pepper floating in it, that's rust. Water and dish soap will remove the worst of things, but you still might get to do the Piggy Bank routine of holding the tank upside down and shaking to get the flakes out.

Contrary to popular belief, rust in a tank is going to be kept in the tank by the strainer. Little if any rust is ever going to make it to the external filter. Anything in the filter is going to be smaller than the strainer, or it's going to be from the fuel lines between the strainer and filter. Bottom line is it's not really that much of a problem.

 

Bonus Pic - Inside of a tank sitting from 2009 until 2017.




The inside of the tank is galvanized. The flakes are just where the galvanizing took a beating. After thoroughly cleaning this tank, it's good to go.

 

Drew,

Thanks for the info and great photo !

GTA88

 

Internal tank **** - Gotta love it.

I wonder how all the debris gets in the poly fuel tanks that I've pulled. Many vehicles have them, and still manage to accumulate silt.

 

My guess is it's junk that came in over the years in dirty gas from gas stations with no filters, or clogged filters that were allowing gas to bypass the filter.

Or else it's from some phenomenon that creates junk from years of gas fumes being contained inside a tank, reacting with air?