Cleaning a fuel sender?

[beerczar1976]

Guys.  Finally got around to dropping my fuel tank for cleaning.  I'll be using the POR-15 kit.  WIll also be replacing the original fuel line with a new one I ordered from Inline Tube.  Yes, it most likely will not be going back in one piece.  Wish it could have, but there's no way I'm lifting body off frame to put it on like they did at the factory.  It'd take some serious snaking to even try to get it up and over the frame and between the body.  Not going to happen.  Oh well.  Unfortunately snapped off a couple of the mounting clips.  Will do my best to find something that matches.  While doing an inspection of my tank, I found my fuel sender to look like the picture.  Anybody have luck with cleaning one back up?  I THINK it still works.  The arm moves pretty freely, but needs to be pushed back and forth, doesn't just swing.  Obviously will need a new float.  Also found the large spring shaped thing rolling around in the tank too.  I believe its one of those anti-siphoning do-hookies that's supposed to be inside the filler neck...

[Beemon]

The POR-15 kit works great, I actually just did this with my fuel tank today, just be ready for a workout. As for the fuel sending unit, I would replace it with a new one. Yours looks like mine, albeit a bit better, but it doesn't have the filter on the end of it and could get clogged like mine was. I picked one up off Ebay for about $60 and it came with a filter at the bottom of the pick up tube.

 

As for your spring issue, I can't really help you there. However, I pulled something similar out of mine:

Edited May 22, 2015 by Beemon (see edit history)

[beerczar1976]

Good to know. I'm planning on giving myself the good part of a day to do the cleaning. Did you do anything to block of the filler neck other than just taping the opening closed? I'm guessing it's okay if the cleaner and sealer goes up inside it. My tank sounds like its got a lot of loose rust in it. Can't really see it in there though. I believe there's a baffle in there some where that could be holding it. May try to shop vac it out if I can.

[Beemon]

I just taped it off with duct tape. I'm sure you could put your gas cap on, but then you would probably ruin the underside. Be prepared to spend the majority of your day working on cleaning and sealing the tank. I had drained the tank before hand with just spraying water through the fill neck and having it drain out of the drain plug on the bottom. Each part of the cleaning process takes a minimum of 20 minutes and you need to constantly slosh the mixtures around. If you have a rotisserie, then the job is fairly easy I'd imagine, but I sloshed mine by hand and was exhausted after the ordeal. You also can't let it sit between draining and filling it with the different chemicals or you risk the tank flash rusting and ruining the job. The longest part of the cleaning was the metal prep; you have to slosh it for at least 20 minutes, then soak the different sides for about 20 minutes with sloshing in between shifting sides for a max time of 2 hours. You'll also need a heat gun to evaporate all the moisture out of the tank after using the metal prep chemicals because the sealer won't work if the inside is damp. Overall I started my cleaning at 9 AM and was finished by 3 PM. My tank was out of a 1956 Buick and it didn't have any baffles, however, the tank was ribbed on the exterior. Good luck!

[old-tank]

Yep, I remember reading those instructions.  I was exhausted (just reading them).  I am all for doing it yourself, but not ready for dealing with possible failure after all that.  A better solution : http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=130/category_id=102/mode=prod/prd130.htm

 

Spend you time on something that is not available.

Willie

[Beemon]

That looks just like my tank but no one makes fuel tanks for 1956 that I've found. I would rather have bought a new one than go through that mess again.

[Guest lupocamino]

According your fuel sending unit:

I have disassembled my tank last winter and I have cleaned my sending unit carefully. Unfortunately after the reassembling I found out that the sender still didn't work correctly. I had to do the same procedure again after having bought a new sender.

After finishing the reinstallation of sender and tank everything worked perfectly. So my advice can only be to buy a new sending unit.

Costs about 70 $ but saves a lot of stress....

Good luck and success,

Wolfgang

[old-tank]

That looks just like my tank but no one makes fuel tanks for 1956 that I've found. I would rather have bought a new one than go through that mess again.

Right.  It says 41-54, but will work on 55 and I betcha it will work on 56 .  If you don't want to join the filler tube with hose and clamps, get a radiator shop to swap the whole thing.

And $39 for a sending unit...again, spend your time on making or repairing something made of 'unobtainium'.

Willie

[VickyBlue]

Willie is right. I have used POR15 twice and both times it lifted and I had to buy new tanks... 66 Karman Ghia and the 37... I did everything per instructions and sure enough, after 100 miles the damn thing started lifting and floating all over the tank... Guess what happened after that... I bought a brand new tank and sender from TanksInc for both the 56 and the 37. Couldn't be happier. The 56 was plug and play. I love POR15 but not for the insides of a tank. Never again. 

[buick man]

Use lacquer thinner to soak and clean the sender unit, rinse in kerosene to cut and clean the residue liquified by the lacquer thinner.

 

To eliminate putting a sender unit back in that does not work, simply bench test it as is detailed in the Buick Shop Manual using your multimeter set to ohms to verify.  At the same time you can test the dash gauge.  Test the wiring to and from the gauge to sender unit using the continuity setting on your multimeter.