autonut Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 I pulled the fuel tank out of my Century to get it cleaned out a few months ago and now ready to put it back in. Trouble is I cannot see where the upper vent tube went to originally. I no longer see any rubber tubing to connect to it. Did it originally have anything connected to it or was it just left open at the tank?? I do not like to just leave it open because we have what we call mud-dabber bees here. They will find any hole like that and plug it up and lay eggs in it I guess. The automatic transmission in my Jeep Grand Wagoneer would throw fluid out of the filler tube so I couldn't go on a trip with it. I took it to a repair shop and it cost me almost $2000.00 and it still had the same problem. Took it to another mechanic and he checked the breather tube and it was all plugged up with mud. Should have went to him the first time. A 10 minute fix corrected the problem. Don't want this to happen with my Buick fuel vent. Do any of you have any suggestions. Help needed badly ASAP, since I am ready to install the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttotired Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 If its the same as my 58, there is a short piece of rubber fuel line attached to it and follows the actual fuel line up to the big cross member and just stops (nothing on the end) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Purchase a cheap universal air cleaner breather element, and then cut a piece of the mesh off and stuff it in the end of the vent tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1957buickjim Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 TtoTired is correct, there is only a rubber hose that should go from the tank and connect to the upper cross member above the tank on a clip. I agree with JohnD1956 regarding how to stop that. You could also use a cheap plastic fuel filter that fits the hose. The nipple end will fit the hose and the filter will keep the mad dauber wasps out of it. It may only impact you if you fill up at a fast-fill fuel station. The vent tube is to vent the tank to allow the air to escape at the same velocity as the fuel going in. If it can't escape as as fast, it will cause the fuel filler handle to shut off because of fuel back up, and may cause splash from the fill neck. If you do add the filter, make sure you fill the tank slower than normal. By doing that you shouldn't have any fill issues. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autonut Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 Okay thanks for the reply. This had me rather confused, since I couldn't find a rubber hose to connect to the breather tube. Someone previously may have had the tank removed and did not bother to hook the vent back up and perhaps removed the rubber tube completely. Most tanks I have seen, run this breather tube back to a hole in the filler tube. In this way the breather will get good air when the filler cap is removed and yet will supply a limited amount of air for regular fuel use. This works out quite well. To just leave the breather vent just open to the elements doesn't seem like a good idea to me, since bugs can crawl in and dust etc can be sucked in as you go down the road. I plan on adding a piece of rubber tubing and attaching above with a strainer of some kind which this auto apparently did not have. You answered my question and I thank you for solving this mystery. Although when I think about it even without the breather tube, doesn't the fuel tank cap allow some air into the tank? It is a vented cap is it not? More I think about it however, wondering if you really need the vent tube opening since when filling you would get plenty of air through the filler tube. Of course only if you did not have a vented cap, would the vent tube perhaps come into play. Any comments regarding whether the vent tube could be closed off as long as a vented fuel tank cap is used? Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttotired Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 I am quite sure (which means I dont know) that the fuel cap will not be vented because the filler neck is low mounted and points out to the rear, if it was vented, it would allow fuel to leak out every time you accelerated away. The vent tube on the tank will most likely (again, means I dont know) be a metal tube and go up to the filler neck and join in there. It is done this way for above reason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buick5563 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Yes, the caps are vented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autonut Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Present caps are now vented, and have been so since the 1980's. Before that, they were not. Yes you can purchase a vented cap for the '57 Buick. I have one installed and it works fine. The thing about a vented cap however is that it only vents one way, and the is in the direction of outside air to inside the tank. It shuts off the other way and acts like a shut-off valve. Thus with a vented cap you cannot safely seal off the original vent tube because pressure will then build up in the tank. Thus you must leave the original vent tube open and some kind of filter is prudent to use to prevent unwanted guests to crawl into the tank etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buick5563 Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Gotta disagree, Autonut: http://www.tanksinc.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/category_id=160/mode=cat/cat160.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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