Jim6390

Bad Fuel--Access to the Fuel Tanks in a 2007 Z06
I am new to the forum and have recently purchased a 2007 Z06 Corvette.

I had the unfortunate experience to pick-up a contaminated load of fuel that contained water, oil, and diesel. I know this because I took a two quart sample of fuel from the car, placed it in a clean Pyrex glass casserole dish, and evaporated the fuel with a low speed fan and examined what remained.

I drained the tank(s) of fuel via the in-tank fuel pump by simply bypassing the fuel pump relay with a wire jumper. I was careful not to let the fuel pump displace air. I then followed a methodology of filling the tank with 6 gallons of fuel and then driving the car in a zigzag fashion to attempt to “slosh” and dissolve the remaining contaminates.

I did this three times, and drained the remaining fuel between each time. I also added each time 6 ounces of anhydrous isopropyl alcohol to pick-up into solution any un-dissolved water.

On the fourth time through the above process I drove to a gas station and filled up with 100 octane (Rockett 100 is at the pump here in Las Vegas) and have since run four full tanks through the car. I noticed that I still had some detonation in the engine when I aggressively accelerated in first and second gear. No engine light has appeared since I flushed the tanks. I checked Fuel Pressure and it was dead-nuts on sixty P.S.I.

After four full tanks of fuel I pulled another fuel sample like before and evaporated the fuel. There was about two to three milliliters of thick oil. I then went to the same gas station as before with the car and bought a half gallon of gas in a container. As with the other sample, I evaporated it. Nothing appeared in the way of oil residue after evaporation. So this cleared the gas station of any suspicion of having any contaminated fuel.

The results above strongly suggest that I need to get into the fuel tanks and carefully clean them (if possible) for the following reasons:

1. Engine detonation is one of the most destructive forces that can act on engine moving parts, and its damaging effects are cumulative.

2. If the fuel filter is located in the fuel tank(s) it probably needs to be replaced because of the large amount of initial contaminates.

3. There may be a large amount of foreign material (particulate matter) still present in the tank.

I presume there must be an access port in the fuel tank of some nature to facilitate the replacement of the in-tank fuel pump(s) and the fuel filter(s), if indeed a fuel filter exists inside the fuel tank.

Questions:

Can anybody tell me where and how to access the fuel tanks and whether or not the access opening is large enough to get inside with a lint free rag to clean and remove any residue?

I think the access to the fuel tanks is under the back hatch compartment plastic flooring???

I would appreciate any comments from those that have first-hand knowledge regarding replacement of fuel pumps, fuel filters, and or directly cleaning fuel tanks on the 2007 Z06 or like kind Corvette fuel tank systems.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions or comments.

Larry T

jim6390...wow...never seen this before. Cutting to the chase...I recently had all the rear area carpet, etc. out of my 2006 Z06 and I can say this; there is no tank access that I saw from behind the seats rearward. Your chassis and mine are the same so that may help limit your search for tank access. I know that some here on the forum have maintenance books that may help. Good luck...PS...where is there a Rocket 100 in Vegas? I'll be there next week and wanted to try it...

MachAll 2005

Not a pretty sight getting to the tanks to do what you want to do...requires dropping the entire rearend/suspension/exhaust/etc.

See:
http://cfupload.stevesdomain.net/images/f3406bcd4e.jpg

Jim6390

To: Larry T and MachAll 2005

Thanks for your reply. Bad news regarding the fact there is no convenient access to fuel tanks from the top side hatch area.

Thanks to MachAll 2005 and his link it answered the question regarding access to the fuel tanks once they are exposed. Perhaps someone may reply to my posting that had to change a fuel pump and I can get the low down on the RR procedure. I might add that this link also explains why my cleaning method of using only six gallons to clean the tanks only really cleaned one tank and not the other—the six gallons never got through to the other tank via the equalizing tube. It also suggests that it is not a good idea to mix fuels in the tank because of their isolation from one another.

As you requested, here is a link ( http://www.rebeloil.com/lasvegas.html ) to all the Rebel gas stations in the Las Vegas area with their address’s. I patronize the Rebel #88 station. See link for address. I know that some Rebel station don’t carry the Rockett 100 fuel. You might want to call around once you get to Las Vegas to find a station close to where you will be staying that carries the fuel.

Also here is a link (http://www.rockettbrand.com/index.html ) to the Rockett Fuel Company. They use to be the 76 race gas people. As far as I can tell they make a quality fuel. It sure added a kick in the pants to my Z06 over the 91 octane fuel.

davidfarmer

drop the drivetrain, and you can get right to the pickups, pumps, and crossovers. The early C5 setup was not as safe, but much easier to service.