Took the Vette out the other night.. Its been maybe 5 months or so since I've had it out. Started out running fine. After we parked to eat dinner it was slow to start, then died. Think I almost flooded it., but got it started.. seemed though like it was not getting enough gas..Fuel pump is newer so I dont think its the pump. I've always used the gas additive becuase I know I dont drive it enough, but I kind of stumped.. any thought?

 

Lots of people in Florida seem to have water problems since the change to ethanol, especially when using gas from stations that have just changed.
Adding water dispersing additives (alcohol) hurts more than it helps.

Syphon the gas tank completely, check for water or cloudy mix. Pay a little more and get brand name gas and keep the tank full.
This will eliminate the water aspect anyway.

Sent you a PM.

 

Noonie is right, and I dunno what is around his area a few hundred miles south of me, but in the Jax/NE region, I have had my share of troubles in the dzn years I been here....

about 3 years ago I drained out about a gallon of water/sludge from the tank bottom...it had been plaguing me for a LONG time....mostly noticed in the idle quality...

cleaning the tank cured about 60% of the problem, another 20% by changing the injectors.....then replacing the hoses finally fixed the thing....

I think it was a compound problem but that damn gallon of water/sludge in the tank bottom was cause for a LOT of it, for sure...maybe the base cause for ALL of it...

 

that sucks

 

You're gonna have him drain his gas tank and it might just be a stuck float.

What do you think gas drier is. Ethanol.....HELLO?

The rest of the world uses E10 without any problems. Why does every vette owner that lives in Florida think it's voodo?

I'd run some carb or fuel injector cleaner in the current tank of gas and give it a little time.

Or you could start a frame off because the car stalled once.

 

Probably gas pumped in from (flooded) Louisiana....

Check fuel filter first. If no gunk in it, your problem isn't the gas. Probably stuck float, collapsed flexible fuel line, or an ignition (timing) problem. If you have gunk in the filter, there's no alternative but to drain the 'dregs' out of your tank, flush the line, and probably purge the induction components.

 

Just a few points to consider before concluding that water is the issue.

How long a ride before you stopped for dinner?
Five months ago; did you have any problems with the starter operation after engine operating?
When was the last tune-up?
Where was the car stored for the past five months?

Possibilities could include:
May not have had a full battery charge when shut-down for dinner.
May have starter issues with hot engine starting.
May require carb and/or timing adjustments.
If gas tank filler cap not sealed properly may have taken on water, or storage condition may have encouraged condensation issues.

 

One thing I did forget to mention to the OP, is that he should change his fuel filter if and when he drains the tank.

 

Draining the tank at this point seems awfully drastic without first checking a few other things, like the fuel filter.

Sounds to me like he flooded it and fouled a couple plugs.

 

For water you can use a hose and tube start a siphon and vacuum "just" the bottom of the tank. I do it every time I tune a vette , takes less than 2 min.

 

I don't know, maybe it is my reading comprehension deficiency again, but based on the original post, I couldn't figure out where to grab a hold of this one. The OP says he "almost flooded it", and also said "it seemed like it was not getting enough gas", on the surface, these seem to be contradictory. I also am not familiar with Scudd, so I don't know what year car he has, or if he has a carb or FI, if carb, what kind etc. Was the tank full during the 5 month storage? How long had the gas been around before the storage? All kinds of stuff that might lead down a road.

All that said, if it was my car (so this may or may not be applicable), the first thing I would check is the float/needle/seat in the carb bowl. When I had that all cleaned out and sure that it was working right, I would probably spend the $5 on a new fuel filter, check a few spark plugs for fouling and give her another run. If all is good, then all is good. If I am still having problems, I would look at the fuel.

 

It's very easy to look in the tank with a flashlight. You'll be able to see if there's water in there.

 

NO, you can NOT tell that, even on my '72 with the huge open filler diameter/hole.....

I even tested in 3 clear bottles, 3 different gasolines from nearby, let them set for about 2 months looking for water/ethanol/whatEVER separation to the bottom of the bottle....nothing, one thing I did note was 3 distinct different colors to the gas....kinda like urine it varies....

that ~gallon of crap I got outta my tank bottom was looking like thin coffee with cream in it....about the same as the gasoline, but I can assure you it was water/gas, not gas....the smell of it was like really ROTTEN too,

funny thing is, I got a honey doo project here now, a old Chebby van 30 camper, like FORTY years old....and have dropped the olde GM OEM tank for cleaning and repair, going to do the aftermarket aux tank too....same thing, rust and water, gotta go...

 

I have done it on my '69, so you're doing something wrong.

 

When you have a gallon of it, spread out all over the tank bottom, it's pretty hard to tell, if you have just a clear bubble of water, maybe you can....the crap I had was in there for a while too,

funny thing is, I took a glass full of it and set it out overnight to see if it would separate out again.....by morning the glass level was down quite a bit, as it was nearly full that afternoon so the gas evaporated, leaving a even higher concentration of .....whatever'......

thing that stood out for ME, was the consistancy of the fluid, no bubbles, like I said looked like watered down coffee with cream in it....

at any rate, I got a locking gas cap now....

 

Siphoning the bottom of the tank won't do any harm for sure, but it may not help either. It's hard to say what his problem is, but some simple fuel system diagnostics would clear it up. The engine is either getting too much fuel, or it's not getting enough. Can't be both, as PKguitar pointed out. If this engine has a carb, simply lifting the air cleaner lid would tell the tail. Of course, this assumes it is fuel related and focusing on contaminated fuel as the issue. Who knows?

Some finer points on the chemistry, though. Ethanol and methanol are molecularly different. Both ethanol and the variations of methanol are fully miscible with water. Both ethanol and methanol are also miscible with gasoline. Water is not at all miscible with gasoline so no matter how much you shake it up, the water will reform and settle to the bottom of the container. Water is also not miscible with a gasoline/ethanol mix. It has to do with the electrons of the atoms of the various molecules pursuing their most favorable company and gasoline and ethanol are quite comforable with each other, while having a low tolerance for the water. Methanol (the alcohol used in gas line dryer) is, however, happy in the company of both the water and gasoline (up to a saturation point) and keeps all three in good company. So, while the alcohols are hygroscopic, their behaviors in gasoline were you have some water contamination, is different. Bottom line: gas line dryer is primarily methanol.

 

Every Corvette owner should have this $5 setup and use it on a regular basis to keep water out of the bottom of your tank. I also use this to drain down a radiator to whatever level needed depending on the repair.

 

at Loews Depot, I buy a gallon of 'denatured alky'.....what IS IT??

ethanol or Methanol?? and should it burn/combine with gasoline??

 

For gas line dryer I always look for the Skull & Crossbones.

 

remember all that rust in old tanks? where do you think that comes from?