gas tank & sump tank contamination

Well, it seems I was not far off on yesterdays blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/10/fuel-tank-inspection-and-filter.html

Today, I did made an attempt to look into the fuel system, mainly inspection of the fuel hoses, the sump tank and it's filter. Again I had to drain the main tank - just as per older blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/eureka-fuel-gauge-repair.html

Then I had to drain the last bit via the sump tank. I was surprised how much still got out of it. Clearly the main tank was not completely drained, I reckon another 10 liter came out. I was hoping the sump tank could easily be removed by taking out the battery and the battery holder. Turns out the battery holder/bracket was nasty bolted and not accessible due to the sump tank. After dismantling all the various fuel hoses I noticed the sump tank could be removed fairly easy nevertheless. It's just the location in the boot and the body manouvres you have to make (yes, I'm getting old).

Previously I did mention the fuel pump might have been replaced in the past but maybe I was wrong. My guess was just based on an extra clamp being lose on the hose (typical). Oh well. It seems to be an Original Lucas in any case. It looks like it hasn't been touched recently though, it had the Original mounting clamps, isolation foam rings and glue on it.

I'm not sure who designed the fuel hose setup but it's a bit messy. All fuel hoses looked to be in a pretty good state though.

Now all was drained and all hoses were disconnected I could remove the actual fuel pipe with the filter and the sump tank. And it was worse then I expected. Seeing the state of the filter and a first glimpse in the sump tank shocked me.

So I guess my assumption was pretty close. It was heavily contaminated. Time to remove the sump tank and empty the remains in a bowl.

Also the sumptank pipe going to main tank seems a little dirty

And here the sump tank emptied in a bowl. Yes, the bowl is suppose to be entirely orange, that's how much dirt was in it when all particles sank to the bottom.

When things were a little dried up I also hit the filter and the fuel pipe a little, this is what came out of it. Yikes!

It's almost surprising the car did run that well. But as said, all this dirt must have clogged up the filter. And after a longer time of driving it sucked up all the other flowing dirt and blocking the fuel intake and shutting down the car. The previous owner must have been really Lucky to have been capable to run 2500 km. I also suspect a lot of this dirt losened up when he used the car over the past year since prior to this the car was hardly driven at all.

Another shot inside the sump tank:

So clearly there is more cleaning to be done. Apart from the new filters which I have already ordered I think I'm also going to order a new fuel pump. And of course I have to do a bit of cleaning of the main and sump tank. Coming two weekends I'm occupied with other things so it will take a while before I can update on this matter.

Update 9-10-2016: Today the sump tank has been standing in the sun. When emptying it the following pile came out. Amazing, I thought I already had removed a bit yesterday, didn't expect this much to come out of it. Tomorrow I will buy some fuel system cleaner, likely Forte and will do further rinsing and soaking to get the remaining sticky coating out of it.