Draining Gas

[purg3d]

Got enough spare fuel line? Attach it to the line at the fuel sender and run it to a low point. Siphoning takes so long, just jack the rear end up and throw a couple clean 5 gallon buckets under there!

[Banana Bonanza]

The aftermarket gas tank I put on my '89 Festiva DOES NOT have a drain plug. The original did. So your tank may or may not have a plug.

IF your tank has a plug, the piece that the plug screws into is probably soldered to the tank. Put too much force in removing plug and this may just tear away from the tank. In other words go easy when removing the plug.

[sc72]

How do you fit 10 gallons, into an 8 gallon tank?

Well i must have missed something along the way, from our 90LX to our 93 GL, they are all ten gallon tanks.

[TheresGabe]

Well i must have missed something along the way, from our 90LX to our 93 GL, they are all ten gallon tanks.

I'm on Festiva #5 and have drained tanks and I've NEVER got more than the 8.3 gallons that the books says it should hold in it...

[georgeb]

Got a few gallons out today by jamming a hose into a plastic siphon pump. The other end was attached to the inline filter. A few squeezes and it will pull it out by itself. Except it stopped and I couldn't get it to work again. I think it was sucking air around the hose that was jammed into the tube. I might try sealing it with the finger of a latex glove or something similar tomorrow.

[Bert]

That's a lot of fussing around you're doing. I have 1 1/2 year old ordinary gas in the tank of my spare Festy and it still starts and runs fine. For peace of mind I do pour in some fuel stabilizer every now and again. I bought an LX parts car quite a few years ago and it had been sitting for at least 2 years. When I jumped the long dead battery it fired right up! My pickup truck has a carb and I don't like leaving it out for the winter with gas in the float bowl so I installed an in-line fuel shut off. Last run of the season I turn off the valve and wait for the engine to die on it's own. That ruse has served me well for the past 7 years.

[georgeb]

Day three of smelling like gas: I figured out why the gas stopped flowing into the siphon pump. It wasn't because I lost my seal; It was because I lost my gravity. The top of the supply must be higher than the end of the drain hose. I put a scissors jack on each side of the rear and raised it 3-4 inches and was able to get about 6 more gallons out before running out of containers. This sounds like a lot of hassle but I want a controlled drain plus I don't want to disturb the tank drain that hasn't been touched in 20-something years.

[denguy]

I would be sure to ground the container and everything else in case of any static electricity buildup, but that's just me.

[Bert]

Day three of smelling like gas: I figured out why the gas stopped flowing into the siphon pump. It wasn't because I lost my seal; It was because I lost my gravity. The top of the supply must be higher than the end of the drain hose. I put a scissors jack on each side of the rear and raised it 3-4 inches and was able to get about 6 more gallons out before running out of containers. This sounds like a lot of hassle but I want a controlled drain plus I don't want to disturb the tank drain that hasn't been touched in 20-something years.

If you honest to god have a gas tank drain (never been used though) I'd say "go right straight for it". Beats playing with loose containers, hoses and WallyWorld pumps and/or mouth suction activities.

[deathegg]

....did you know that by 2025 (or thereabouts) average fuel economy of all vehicles in USA (and likely sub-servant Canada) is supposed to be the same as a Festy? A Hummer H1 with a 'mulch feature' Briggs & Stratton in it is all I can envision at the moment.

A little misleading IMO. It's the C.A.F.E. --Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Meaning the average MPG of an automakers entire lineup. We will still have muscle cars, Corvettes, bigger sedans, pickup trucks, etc, but only because the addition of hybrids, electric cars, diesels and other fuel efficient cars effectively raises the average. Obama makes it sound like ALL cars will meet that MPG figure, which is untrue.

[Movin]

If you honest to god have a gas tank drain (never been used though) I'd say "go right straight for it". Beats playing with loose containers, hoses and WallyWorld pumps and/or mouth suction activities.

I can almost agree with all that...

[scitzz]

I'd probably use the drain plug on the gas tank.

It goes in and out....

[Bert]

A little misleading IMO. It's the C.A.F.E. --Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Meaning the average MPG of an automakers entire lineup. We will still have muscle cars, Corvettes, bigger sedans, pickup trucks, etc, but only because the addition of hybrids, electric cars, diesels and other fuel efficient cars effectively raises the average. Obama makes it sound like ALL cars will meet that MPG figure, which is untrue.

I understand that. Festys were marketed by Ford mostly to counteract their gas guzzlers of 20 years ago. But to get 'fleet average fuel economy' to equal that of a 1700 lb Festy is gonna take some serious work. The 'new equivalent' of Festys are therefore going to have to get 75 mpg. Maybe they'll be nuclear powered and the OEM gas tank will be filled once and then sealed to last the life of the car.

[DriverOne]

Re: Draining Gas

Maybe they'll be nuclear powered and the OEM gas tank will be filled once and then sealed to last the life of the car.

There was an accident today, where a nu-power Fiesta was rear ended by a truck carrying fertilizer. A witness managed to get a picture of the damage.

[sc72]

LOL, Good one.