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Pulp-like substance in fuel line


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I received a call from a gentleman who purchased one of our team boats a few years back. It's a 2003 Response LX. He's had it back to the dealership several times. I guess even Malibu has analyzed it. He'll put in new injectors, filters, etc, and it'll run fine for 4 hours, then act fuel-starved again. There seems to be some pulp-like substance in the fuel filter. It's not carpet fibers. It seems like something got into the tank at production. Anyone ever deal with something like this? They've tried everything short of replacing the fuel tank...

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that's weird...seems like it would have acted up on you while the team used it all those hours if it was originally in the fuel tank. Can't the dealer just pull the tank and clean it out once and for all?

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that's weird...seems like it would have acted up on you while the team used it all those hours if it was originally in the fuel tank.  Can't the dealer just pull the tank and clean it out once and for all?

Bingo! That's what I'd do at this point.

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That was my recommendation as well... I'd take the tank out and flush it thoroughly. How hard is it to get the tank out of an RLX? Going from memory, it shouldn't be too difficult. It's right under the trunk, correct?

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I wouldn't do anything myself in this case. I wouldn't want my shop vac sucking up gas and fumes, nor want anything electrical anywhere near it. Let the dealer pull it and flush it. Just my 2¢...

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received a call from a gentleman who purchased one of our team boats a few years back

Are you friends with this person or did they just call you out of the blue? Is it just me or does it sound strange calling the previous owner with questions years down the road? Dontknow.gif

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received a call from a gentleman who purchased one of our team boats a few years back

Are you friends with this person or did they just call you out of the blue? Is it just me or does it sound strange calling the previous owner with questions years down the road? Dontknow.gif

Perhaps. I get calls on our old boats pretty often though.

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received a call from a gentleman who purchased one of our team boats a few years back

Are you friends with this person or did they just call you out of the blue? Is it just me or does it sound strange calling the previous owner with questions years down the road? Dontknow.gif

Perhaps. I get calls on our old boats pretty often though.

huh...I have never had that happen, thats why I was wondering.

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I wonder if you could drain it down and remove the fuel pump and sending unit to stick a vac hose in there to suck any garbage out...

Blowup.gif

My thoughts exactly, vacuums create static. I suppose you could flush it in place, but you stand the chance of making a huge mess/mistake. For what's involved vs. the fact that it continues happening, the tank should be pulled & thoroughly cleaned & flushed. If he let it sit for a while & let the gas go bad, it could just be shlack (sp?) that has built up. If that's happened, then the tank may just need to be replaced - that stuff is hard to get cleaned out completely.

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some one could have put saw dust in there. I would have to agree with other about removing the tank.

Myth busters did a show were they tried to make a vac become a flame thrower. I didn't work on newer vacs but did on older models. I still wouldn't do it.

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I wouldn't want my shop vac sucking up gas and fumes, nor want anything electrical anywhere near it.

Stupid.gif

Some neighbors of ours a few years back burned their house to the ground doing this. They were repairing the hull of a smaller boat in their garage. They flipped it over to do the work, only to realize there was still fuel in the tank. It poured out onto their garage floor, so they tried to clean it up using the shop vac. :Doh:

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I wouldn't want my shop vac sucking up gas and fumes, nor want anything electrical anywhere near it.

Stupid.gif

Some neighbors of ours a few years back burned their house to the ground doing this. They were repairing the hull of a smaller boat in their garage. They flipped it over to do the work, only to realize there was still fuel in the tank. It poured out onto their garage floor, so they tried to clean it up using the shop vac. :Doh:

You can't be serious. :Doh:

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You can't be serious.  :Doh:

Absolutely serious. (If you would have stuck a 'Surely' in front of that, I could have used one of my all-time favorite movie lines! :) ) Couldn't believe anyone would actually do that.

We were out on the lake that day, and over the treeline we see thick black smoke billowing up into the sky. Kept seeing fire department water trucks racing back and forth on the main road that runs by the lake. Turns out that since we don't have fire hydrants in the neighborhood (rural setting), that is how they kept a water supply for the pumper trucks. Well that, and pumping the family's pool dry.

In the end, they couldn't get enough water fast enough, and the house literally burned to the ground. Got so hot it melted the vinyl siding on the houses either side of theirs. Fortunately, nobody got hurt. That would have been tragic.

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As stupid as it sounds, all it takes is a momentary loss of judgment.

A friend of mine almost burned his house down removing his gas tank from his mortor cycle. He was in his garage in the winter with a kerosense heater running. He got the tank off and all the gas went on the floor and poof. He's lucky he got out. His garage, his bike and cars and part of his house went up fast.

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