Later fuel tank on early van, correct? +gunwash to clean pump?

[leecat]

Hi All - hoping to order a new fuel tank today and according to year (1984) I should have the early larger 68mm inlet, and that is what all the parts places list - however on taking it apart it all looks to me like the smaller, later fill tube/tank.

My fill tube itself is 40mm at the base, and plastic. Part # 251 201 129.

By the look of the fill tube grommet the opening is NOT big enough to have a larger-hole-to-smaller-fill-pipe replacement.

Therefore it must be an '85 and up 48mm hole tank? God knows the PO never did a lick of maintenance or upgrades, so this has to be the factory tank.

Many thanks if anyone can confirm this absolutely - shipping the wrong fuel tank would be very, very depressing. I almost ordered this morning before digging in there, might have been tragic. SEEMS obvious BUT I have been seriously bitten by the Vanagon 'seems obvious' bug in the past, thus I ask!

*EDIT* - no stock on later tanks, so I'm stuck ordering an earlier one and a GoWesty grommet to adapt. Are early tanks and later tanks identical in ALL regards except for the filler tube?

I think this is the definitive proof - couldn't get a tape in so I cut a guide. Were there instances of '84's having the later tank? I AM measuring the correct opening, right?

[SlowLane]

[leecat]

Thanks for the advice, Slowlane! Shopping around now!

Emptying my old tank into Jerry cans (does anyone still call them that?) resulted in so much caked black varnish in the bottom of each can that I had to use gunwash to remove it - no wonder my injectors are clogging regularly like nobody's business!

Hurts me to use premium fuel to burn weeds, but once it's been run through my current fuel tank (aka 'The Tar Pit') I wouldn't dare put it in anything with a motor.

Has anyone run gunwash/thinner through a fuel pump (not connected to the fuel rail or tank, of course, to clean varnish out? My fuel pump won't be pretty inside, I'm sure. But also don't want to destroy a relatively new pump. EDIT - Mr. Internet says Don't Do It!

[MarkWard]

The larger outlet tank is a nice upgrade. There’s another subtle difference in years you need to pay attention to. There are 2 different fuel level senders. Wiring is the same, but physically different. Not sure of the change year.

Edit: before you start the engine for the first time. Rather than connect the return line on the tank, cap that fitting and place the hose in one of your spare cans. Start the engine and fresh fuel will wash through the system and get most of the dirty fuel out.

If you are more anal, you can temporarily install an inline generic fuel filter between that hose and tank fitting and run it for a 1000 miles. That should catch any last particles in the fuel rails etc.
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[leecat]

Thank you for the tip on flushing via the return line, Mark - great idea and would hate to push garbage into the brand new tank, which is exactly what would happen, never would have thought of that!

And my tank is bad to the point of undriveable - keep having to clean injectors and flush the fuel rail out with paint thinner to clear the tar every 50 miles.

My sender still works - sticky and slow, but it works. I'll give her a scrubbing while she's out - hoping the sender isn't tank-specific; it's been my experience that if there's a 50% chance something will fit my van, there's a 100% chance it won't.

[SlowLane]

[colbysmith28]

thank you for posting this. I had asked the same question on a FB group the other day but after 6 hours of no activity i just deleted it, so what i understand now is that the wiring going to the sender is the same regardless of year.... i planned on ordering everything new and was trying to figure out if the wiring would cause issues

[erdonline]

I'd like to make one clarification about the differences in the tanks over the years. There are three variations, not two. The earliest have the larger fill hole and a 7 mm outlet. The next generation has the smaller fill hole that mates with the plastic filler but still has a 7mm outlet. It was only in the last few years of production that they changed to the 12 mm outlet hole, still with the smaller filler neck hole.

Ed
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'85 Vanagon Westfalia
'84 Vanagon 7-passenger
'98 Mexican air-cooled Beetle

[leecat]

Thank you for this update, Ed - not an hour ago I was baffled why I had a seemingly 'new' style small-inlet tank, yet a 7mm fuel outlet. Scraping the bottom of my tank through the sending unit hole comes up with a half-inch of black tar covering the entire bottom. Horrible. Was wondering why I only ever read 1/3 tank max too, no matter how much fuel was in it - it's because my sending unit was so fouled with fuel excrement that it was limited to 1/3 travel.

Is there a clip or anything that's supposed to be on the end of the float arm, or is the float held on simply by the shape of the tank?

And anyone want to buy a really cheap fuel tank? Anyone? Anyone??