In the last few months I've managed to clog 2 fuel filters... somehow. I'm on #3. All from Wix (O'reilly). One of the previous ones was cut open and there was nothing obvious in side it - no sediment or chunks (Old thread)

I'm thinking about yanking out the pump assembly, draining the tank and checking it out. Anything I should be looking for in particular? I'm not sure what I could possibly find that would make it thru the strainer and pump screen but clog the filter and not leave any evidence behind.

Any better ideas?

Also, last time I was in there I noticed that the fuel tray/baffle (?) had become detached from the bottom of the tank. Does anyone know how to reattach it - glue/epoxy? Now I can't take sharp corners without stalling the engine under 1/2 tank or so.

Thanks!

Just a stab in the dark but...could something "lining" the inside of the fuel line be causing the clog? Perhaps small rust/metallic/other material particles are coming detached from the inside of the lines...

Not sure how you reattach the fuel baffle, that's a good question -- though I wouldn't have thought it made much of a difference!

When you remove the pump check for sediment on the screen or crud. Remove pump slowly in case it does have junk on the screen it won't fall off the screen. Straight forward removal and install. Be sure to check return line to see if its pinched or clogged. Hope this helps
The baffle reattachment sounds like a tank removal project. Check the price of a new tank vs repairing the baffle, you might be surprised.

Just to add to the story...

The engine goes from running great to dead almost immediately. The last time it died I was in the final slalom of my 3rd ever lap at an autocross (50mi from home) and I had to be pushed off the course. The next day I changed the filter and she fired right up. Similar story the previous time except it involved a tow truck.

This is also the 3rd pump so the wiring has been redone and is peachy as well as new strainers on the pump. Nothing on the pump assembly looks amiss - nice and clean.

If there is no reasonably easy way to fix the baffle tray then I'll remove it and go without. I'm not pulling the tank for that - too much work for too little gain.

The car is running fine at the moment but I'd like to be sure I'm not going to be stranded somewhere with this same problem again. I'd rather it be a different problem

Thanks!

On the GM filters Ive cut open they looked fine when they wear wet with fuel but once they dried out they all had a fine lite brown powder on them and it wasn't coming from my tank its rust and dirt free.
So its coming from the gas station tanks the trucks and the refinery maybe your pump is a little weak with a new filter no restriction it works good but with a little restriction it falls on its face.
Did your car do the same thing with all three pumps or only this last one.
I'm running one of these GM efi filters on a efi 460 i have and it plugs up fast on that thing i made the mistake of buying a fram that filter came apart inside and killed my engine instantly I'm thinking of going to a bigger filter on the ford.
You might be able to pop rivet the baffle on with stainless rivets use an air drill please.

It's happened with different pumps - each a different brand but still POS auto store pumps. The next one will be a Walbro from Racetronix - slightly more $ for a better package.

Also, each time I changed the filters I was easily able to blow through them. I didn't notice anything come out nor was the gas an odd color.

I remember reading on another forum a guy had a similar problem i believe he changed out the hole pump neck and it fixed his problem but i cant remember what had failed on the neck.
It might have bean the wires going to the pump.
Have you changed the relay.

In-tank wiring is new.

I haven't changed the relay although I suppose I could swap it with one of the others but there is no way to test if that solved anything.

Well, I drained the tank and cleaned it out. There was a little sediment in the tank but not very much. No big rust flakes or blobs of anything. The interior is in very good shape. If I had to guess I'd say maybe 1/8 teaspoon of stuff - probably less. Everything is cleaned out and put back together.

I'm wondering if I got one bad tank of gas and the three filters grabbed most of the debris and only a small amount was left.

I also tried using gas tank repair epoxy to glue the plastic tray back in but the epoxy had very little adhesive quality to it and it set up so fast that I couldn't really work with it. I pulled the tray out and will go with out - just have to remember to keep the tank full-ish for the next autocross.

Hopefully this is the end of this battle and I can move on to the next one.

Thanks!

Dale - you might want to check the condition of the rubber fuel hoses coming from the tank - that might be the culprit, too.

Matthew

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Can't see anything....can blow thru them easily..

So why do you think they were plugged??????

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Because the car would not start/run until I changed it. Plugged may not be the right word but there was definitely something wrong with the filter.