Rubber pieces in fuel tank

[elizabethmeyer]

I have a buddy who's kid built an RV out of an old school bus (known as skoolies). Unfortunately he broke down within a few a few miles of his inaugural voyage. The shop found both fuel filters clogged but also stated that they found pieces of rubber in fuel tank. I've never heard of that. I know rubber deteriorates and I make it a habit of replacing all rubber lines on old cars that I have restored including an old 76 GMC Eleganza motorhome. Anybody ever hear of that? If true, what else has to be cleaned and flushed to get the fuel system clean and reliable?

I don't have the year or make of the bus but I can likely get it if important. 

 

Thanks Mark

[richard5933]

Tank can be pulled, flushed, and if needed coated.

No telling how the rubber got in there, but I'd suspect that it was from a fuel line that was in the tank. Maybe part of the pick-up system?

I once had a tank on a Yanmar tractor develop a problem when I was it was half full. The engine would suddenly starve for fuel and die when heading uphill on our driveway. Wait a few minutes and it would restart, only to stall again next time I went up a hill. In the end the tank was pulled, and the problem was found to be a mass of dead small spiders that was floating around inside the tank. Every time I went uphill at half tank it got sucked onto the intake.

My point - hard to tell specifically what caused the problem, especially with a vehicle that was once part of a motor pool and probably not given personal care & attention. Getting a tank flushed on a school bus should be pretty simple since the tank can be dropped out of the bottom.

[dickandlois]

Mark, The Fuel lines and some other items in the supply system where used before the introduction of Bio Diesel.

Bio brakes down the fuel lines, seals and the lift pump. the particles wind up in the fuel tank and filters.

The best fix is to replace all the fuel line with B-20 grade, the fuel return lines,the lift pump if it is older and a Cummins and any seals that have not been replaced in the supply and return system while the conversion was is progress.

Rich.

[kaypsmith]

This topic reminds me of a very old painful experience that I had about 58 years ago. I drove a truck, Ford F600 gasoline rig for a glazing company, they glazed bakery pans with silicone glaze to keep bread from sticking to the pans. We of course serviced bakeries and there was competition back then.

I was returning from a bakery that was 200 miles away with a load of dirty pans to be reglazed and about 100 miles from home base, the truck became ill. I replaced the fuel filter and found funny looking rubber in the filter and lines, cranked the truck and drove about 10 miles and it sputtered to a stop again, checked the fuel lines and they were plugged again. Had to tow the truck the rest of the way back to home base.

What had happened was a competitor removed the gas cap and dropped a golf ball into the tank, the gas dissolved the ball and the core of the ball is comprised of a ball that looks like a very long rubber band, this in turn clogged the fuel lines with rubber band type material. We had to replace the entire fuel line from the tank to the filter and steam clean the tank.

Sorry for the long recitation, bet as stated, old memories came back to play. Hope that the school bus isn't as big a mess as I had back then, and will not be quite as big a problem to clean up.

[jleamont]

4 hours ago, DickandLois said:

Mark, The Fuel lines and some other items in the supply system where used before the introduction of Bio Diesel.

Bio brakes down the fuel lines, seals and the lift pump. the particles wind up in the fuel tank and filters.

The best fix is to replace all the fuel line with B-20 grade, the fuel return lines,the lift pump if it is older and a Cummins and any seals that have not been replaced in the supply and return system while the conversion was is progress.

Rich.

This happened to me. I had deteriorated rubber that broke down, reminded me of chunky blackberry jelly with stainless steel chards in it. When I found it at the primary fuel filter check valve I knew I found the culprit.

At first it looked like algae, the metal and chunks in it were the clue.

Our coach fuel system was plumbed with Hydraulic hose from the factory. I replaced all of the fuel supply hoses with a much higher quality of hydraulic hose that was rated for bio diesel also.

[rayin]

On 8/30/2019 at 5:02 PM, DickandLois said:

Mark, The Fuel lines and some other items in the supply system where used before the introduction of Bio Diesel.

Bio brakes down the fuel lines, seals and the lift pump. the particles wind up in the fuel tank and filters.

The best fix is to replace all the fuel line with B-20 grade, the fuel return lines,the lift pump if it is older and a Cummins and any seals that have not been replaced in the supply and return system while the conversion was is progress.

Rich.

I have not experienced that with any of my diesel-powered engines, had a 1973 Case diesel tractor, and this MH running on today's diesel fuel ever since ULSD and biodiesel were commercially-available. The only problem I've had was with my '02 Duramax diesel engine, biodiesel reacted with the copper seals in the high-pressure fuel lines underneath the valve covers, GM replaced them under a TSB.

[dickandlois]

11 hours ago, RayIN said:

I have not experienced that with any of my diesel-powered engines, had a 1973 Case diesel tractor, and this MH running on today's diesel fuel ever since ULSD and biodiesel were commercially-available. The only problem I've had was with my '02 Duramax diesel engine, biodiesel reacted with the copper seals in the high-pressure fuel lines underneath the valve covers, GM replaced them under a TSB.

Ray,

You might have run into the use of neoprene fuel lines. A large portion of the lines on my coach where - are neoprene, but short sections where rubber in the supply side and the returns.

They where probably cheaper and held up better to the bio. For the generator supply that was not the case. Somewhat a mixed blessing.

Rich.    

[rayin]

As I said, the only problem I ever had was the copper gaskets in the Duramax engine. I discovered the leak when the crankcase was full of diesel fuel.