Confirmed: Bleach in my gas tank

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454muscle

Royal Smart Person
Jan 31, 2010
1,242
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Ontario, Canada eh!
NEW MOTOR: RUNS ROUGH

After the engine (brand new 555 crate motor) ran rough while the car was being finished, it wouldn't start at all back in June (this year). My mechanic finally realized the fuel injectors were clogged, took 'em out, and found a really FINE dust collected on/around them. Fuel filters were totally clean though. Weird. We cleaned them up and soaked 'em in cleaner for two days, because there isn't anyone around here that has the fuel injector cleaning tools. Put them back in the car and she fired up, albeit, it seemed to run rough to me. My mechanic says it's the "nature of the beast" -- still, I had doubts.

FUEL TEST RESULTS

Meanwhile, we sent a sample of the fuel to the local university for testing. Results came back showing aliminum oxide and traces of bleach.

Now, this was my first indication of bleach sabotage. It could have only been 3 people, all of whom I had hired to work on the car. But I doubted it was that. "Trace" amount of bleach -- perhaps it was from the lining of the new gas tank? I dunno.

NEW PROBLEM -- FAULTY DISTRIBUTOR

Nevertheless, I put in some seafoam in hopes to clean whatever crap was in the fuel. Ran the car for 45 minutes, then she died, this was in July. Turns out, this time, the problem was the distributor. It needed a replacement "proprietary" part that Mallory makes specifically for this engine, a part you can't buy anywhere but Edelbrock, so I sent the distributor back to Edelbrock for warrantee repair -- they repaired it and sent it back (without any word as to the root of the problem -- all they said was it's "fixed").

Once again, she fired right up and ran, but again, throttle response should not be with so much hesitation, especially in a new motor. WTF. Took out the fuel injectors and found that fine dust on them again. One of them wasn't firing at all. We were running on 7 cylinders.

THE INJECTORS GET CLEANED PROPERLY

This time, we found a place called Rovan Deisel in Mississauga, who has the fuel-injector cleaning/testing machine! Sent them out to get cleaned and tested and THIS TIME (after a $400 bill) at least I know they are all flowing within 1%.

Put them back on the car yesterday and she ran like a champ! Crisp throttle response for the first time ever! Turned on the insurance and began to drive her out to get the alignment done (remember, I haven't driven the beast yet). Before I got out of the lot, the fuel pressure started to drop. Lost all power, couldn't even make it up a small incline.

Seeing as I used up all my CAA tows for the year, I had to pay $112 for a flatbed to tow the car back to my mechanic's.

MORE GUNK FOUND -- TANK, PICKUP ASSY, FUEL PUMP

Dropped the tank emptied it. Found yellow discolored fuel and a piece of metal (like a flat metal clip) in there, rusted to sh*t. 1. How'd this clip get in there? It wouldn't fit through the gas filler neck!
2. The rust indicates heavy oxidation, from the chlorine in BLEACH.

Removed fuel pick up assembly and tested it and found why it never worked (fuel gauge always showed empty) -- it too was dirty.

Removed the fuel pump and upon disassembly, found corroded interior parts, lots of rust, and tons of this gunk inside there too. This is the Edelbrock 1790, it pushes 50PSI of fuel pressure (needed to run the engine). Sourcing a new one and my choices were

Performance Improvements - overnight - $1000
Summit - $385 + shipping + duties + taxes etc... over $500
Jegs - in stock -- $480 shipped, it'll be here by Friday

BLEACH CONFIRMED

At this point it's safe to conclude that bleach was, in fact, poured into my new gas tank. And I know who it was now. Sad part is he'd never admit to it. It's cost me months of headache, lost time/sleep, hours of labour repair/diagnosis time and a bunch of new parts. Yesterday alone I put the new fuel pump, tow bill, and fuel injector cleaning bill on my Visa for a total of $1000+. I ****ing worked SO HARD to pay off my visa and it took me ****ING MONTHS to get it down, only to have it go back up like this.

At this point in life, as angry as I am, I'm not upto revenge and crap. I'm leaving it in God's hands because He knows my hands are wiped clean.
 

pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
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Kitchener, Ontario
I'm wondering since you found bleach in the fuel why you didn't drop the tank then before you ran it. Since you did run it with the bleach the engine needs a major overhaul or it'll probably seize up on you in the near future
 

454muscle

Royal Smart Person
Jan 31, 2010
1,242
15
0
Ontario, Canada eh!
At that point, the tank was near empty. Also, money was an issue. I know, I know... why risk a greater expense in the future.

Well it turns out, the smallest point in fuel travel are the 8 injectors, which just clogged up. The grime, it turns out, is from the lining of the fuel rails (it's the only item made with alimunim, hence the aluminum oxide). Since the injectors clogged, little or no crap got into the engine itself (small enough to burn or expel in the exhaust). The bleach was diluted and any engine damage (from what I researched) is from rust particles getting in there -- which I don't think did.

Would have been a different case if I had the carburated version of this engine. If I did, I might have been looking for a gun right now.
 

pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
20,391
113
Kitchener, Ontario
"Ran the car for 45 minutes, "

"Found yellow discolored fuel and a piece of metal (like a flat metal clip) in there, rusted to sh*t.....The rust indicates heavy oxidation"


what do you think the inside of the engine looks like?
 

454muscle

Royal Smart Person
Jan 31, 2010
1,242
15
0
Ontario, Canada eh!
Well I shouldnt' have said "discolored", it actually may been the premium that we just dumped $20 of premium gas in there (when the fuel pump was dying, first we thought it was out of gas).

The inside of the gas tank doesn't seem affected -- still clean. The clip we found in there was the only thing rusted -- I dunno how it got there, it could have only gotten in there from the manufacturer is all I can conclude.

Didn't get a photo, but here's a drawing:
2mgjng1.png
 

Conan-64

Apprentice
Jun 3, 2010
90
0
0
Southeastern PA.
your a better person then me. thats for sure. i would be looking for heads to roll if i had a solid idea of who did it> :evil:
 

84GP455

G-Body Guru
Jun 19, 2007
779
95
28
Methuen Ma.
My pain goes out to you bro! I can't stand jealous people! That's what it comes down to is that this ******* is jealous of your car and he could never have something as nice as yours so he decided to wreck it out of jealousy. I get jealous people all the time with my car, they either shoot you dirty looks or they want to race you for no reason! It really pisses me off because when i see a nice car i give the guy a compliment or a thumbs up or something i just don't stare at them enviously. Well my hats off to you bro! You are doing the right thing leaving it in God's hands because we both know that he will get his in the near future.
Keep up the faith!
 

Oldsmoletick

Royal Smart Person
Sep 18, 2009
1,581
10
38
cny
I applaud you on not practicing your slapshot on the jackass...
 

crash

Master Mechanic
Feb 14, 2010
251
0
16
Sanford, Michigan
I would be pissed and heads would be rolling, not a second thought in my mind about that. I have ZERO tolerance for people when it comes to my cars.
 

monte olrac

G-Body Guru
Feb 11, 2009
926
104
43
Wichita damn Falls Tx.
after all that, you could have paid me with a case of King Cobra and a extra value meal and I would slap the teeth out of that fool for you, Repeatily!
 
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