Thread: Dark brown sludge in old fuel filter

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Just to show prevetive maintenance does prob saved me a trip for another walbro pump my return line was completely cracked itself from the inside out i also took the time to get a new strainer that matched my oem z32 oem nissan ff

Strainer= clogged rectangular bag/filter look alike full of black debris attached to the pump.

18 years in the game? Dang!

I'm surprised you don't know a little more about these cars.. not trying to diss or nothing but I always see you making threads about silly stuff.

Fun fact for you guys. It wasn't an SR20 car but same principle... here goes..

1991 Mazda Protege LX *yes the DOHC 1.8 engine line in the Miata (or escort GT of the same era)

Anyway, the car was sitting in a farm field for 4 years outside of Atlanta, GA with maybe a gallon of gas sitting in the tank... yup, that's right, hotlanta with all their humidity!


Fast forward to when we got the car.... 1 thing after another was wrong with it.

AFTER it got a new engine (and of course a new fuel filter especially since it was crazy easy to get to with no engine in the car) and about 3000 miles later, injectors started crapping out... removed injector to see brown goo all over. How can this be? okay fine, changed the fuel filter AGAIN and damn if it wasn't a complete mess of brown goo again. so WTF right? Well in this particular case, the gas tank is steel and had been rusting from the inside out (no rust anywhere else on the car and of course no rust evident on the OUTSIDE of the tank). Anyway, the tank had to be changed, along with injectors, and yet another fuel filter (which had to be changed one more time again once we were convinced the fuel lines were clear.)

FINALLY the car is good except my friend owns it now and guess what, he's let it sit outside for 2 years now (this time with a full tank) but still.. I can only wonder what issues will come to be once it is finally being driven again! (if he ever does)


The moral here is if we had bothered to check the fuel pump first and look into the tank, we would have not only seen that the sock had a hole in it but the rust inside was just plain nasty (no other way to say it). ..and it could have saved us a bunch of headache along with 3 extra fuel filter changes

I'll be the first to say it, checking inside the tank is a pain in the ass. You gotta remove the seat, undo fuel lines, get sprayed in the face with fuel because you didn't depressurize it by pulling the fuel pump fuse with the engine running, get the fuel pump out, and probably cut your arm when you put your hand down into the tank to check the interior surface for gunk/rust. There is a reason why this area of the car is neglected until you absolutely must get back there.

That said, you don't know until you know. Then you know, and you're not guessing anymore.

What you've outlined is exactly why 'I' would initially hold off to see if the new filter clogs quickly, and if so then move on to cracking open the tank. Twenty years ago I would have gone right at it, but these days family obligations are a priority in regards to both time and finances.

And many "fucks" have always been given in regards to my vehicles and their well being, despite what others may think.