we’ve had a recent spat of interesting weather here in my part of tennessee where its been 70-80 degrees one day then 40-50 the next for a couple weeks now and during this time i’ve filled my cars gas tank once from empty. Now for some reason the vehicle is running alot worse then it was before the fill up. My father says this may be due to water inthe gas caused by condensation due the the weather changes. Iwas wondering if this was actually possible on scale that would affect my cars running as much as it does, and what i can do to see if this is the case/ fix the problem?
Entirely possible, and probably very likely the cause of your problems. It doesn’t take much condensation to get a little water in your gas, which causes the engine to sputter, and run rough. Get a bottle of Heet and pur it in your full gas tank to dry out the moisture. It might take two applications for a lot of moisture, but it will work.
What kind of car do you have? Some cars have a jumper wire in the engine compartment, in which you can apply 12 volts to the wire and you can drain your fuel tank. You would of course have to disconnect the fuel feed line to the engine and route it to a suitable container.
its a 1986 pontiac sunbird station wagon
Here’s a web site about ‘dry gas’ for just your problem.
http://tips.tipking.com/handyman/dry_gas_to_your_cars_fuel.shtml
If the car is running worse on a full tank, then it isn’t water in the gas. Water floats on top of gas and the gas pickup in all cars is at the lowest part of the tank. It could be the fuel filter or fuel pump strainer is plugged or the fuel pump itself is getting weak. The fuel injector could also be plugged.
Unless you have a cite, I think you should give up quoting such “scientific” facts or loose that charter membership and give it to me.
i think its a combo of the 2 now… the fuel filters been replaced twice since i’ve owend the car (2 maybe 3 months) i’m planning on droppin the gas tank to clean it out and fix the gas gauge float soon. but some heet did clear it up a bit
You’re kidding, of course.
Specific gravity of water = 1 (at 0C)
Specific gravity of petroluem = 0.9-0.93
Source: College Physics, Hausman and Slack.