Sediment in Fuel Filter / Carb

[ChevyGuy5]

How worried should I be? I pulled the pre-carb Edelbrock fuel filter out to find a whole bunch of rust from the gas tank. There's no filter before the mechanical pump, so I'm sure the pump has seen some crap, too.

Took the carburetor apart to rebuild to find a very fine orange residue in the float bowls. This residue was magnetic, so I'm sure it was the finer tank rust that made it through the filter. Other than that, the carb seemed mostly clean; no real problems with jets being clogged or anything.

I haven't owned the truck very long; 1,000 miles in 1 year since I've owned it. Should I worry about anything aside from a new metal tank?

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[shiftpro]

The filter was doing it's job. And now you know that eventually a new tank will be required.
Try your best to get it changed before it starts to leak.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Yeah, the tank seems like the major concern here. The fuel pumps are fairly resilient, but even if you need a new one, they’re very cheap.

 

[ChevyGuy5]

That's good news, thanks guys. When I swap out the tank I may do some research on which filter to use between the tank and the pump, for some added peace of mind.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

You have the strainer sock, which is supposed to help with that. It might be old and have a gash in it, which is why things are getting by that shouldn’t.

 

[ChevyGuy5]

You mean a strainer sock in the tank, I assume? I replaced 2 small strainer socks inside the carb, which were also very dirty and catching debris.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Yeah, I’m talking about the one in the tank. I’m sure some particles can get by, but I’ve also seen some of those strainers in pretty sorry shape. An actual metal canister type filter somewhere between the pump and carb would also be good.

 

[Craig 85]

My truck had been of the road for 10 years before my purchase. The PO had the truck running off a gas can when I got it. I installed new tanks and senders, but didn't replace the metal fuel lines on the frame between the tanks. When I got the tanks up and running, I was getting rust particles in the filter. Luckily I have a secondary filter before the tank switch. I should have replaced these 3 lines. For now, filters are cheap and the problem seems to be going away.

Just another place to look.