Fuel pickup question

[66/440]

I am working on my fuel pickup and noticed that the fuel return inlet is full of what appears to be silicone. Is this normal?
I don't understand why someone would do this. I want to clean it out but thought I would get some opinions before I do.

 

[saylor]

not normal. maybe fumes were getting into the trunk or passenger area?

 

[rumpfox]

does the car have a fuel return line and if it does it seem solid all the way to the carb or fuel pump. that might be why its blocked. by the way gas will eat up silicone so it won't last as a plug to stop it from leaking.

 

[Badvert65]

What year car is this on? Fuel return lines weren't used on Mopars with carburators. If anything, it would be a vent or go to a vapor canister, but that would not be on pre 72 cars. If it is on an early car, my bet is someone put the wrong sender assembly on the car and just plugged the extra line. Kinda dumb way to do it.

 

[commando1]

Later year pickup.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Ca. Car from 70 on had a vapor line.

 

[66/440]

Should have stated '76 T&C
cleaned it out, had about 2 inches of silicone in it. Think I will use a fuel filter with two outlets and loop one back to the tank using the vapor return line.
I assume that the vapor canister is past life expectancy. Someone has done a conversion to remove the lean burn system.
i don't know what needs to be done to the distributor, maybe a recurve to make it run correctly. Putting a non lean burn TC on it. I have a new Edelbrock 650 that I was saving for the new engine I am building for it. May need to rethink and mount the edelbrock now.

 

[Yatzee]

Tanks that had vapor evacuation were usually of the sealed system type and had no other way of venting. Hence people drilled a small hole in the filler cap. With out being able to vent, heat on a hot day causes a good amount of pressure in the tank that tries to vent the easiest way possible - that's usually up the fuel line. This can cause all sorts of issues. Imagine not having a relief cap on your cooling system or leaving a Jerry can of gasoline out on a hot day. I'd vent the tank in some sort of safe way and if you can smell gasoline around the car, take up chewing tobacco in place of cigarettes.

 

[66/440]

My tank has 3 connections. I went ahead and cleaned out the other outlet on the fuel pickup.......THIS WAS A MISTAKE. Looks like this was sealed from the factory. My FSM shows only two connections, one for the fuel line and the other for the vapor return.
i put a silicone cap over the connection temporarily, and I am going to research a tank vent that I can connect to it. I purchased a fuel filter with two outlets. One outlet is 5/16 and the other is 1/4. I will run a return from the filter to the tank using the 1/4 connection. Hopefully this will help with possible vapor lock.

 

[66/440]

So I solved some of my problems. I found a vented gas cap and a dual outlet fuel filter. I am going to leave the 3rd port capped for now. I am using the Evap system return line plumbed to the second fuel filter outlet. This should cover any vapor lock issues.

 

[rumpfox]

my cordova was plumbed that way. fuel line came off filter back to tank to let the excess fuel back to tank to help keep the fuel cool(help stop vapor lock)