Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I want to replace my dud fuel sender. Unfortunately, the tank is rather full, I am reluctant to drain it from the drain plug, in case it is seized, or difficult to reseal. I would like to syphon the tank instead, but can only get the hose a short way down. I see from related posts that its possible to use a wooden stick or similar as a fuel dipstick on the small Elans, but not the Plus2 .; maybe why I can't get a hose down. Anyone siphoned a Plus 2 tank...? Thx in anticipation.. TonyA

This is where an electric fuel pump comes in very handy !

However, in a similar situation with an awkward filler pipe, I have wired (duct tape will dissolve ) a suitable sized nut as a weight to the end of a light plastic siphon tube, and jiggled it to the bottom of the tank.

The tank is quite high so you may be able to drain it via the fuel line in the engine bay.

I've certainly had some fuel run out when the hose got low in the engine bay while I had the engine out.

Never tried it thou, as I just use my electric pump and length of hose. When I need to do mine.

Hi. I siphoned mine quite recently when chasing a fuel smell. I used some spare breather hose as siphon - the hose that makes the vent system. I didn't have much fuel in the tank to start with. I had released the 90 degree rubber hose, that runs between the tank and filler neck, from the filler neck end. To empty the tank I pushed the vent pipe in with the filler hose bent down to allow me to get it in. It may be that you could do it in two stages - get the tank empty enough to allow you to undo the filler hose from the neck without a flood, then you could bend the filler hose down to make it easier to get the pipe in. It worked ok for me in the end - I was replacing the filler hose anyway.

I could have used the electric fuel pump too - good idea haha.

I hope that's helpful.

Sean.

Just thinking about why you can't get a hose down...
I wonder if a previous owner has done the fuel tank breather mods on the car to stop fuel smells and as part of that they have done the filler mod and fitted a MX5 one way filler piece in the hose that goes from the filler tube to the tank?...That would certainly stop you getting a hose down.

Alan

However you do it, do it out in the open and take care. Locally, last Thursday, we lost a mechanic, a shop and eighteen cars while defueling a diesel car that had been filled with gas by mistake. They were using a transfer pump that caught on fire during the process. Makes you think about how quickly it can all go wrong.

Bud English wrote:However you do it, do it out in the open and take care. Locally, last Thursday, we lost a mechanic, a shop and eighteen cars while defueling a diesel car that had been filled with gas by mistake. They were using a transfer pump that caught on fire during the process. Makes you think about how quickly it can all go wrong.

Hope all are okay!

One mechanic was air flighted to the burn unit in Salt Lake City and they haven't released any updates. The other injured person was treated locally and released the day of the accident. Hopefully, no updates is good news. Bad news travels faster.