Grass in tank

[plateauman57]

Hi all. I have a turf tiger and I pulled a bonehead yesterday. I was about finished mowing for the day when I ran out of gas. I put some fuel in it and finished my mowing for the day. Today before I started to mow I went to put some gas in it and realized I had left the gas cap off from putting fuel in it yesterday. So to say the least grass clippings got in my tank.


I checked it with a flashlight and could see some floating. Not sure if some settled to the bottom or not.


Suggestions? I thought the best bet would be to drain the tank and flush it out and then check my fuel filter to make sure it's clear. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bobby Boyd]

I would try pulling the fuel out with some type of fuel transfer system. I think northern tool sells this kind of stuff. I've even heard of people changing oil this way. Just by pull or sucking it out into a container. You could start a syphon but doubt if that would get the trash completely.

Just my thought on this. Good luck!

-bobby

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

...I've even heard of people changing oil this way....

Yep...read this post: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/scag-...oil-how-clean-deck-underneath.html#post113188

...I use an oil withdrawal system that has a small diameter hose connected to a 6 liter spherical tank with a vacuum pump. With the engine warmed up, the hose is inserted into the dipstick tube with the dipstick removed and with a vacuum, withdraws the engine oil thru the tube and into the tank. This makes for a less messy manner to remove the engine oil. The oil base on newer engines has been designed to provide a low point where the hose can position to evacuate the most amount of oil and in some cases actually evacuate more oil than the drain valve will allow to drain out. Some of the larger auto parts store chains show oil withdrawal systems in their catalogs. One company makes a side pump type that is green in color and I had one years back, but the sideways pump action was not easy to use and I replaced it with another brand that has the vacuum pump vertically mounted...

 

[reynoldston]

As for myself I wouldn't worry about it unless you got a lot of it into the tank?

 

[Mad Mackie]

I had a customer do the same several years ago. To make him happy, I disconnected the fuel hose at the transfer valve and drained the tank into a 5 gallon jug, let the tank air dry and blew it out with air.
Were it mine, I would have let the fuel filter do its job and change it fairly soon.
Mad Mackie in CT