Replacement Fuel Tank No Sensor

[Dave_C]

Just had a tank leak start in the bottom of my 2.8gal, 19HP Intek B&S powered Murray made (Scotts brand) mower.

The owner's manual lists it as part # 94484, listed as "Tank, Fuel w/sensor 2.8 gal", and best I can find now is Murry/B&S 7601093MA.

The tank looks identical AFAICT, but does not include the fuel level sensor or even a hole in the top of the tank to put it in.

Does anyone know of an alternate tank # that has this sensor hole? Or should I use a hole saw to make the hole myself? If so anyone know the hole size? Can the old sensor be non-destructively removed from the old tank or will the mounting flange fall apart after ~20 years of wear?

It is not a potentiometer type fuel level sensor outputting to a gauge, just a simple switch type that triggers a low fuel light. I suppose I could live without it if I had to, but wondering if anyone else has had this issue and what they did? Any tips on finding best price? $100+ for this little tank seems a bit steep.

Photo of 7601093MA below, and a diagram of the original 94484 showing sensor location. Thanks.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

what's the mowers model #?
The 94484 number was changed to 94484MA, everywhere i see shows no longer available.

 

[Dave_C]

Yes I searched both of those, with and without MA on it,

It's Scotts model 46572X8 SKU 252-313

I found ONE of them, used for $75 but it looks like it's had near the wear mine has and hardly worth saving only 25%.

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I guess if I have to, I'll just do without the fuel level sensor. I check the fuel level visually before I start it anyway. The pics of replacement tanks look white but the original is fairly translucent, can easily see the fuel level in it. Maybe that was the problem, translucent allows more UV ray penetration and makes it brittle faster but then again it is two decades old.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Pull the old one out work out how it is held in the cut a hole in the new tank
Fuel tanks are HDPE which welds beautifully with a hot air gun.
HDPE is also what our plastic milk bottles are made out of and most 4 / 5 gallon drums that are the same milky colours
So what is wrong with the old tank ?

 

[Gumby83]

It’s hard to find a decent picture to zoom in on the sensor, but from what I can see, it looks like it’s probably a twist-lock type - there’s probably a locking tab on the perimeter that needs to be released, then the sensor can be rotated 1/4 or 1/2 turn and removed. It’s probably sealed with an o-ring, so spray some lubricant around it and work back and forth to break it free.

It will be brittle after 20 years - if you must use pliers, put duct tape on the plier jaws - that will help protect the plastic to some degree.

The only suggestion I have for installing it into the new tank is once it’s removed, cut the bung out of the old tank including about 2” on all sides of it (so if the bung is 1” diameter, the total width of the cut would be 5” - you’ll be trimming it later) so the wall of the old tank is now a flange for the bung.

Mark the location of the sensor on the new tank and cut a hole at least 1/4” larger than the bung. Center the bung/flange over the hole (would be useful to have the sensor installed to verify fitment) and mark the flange to provide 1/2-3/4 inch overlap, then trim the flange to your marks. Use 3 or 4 pan head screws to secure the flange to the new tank, making sure to drill pilot holes or you risk cracking the flange you just made.

Once the screw holes have been drilled, remove the flange and flush the tank to remove any debris.

To seal the flange, use RTV silicone rated for gas exposure or buy a sheet of cork gasket material and make a gasket. If using RTV, allow at least 8 hours cure time before filling with gas.

 

[cpurvis]

A fuel gauge on a lawnmower is an unnecessary luxury. Airplanes have fuel gauges. Nobody uses them.

Clean and mount the tank. Fill it, make a note of how many gallons to fill it. Go mow for one hour. Refill the tank, make a note of how many gallons, to the tenth, it took to refill. That's your fuel consumption rate. Divide the tank capacity by this fuel consumption rate, subtract a half-hour reserve, and that will tell you how many hours you can mow on a full tank of gas.

You only gotta do this once.

 

[Dave_C]

^ Yeah I've already owned this mower for ~20 years so know the consumption rate, just thought i might as well put the sensor on since I have it, would only be a matter of drilling the hole and I have hole saws.

I did order, receive, and install a new tank without the sensor. I popped the beauty cover off the old sensor, pried up a little and it wouldn't budge, grabbed it with pliers and it wouldn't turn either, and I was uncomfortable with the idea of giving it any more force, since as noted the sensor isn't really needed. There is no twist lock, nor threading I could see, appears to be pressed, friction fit and now the friction is enough that I might end up breaking it trying to remove it so didn't bother.

New Murry/B&S 7601093MA tank is dimensionally identical to the old tank and works fine, only catch being that jiggling the fuel line caused the other run of line between the filter and the carb to crack. I replaced the line segment to the tank already, good thing I bought a couple extra feet of fuel line while I was at it, so this new break will only take a couple minutes to fix.

Thanks for the help guys, this topic is pretty much concluded except for one question: Why the heck is this site running some kind of script that prevents me from even typing at my normal, fast speed without the post reply window lagging behind? It doesn't happen on any other sites. lol, i got that entire sentence typed before even the first word of it showed up on-screen. I'm not that fast of a typer. Hmm.

 

[bertsmobile1]

It is the adds that that have animation
BEcause I am a cranky old bugger I have written to every company who advertises with these moving add and told them that I nor none of my extended family will ever use any of their products plus I will advocate that every one I know should boycott their products as their adds are disruptive and are preventing me from normal browsing.
To date no one as replied .
If you turn off the modem ( or use the work off line feature ) then the moving adds stop moving and you can browse & type normally.
These obnoxious add use script that hyjacks your processor till the script has finished running.
This would be fine, if the add stayed on the page, but the instant the add has finished downloading & running, the advertising broker swaps it for another one , so the cycle continues.
It also gobbles up a lot of bandwith so in my case I reach the end of my monthly allowance nearly a week before the end of the month.
I use an old computer & old browser so will probably stop coming here in the not too distant future as the add blocker I have for it does not get rid of this trash .
It is a function of smart arse web add writers trying to intimidate each other at the cost to the end user.
I understand the need for advertising revenue but there is no need for it to be so intrusive.
It would be good if you could go to the site section and vent your spleen about how difficult the adds made it to use the forum and despite all of the good help here you would never come back nor recommend the site to any one you know.
You will see that we have tried to bring this to the attention of the forum owners "A web page is slowing down your browser" and "Ads are killing this site. Lots of good people here" but it has by & large fallen on deaf ears.
I used to help a lot of people but now don't bother unless it is some thing a bit out of the ordinary .

 

[Dave_C]

I don't even see the ads, just spinning circles where they should be. Oddly the text is not lagging behind now, and I don't recall it lagging on my first post, just that prior post.

The other strange issue is I just got an email notification for bertsmobile1's post but did not receive notification for the prior two posts.

 

[bertsmobile1]

That is because the idiot moron bastard SHOW OFF at the add company who naturally has a nitrogen cooled 10 quad cored processor computer linked to the internet via a direct optical fiber cable has written adds with such complicated code that your computer can not process it .
Because their life IIS their computer that can not understand that there would be any one on the planet who is running a computer less than 6 months old running the very lattest softwear updated every hour on the hour .

Those little circles are you computer say "What the F is all this crap that I can not understand "
And while some of this is happening , it gobbles up all of your processor so you can not do anything nor do you have any control over your computer till it has finished .
You notice it as the type on the screen lagging behind your fingers .
If the entire window is on your screen you will see the task bar on the bottom of the screen racing through all the connection the computer is making and every time you see "transferring from " or "Waiting on" what is happening is the computer downloading adds then running scripts that are gobbeling up your allowable download .
Mr A-hole naturally has the biggest fastest internet plan so it is not a problem for him and he has no concept about any one who has anything less than a $ 500/ mt internet plan .