New Gas Disolving Brass ??

[Rich Carlstedt]

Rich, all of the above make perfect sense, but how would anyone know when the gas station tanks are low ? and who know about the other things you mentioned? Not the average consumer.

J...............

Joe, You have to ask their schedule. Yes, holidays and other special events can change, but some stations have a standard schedule
I know it was before all the internet connections, but when I was much.much younger, I worked part time pumping gas and we always
had deliveries Friday morning and Monday morning,lk and the tankers topped off the tanks. If you look at the manhole covers at a station, they are color coded
different stations have a different color code (Perhaps?- Blue was Reg, and Red was Ethyl -Prem) When you see a refill occurring, note the color -and if it is yours, just come back later..
That can be a pain to some,but if you keep a car for along time , it reduces maintenance costs and fuel problems

Rich

[J Tiers]

It's no joke. One time driving back from St Paul Minnesota, I got gas at Grand and Cleveland before leaving town. I then drove down Cretin to the Vandalia entrance to I-94, and headed out. Just going down the ramp I noticed that I had to floor it to get anywhere.

The car was slow and loggy, and I could nearly see the tank meter dropping. Had to refuel just at the Dells in Wisconsin, when I should, in that car, have made it down to Rockford or better. After refueling, everything came back to normal pretty quickly.

I figure there was a LOT of water in the gas that time. Not sure it was about refill timing, I think they deliberately diluted it, counting on the alcohol content. Next trip the station was closed and being torn down suggesting the owners were just milking the most money out of it they could before they closed.

But it does show that you can get crappy gas when it has alcohol in it.

[JoeLee]

The float itself, being immersed in the gasoline, could be a battery that is a source of the needed Voltage/current. Two dissimilar metals when connected together and immersed in an acid solution will constitute a battery and current will flow. And just as the zinc of a carbon-zinc cell will dissolve, so will one of those two dissimilar metals. Your brass float may be attached to a steel rod or there may be some other combination of metals in the float assembly. Even the tank itself may be forming the second electrode of the battery. The current may be small, but over years it can amount to a lot of moved ions. You may have a brass plated tank - on the lower section of the inside anyway.

Paul, that is an interesting thought. The float is brass, it's two piece and soldered around the center. The rod or float arm I think is stainless. So we have solder on brass and a stainless arm that snaps around a groove at the end of the float. It corroded around that part of the float pretty good.
But, I'm still left with the thought that the original lasted about 40 years, the OEM replacement lasted about 5 years.
I still haven't confirmed 100% that the float has corroded and leaked as I haven't removed it yet, but since the low fuel light is on tells me the arm is at it's lowest position..... the bottom of the tank.

JL................

[Bob Engelhardt]

... Two dissimilar metals when connected together and immersed in an acid solution will constitute a battery and current will flow. ...

Yeah, but ... if there's enough acid to make an electrolyte, that acid will just dissolve the zinc. Or will it? How much is enough?

[JoeLee]

Yeah, but ... if there's enough acid to make an electrolyte, that acid will just dissolve the zinc. Or will it? How much is enough?

Well then that's probably what is speeding the corrosion process along. I don't know of any way to check or test for that though.

JL.............

[OaklandGB]

Paul has it right, the tank and any dissimilar metals submerged in even a mildly acid solution, becomes a battery with some voltage.
Softer metals will disintegrate over time, same as a sacrificial zinc anode attached to boat parts under water. It disintegrates instead of the engine metal or other submerged metal parts. Don't need an external battery for that to take place, as it acts as its own battery.

There seems a rarity to question the impact of "fuel stabilizers" in fuel system corrosion or blockage problems. Longer term, what does it actually do to "stabilize" the fuel? Increase acidity? Impact on soft metals or rubber lines and parts? I just have no idea, but have seen some lawn mower gas that has been "stabilized" that is about as foul as you can imagine.

In case someone knows chemistry or perhaps how acidic these chemicals are, here is a link to the K100 (Gas) Safety Data Sheet. (Although only a few pages, the PDF itself was too bid go upload here).
https://k-100.com/wp-content/uploads...ial-US-SDS.pdf