Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[Jasetheace]

Hi Everyone,
                  Some of you may remember back in January I changed my Fuel tank, a few weeks later I started to get running problems, initially it didn't start very well, lots of smoke the eventually would just stop. It would then try to start again with lots of white smoke but wouldn't start.
I substituted the fuel line for a rubber one all the way etc until I realised no fuel was coming up so chucked a Gallon in and it all ran fine!! The gauge at this point was showing an eighth of  tank with no low level light on.

I contacted the tank supplier and explained that I think the internal pick up pipe was either pourous or did not reach the fuel. They stated that they had sold lots of these tanks and not one complaint but they were happy to swap it.
Anyway 6 months has passed until Ive had time to get it out again, what with kids, works, etc. All ive been doing is keeping fuel level above an eighht of a tank and a gallon can in the back.
Now, I took the tank out the other day, intending to send it back, and had a look inside. The pick up pipe stops two inches before the bottom!!  
I contacted the supplier and a couple of others suppliers on a well known auction site and they all stated that their tanks (all from same manufacturer im sure) all stop two inches from the bottom. One guy was very helpful and stated that he had been questioned about this before from another customer who returned the tank, however had sold 60+ tanks in the last 18 months and no issues.

So, my question, could this be some peoples starting problems with white smoke etc, as overnight when the fuel is low the fuel in the line runs back to the tank. As far as I can see if the pipe was a little longer, say an inch, this would be enough to show the low fuel light on but would also pick up air. So maybe some are made with different length pick ups, after all these tanks are made in China or similar and im sure they are not too worried about exact spec!

When I took my tank out and drained it I got 23 litres of fuel, this is a lot of fuel not to be picked up!!

In light of not wanting to pay a fortune for a genuine tank, I managed to find a piece of pipe the right size and slid it up the pick up pipe lengthing it by 2 inches and leaving around 5 mm - 10mm from the bottom of the tank, voila!!! problem solved but a bloody fiddly job.

Anyone else had this trouble?

[Google]

[eithan h]

no but nice fix!

[Giles 1]

Yes,suspect same is happening to me.See my air in fuel thread!I'm not taking the tank out to sort it though,was a serious pain to fit the bloody thing,ended up in local garage..........Found changing the heater plugs a way easier job,and that is supposed to be a bit of a pain.Will just keep the tank topped up  in future.