4000 Q fuel problem - tank

[Keith Lawyer]

A plasma would make the best, thinnest cut.  A TIG would probably be
preferable for welding it back up, but I bet you could MIG it w some
.023 and care.  Nonetheless you'd have to do something so the tank
doesn't go kaboom from fuel vapor...........I'm told dry ice works but
have never tried it.  Once you're done you'd want to pressure test it to
make sure the weld is airtight.  All in all I suppose more work than the
average lister could justify.

Keith L

>>> "Matt Suffern" <msuffern at lycos.com> 12/10/04 11:27AM >>>
No, not that I could tell.  First off you'd have to get to it, which
entails actually cutting into the tank, and secondly it's solidly fixed
onto the end of the tube.  Assuming 
you were very good with an angle grinder and welder and could weld up
the tank again so it would hold gas, you could conceivably cut open the
bottom of the 
tank and cut the screen off the end of the tube altogether.  This is
what I tried to do, but I could never weld the tank back up again so
that it was watertight.  The 
angle grinder disk I used was just too wide in the first place.

Best,

Matt

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shawn Manny" <shawn.manny at gmail.com>
To: "Matt Suffern" <msuffern at lycos.com>
Subject: Re: 4000 Q fuel problem - tank
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 10:16:03 -0600

> 
> MATT, is the screen removeable easily? That was Audi's service
bulletin fix...
> 
> 
> On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:11:25 -0500, Matt Suffern <msuffern at lycos.com>
wrote:
> > Tony,
> >
> > I struggled with this problem for a long time.  It seems like the 
> > only feasable solution is to replace the tank and hope that the 
> > next one is rust-free...  Until of
> > course it rusts up again, and so on and so forth.  The major 
> > problem, as far as I can tell, is that Audi decided not only to 
> > use a really crappy coating on the inside
> > of the tank, they also placed a "screen" of sorts on the end of 
> > the supply line inside the tank.  This screen is easily clogged 
> > by the rust problem, and prevents any
> > sort of aftermarket tank sealer from working since the fine mesh 
> > is blocked instantly by a coating of tacky sealer.  A removable 
> > supply line would have easily
> > prevented this, but no...
> >
> > As you can see I'm a little bitter about the whole ordeal, all 
> > the more since my own fuel pump has been intermittenly noisy 
> > lately, only about six months after I
> > replaced the tank with another.
> >
> > Pics of my old tank, after I took an angle grinder to it, are
here:
> >
> > http://www.unc.edu/~msuffern/audi/ft1.jpg 
> > http://www.unc.edu/~msuffern/audi/ft2.jpg 
> >
> > That's POR-15 fuel tank sealant, great stuff, but it completely 
> > clogged the screen.
> >
> > *sigh*
> >
> > Good luck!
> >
> > Matt
> > '86 4kq