Fuel system cleaning

[Fire99]

Hi all,

I'm running a 90's Jeep Cherokee (4.0 IL6) running Petrol & LPG. I've not had it long and am gradually ironing out its faults.

One issue i've had is, due to the LPG system, it's not done alot of running on petrol. It was running extremely lumpy and on replacing the fuel filter, all kinds of nasties drained out with it. (Looks like the filter hadn't been changed for some time)
That sorted things for a little while but its running pretty rough on petrol again. (about 4 weeks since filter change)

Is it worth running injector cleaner or trying to drain the dregs of the fuel tank out?

Other than the obvious, are there any handy tips on resolving these little gremlins?

cheers,

Nik

[Steve_D]

If you continue to run most of the time on LPG then this problem will continue no matter what you do to it now. If it is a steel tank then the inside is likely rusting and doubly so because it is spending most of its time almost empty. The fuel will also be going stale.

In the short term you could drain the tank but only if it has a bung. Trying to pump or drain it through the normal outlet will not work as there is a course filter on the outlet. Your inline filter is being clogged by what is getting past the course filter.

Best route I would take is to keep replacing the inline filter or fit another filter before it that can be stripped and cleaned.

Injector cleaner will not help if the particles are large enough to clog a filter.

Steve

[Fire99]

Steve_D said:

If you continue to run most of the time on LPG then this problem will continue no matter what you do to it now. If it is a steel tank then the inside is likely rusting and doubly so because it is spending most of its time almost empty. The fuel will also be going stale.

In the short term you could drain the tank but only if it has a bung. Trying to pump or drain it through the normal outlet will not work as there is a course filter on the outlet. Your inline filter is being clogged by what is getting past the course filter.

Best route I would take is to keep replacing the inline filter or fit another filter before it that can be stripped and cleaned.

Injector cleaner will not help if the particles are large enough to clog a filter.

Steve

Thanks Steve,

Since i've owned the 'ol girl, i've made a point of running it on Petrol fairly regularly (once a week or so) for a fair run, but obviously i've only owned it for a few weeks so most of the issues are inherited by the previous owner.

The filters aren't too expensive so i'll get some tanks of fuel going through and add another inline filter into the mix. Fortunately this is pretty 'hammer and chisel' technology so she's a pretty forgiving ol bus.

[JontyR]

Thats not totally true. The injector cleaner will help as although the particles are possibly large, there is a chance the filter baskets in the injectors are clogged.

[Fire99]

JontyR said:

Thats not totally true. The injector cleaner will help as although the particles are possibly large, there is a chance the filter baskets in the injectors are clogged.

Fair comment. Thanks.
Well to be honest, i'm not normally a big fan of 'wonder bottle' treatments but my mechanic friend did say that injector cleaner is one of the more effective ones and for what it costs, I will give that one a go. Worth a few quid from the 'cobweb pocket'