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How to drain gas tank?

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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 03:57 PM
  #1  
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Default How to drain gas tank?

I was just going to disconnect the fuel filter and run the pump through the diagnose until all the gas is gone.

Is this how we are supposed to do it or no?
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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 04:00 PM
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lol becareful.. guessing some dude on here i saw pics of him getting burnt by it.... i had a silicon tube i stuck it in and suck it out into a bucket it actually worked.
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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Mistahxken
lol becareful.. guessing some dude on here i saw pics of him getting burnt by it.... i had a silicon tube i stuck it in and suck it out into a bucket it actually worked.
Yeah... that was me lol. I need to drain it though. Got some real crappy gas from Shell and the car just hates it.
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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 04:21 PM
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Id do what you said, but buy a nice long piece of hose to connect to the fuel line so you can route it into a gas can.

Another thing you have to do is make it to where your fuel pump will run with just the ignition on. (unless youve done the fuel pump mod already)

Also, make sure you have a battery charger on and connected or somebody jumping you with their car running, so you dont kill your battery.


Good Luck
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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 06:48 PM
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look underneath the car, directly under the gas tank. I thinki saw a place to drain it out the bottom when i was under there taking the diff out.
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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 09:32 PM
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why not just drive on the gas till its gone. isnt got hurt anything. unless its deisel. i would just disconnect it from the feed line at the engine and hook up a longer hose and run it into a bucket
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Old Dec 28, 2008 | 09:37 PM
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fuel pumps use the gas itself to help cool down, so i'm not sure if the running it till it drains method is the best...but that's just a guess, it may be ok.

there are three or four bolts that go into the tank from below
1 Feed, 1 Return....I thought there was another, possibly an form of emissions return?, then the drain plug.

try not to let the fuel run down your arms when loosening the bolts(if on a lift, keep elbow lowest part of arm during wrenching)...i learned this the hard way.
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Old Jan 1, 2009 | 08:22 PM
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Originally Posted by ConSynX
try not to let the fuel run down your arms when loosening the bolts(if on a lift, keep elbow lowest part of arm during wrenching)...i learned this the hard way.
take a rag and tie it around your wrist. stops any fluid from going down your arm. works like a charm!
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Old Jan 14, 2009 | 10:57 PM
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well look at that.. there is a drain haha. its draining as we speak... glad I also washed the gas off right away
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Old Jun 28, 2018 | 04:52 PM
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Sorry to bump this very old thread but as I'm trying to determine how best to drain enough fuel from my 1993 SC300's gas tank in order to change the fuel pump from the back seat access panel (it is currently at 3/4 full), I just want to be absolutely certain that with our models if we can... or cannot... use a common hose and hand pump siphon device from the fuel filler neck. The siphon kit I have says on the packaging that it is rated for use with gasoline.

I believe there is a small screen at the very bottom of the fuel filler neck once it enters the gas tank which would prevent a tube from getting in, but there is also a metal protrusion coming out of one part of it that goes into the tank further.

I'm assuming that we can't siphon from the filler neck under the gas door but am I wrong about this?

My concern with draining from the bottom of the tank (other than the larger hassle of it) is that if I have 15 gallons or so I'll need a hell of a big plastic bin to take all of that once the fuel starts pouring out. I'd prefer to get the tank level down to just below 1/2 or 1/4 to be able to access the fuel pump rather than draining everything out.

Thank you in advance, everyone! I don't like bumping old threads without good reason but as I've scoured our threads and Google for a clear answer to this question (and also just how much fuel in the tank is acceptable before changing the pump) it isn't clearly addressed anywhere... other than how to change the fuel pump itself.

Edit-- Pictures of an SC300/400 fuel tank filler neck's bottom end removed from the tank (I *think* these reference a pre-1998 filler neck):



Last edited by KahnBB6; Jun 28, 2018 at 04:57 PM.
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Old Jul 2, 2018 | 10:25 AM
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We can siphon gas thru the filler tube. You will need a pump and a good amount of tubing to do it tho
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Old Jul 2, 2018 | 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by 1997Soarer
We can siphon gas thru the filler tube. You will need a pump and a good amount of tubing to do it tho
Thank you for confirming! I tried this last night with a $15 hand siphon pump kit (a plunger vacuum type) and I was able to reduce my 3/4 full tank down to just below 1/2 full (I was able to remove just over 5 gallons) but after that I was sucking air. I then used an even longer hose but I had the same issue. In both cases I was able to get by whatever rollover ball or anti-siphon device is inside the SC filler tube but I can't be sure if either length of hose got into the tank itself or was at the right angle inside it.

Also, with the much longer hose the anti-siphon mechanism deep into the filler tube caught on the hose and initially prevented me from removing it. I was nervous while carefully pulling on it to get it out of there, fearing it might pull apart and leave part of itself stuck inside there which would have required disassembly of the tank to get to. Thankfully the tube DID finally let go and come out intact.

After many subsequent tries with no further success I decided to break down and buy a GasTapper 12V siphon kit which has a "guide" tube and a smaller siphon line that goes inside of it. On the product website there is a list of customer confirmed vehicles by model year that work with this kit and on it was a 1995 Lexus SC400 and that was the best confirmation I could have asked for since our filler tubes are likely the same for all 90's SC's and Soarers.

I'll report back here with a result once I have the kit and can put it to use.

Last edited by KahnBB6; Jul 2, 2018 at 01:43 PM.
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