not exactly f150 but i figured this would get the quickest response. apparently last night someone attempted to set my girlfriends car on fire (it was parked on the street)..... right now when you look at the gas tank, it looks like its been stuffed full of leaves and i dont know what else, with most of them burned... what kind of damage could this cause? could the leaves gotten into the tank? the arson unit will be here "within the next 3 hours" so trying to find out what i can beforehand......its a 1996 jeep grand charokee.

 

i would say just leave it alone until they get there and write up a report. If im not mistaken (which i could be) usually there is a solids screen in the filler neck of most cars so that large debris cant get into the tank. but with some of the leaves being burned you can almost guarantee that you have some debris in that tank. it would be best to drop the tank and have it cleaned out before running the truck around. If you do run it you are looking at possibly replacing the fuel pump and other fuel system parts. it will cost you more in the long run if you just ignore what is in the tank. ( you dont know if anything else was put down in there)

Insurance should cover this depending on what your coverage is. ( thats why i get everything covered in my insurance policy)

Good luck with everything.. let us know what happens.

 

Isn't that what a fuel filter is for, to collect stuff like this. As for the fuel pump, it may cost half as much to drain the tank as it will to replace the fuel pump with no guarantee that the fuel pump won't go later anyhow.

I would think you would vacuum out the leaves as best you can and then change the fuel filter every six months.

 

sure that is what a fuel filter is for. but you have no guarantee as to what is in that tank. you could have enough crap down there for it to clog the filter and run your truck lean. its a game. i personally don't play those games and would rather stack the deck in my favor and drop the tank. I don't know whether the pump on the jeeps are pre or post filter.( inline or in-tank) if its in the tank you may run the risk of it sucking up enough debris to toast it and then you have to drop the tank anyways. like i said... its a game. play it if you want.

 

and don't vac the leaves out you're just asking to blow the whole mess including yourself up doing that with the gas fumes and spark producing electric motor.

 

Call your insurance agent before you do anything... if you screw something up it might not be covered, but if you have it towed to a shop it might all be covered.

 

thanks guys for all the suggestions... after talking to a few different jeep dealerships about what they thought, were going to run it for now and then get the fuel filter changed in about a week or so.... they all said the same thing and as this is an old jeep and the deductable on insurance is very high, so i think everything should be alright... now if this was my truck, it would be on a tow truck to the dealership right now

 

IIRC the fuel filter is located inside the tank on jeeps with the 4.0L. So if you were going to change the fuel filter do it now and drain the tank.

 

If insurance will cover it I would drop the tank, clean it, replace the fuel filter and start "almost" like new

The screens are there but like someone else said.. with the burning it might have gotten into the tank.
If you are going to run it, then get as many leaves out as you can (I also wouldn't use the vacuum), and then change the fuel filter in a week. if you find a lot of leaves then change it again in a month, then maybe again in 6 months, until you stop seeing large amounts of debris in the filter.