[ktw]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here.. unfortunately it’s nothing good. I have a 2013 2.0t ATS. I was refilling my vehicle with a gas can, and there was half of a golf tee holding open the valve on the gas can neck. Long story short, the tee was in there before I filled up and was not there after I filled up. I know this is stupid.. I should have tried to pull it out first. I guess my questions are:

1. Will this destroy my engine or other components?

2. Has anyone ever dropped or gotten access to the gas tank at home? If at a shop, how much $$$?

3. If the answers to one and two are “no,” will it be fine to leave it?

If anyone has ever seen what the fuel stem looks like, I wonder if it could have gotten stuck there. It’s very small though- probably 1.5.”

Thanks in advance for any help, I really appreciate it. I’m concerned about my car!

 

[FTSS]

Welcome to the Cadillac Forum. So, just horning in here:
1. No, and no. And the inline filter will catch any paint bits and rotting wood.
2. I've dropped tanks on several cars and all pretty straightforward. But I hear tell some newer cars have saddle tanks and such, requiring quite a lot of peripheral removals. I'm in to hear if that applies to your model.
3. Someone will chime in if the pickup is other than an old school porous plastic fiber 'sock'. If not, then yes. A golf tee won't clog the sock, if that's what's used.

Let's see!

 

[ktw]

Welcome to the Cadillac Forum. So, just horning in here:
1. No, and no. And the inline filter will catch any paint bits and rotting wood.
2. I've dropped tanks on several cars and all pretty straightforward. But I hear tell some newer cars have saddle tanks and such, requiring quite a lot of peripheral removals. I'm in to hear if that applies to your model.
3. Someone will chime in if the pickup is other than an old school porous plastic fiber 'sock'. If not, then yes. A golf tee won't clog the sock, if that's what's used.

Let's see!

Thank you so much for your insight! I appreciate it. Unfortunately, I am afraid it is a saddle tank- it looks like it has a cut out for the drive shaft/exhaust. Appears to be buried under there!

Here’s a photo of the fuel pump:

It looks to me like one of those socks is what plugs onto the small stem down there. Does that seem accurate, or is that stem all that protrudes into the tank? If so, it appears that it would be super rare, but possible, for the tee to block up the hole. I’m hoping the sock you mentioned is what’s on it.

 

[FTSS]

Look for your application using RockAuto listings. There you may find a more complete and detailed description of the part(s) than what you show. There should be some sort of in-tank filter.

 

[rsingl]

I seriously doubt if a golf tee will every cause any issues because it will take a very long time for the wood to break down. It should float on the gas for quite a while so fill your car as full as possible and with luck it will rise wander through the filler plumping and rise to the top of the filler neck so that you can remove it.

It isn't going to make it through the pump inlet.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Rodger

 

[ktw]

Hello again everyone, thanks for the tips! I have solved the problem, and wanted to share it here in case any one else had this issue. Here’s what I discovered:

1.) I put an identical piece of a golf tee in a sealed Mason jar with some gas in it to see how it acted. After about two days, the tee sank. I’m guessing it absorbed enough gas to lose its buoyancy. So, I wouldn’t count on wood floating for long! But thankfully, it didn’t even need to go that far.

2.) I removed the rubber elbow hose under the car that connected the fuel filler stem (where your gas cap is) to the fuel tank. Here’s what it looks like, it’s number 18 on the assembly:

3.) For a while, I tried to siphon and fish out the piece from my gas tank, but to no avail. Then, I looked upstream from where the elbow was connected, and saw this:

There is an integrated screen inside the filler neck! All I did after seeing this was put a shop vac onto the upper part where the gas cap is, and it sucked it right out. This was the culprit:

So in summary, if your piece of debris is this size or larger, don’t worry about it getting in your tank! Just shop vac the neck and it will come out. There is a one-way valve at the entrance to the gas tank, but I would still remove the elbow because it is just two hose clamps and it will probably have a little residual gas in it. Not safe to vacuum up!

I was so worried I was going to have to drop my tank ($900+ From what I’ve seen).. I was literally praying God would help me find this dang tee and He came through man!!!! This was so much better!

Thanks for the help everyone, and I hope this can help someone out!