Any tips on how to syphon petrol from a car?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi all

I've got an old Astra which is destined for the scrap yard.... It has almost a full tank of petrol so I'm planning to syphon that out and give my Xsara an early xmas present!

Never syphoned before so wondered if anyone has any tips before I give it a go?

Also, the Astra is an R reg (1998). Does anyone know whether it will have an anti-syphon jobby? As a test, I did try putting the hose in and it went in quite far. But not knowing much about these things I wasn't sure whether it was hitting the bottom of the tank or hitting something else.

Many thanks

Max

 

[Diyisfun]

Well if you got a hose in suck it & petrol will come out, it wont taste nice, but for £50 of petrol worth it.
What are you going to put it in? or are you going to pour straight to the other car.

 

[DIYNotIan]

Was gonna syphon into buckets and then put straight into another car, either decanting first into one of those plastic petrol cans (and then puring from that), or using a funnel and tube set up.

One thing I want to try to be sure of is that the hose is in properly and has reach the bottom of the tank. I'm hoping to have to only suck once!

 

[TheVictorian]

Or get your fuel pump to do the work for you, take out the back set and you can normally access the top of the fuel pump.

In theory you could swap the fuel line for a longer one and transfer it straight to the tank of the new car...

 

[DIYNotIan]

Or get your fuel pump to do the work for you, take out the back set and you can normally access the top of the fuel pump.

In theory you could swap the fuel line for a longer one and transfer it straight to the tank of the new car...

SOunds like a good idea, but I haven't got a clue how I would do it!

 

[Mursal]

Well, lift the back seat/rubber pump cover and see can you find the pipes coming out of the tank?

Take one pipe off and turn the ignition on (with a good battery fitted), it should pump petrol out. If not try the other pipe. Then just put a long hose on the correct outlet.

NOTE:
Petrol is highly flammable and needs to be treated with respect. So do not undertake this procedure in or near buildings/other vehicles. If you have any way to put out a fire, it might be worth knowing where it is, before you start.

Or put a hole in the bottom of the tank and catch the contents

 

[DIYNotIan]

The reason the car is being scraped is because the cambelt broke.

I'm guessing the engine would need to run for this to work... Am I right?

 

[Aragorn84]

no, the engine doesnt need to run, but you will have to supply power to the fuel pump as the ECU wont run the pump if it cant see the engine turning.

Snip the wires at the pump and feed in 12v.

IIRC on a vauxhall, brown will be ground, and the live could be red/blue or any number of other colors.

 

[shane12345]

Life the back seats, remove the screw on access hole to the tank, and syphon from there. Ive done this on many vauxhalls, seriously easy. Get a jiggle syphon.

 

[DIYNotIan]

OK guys, various things got in the way, time ran out.... Vehicle being picked up in the next few hours and it is still full of fuel. Arrrgghhh!

Tried putting the hose in and blowing and could not hear anything. Tube only goes in so far and then I have to really fiddle and give it some welly to get it in further. So not sure if it is not getting to the fuel maybe?

Onto plan 2 I think. Here's a pic of what I think is the fuel tank over under the rear seat:

Untitled

• DIYNotIan
• 15 Nov 2012
• 1

As you can see, the tube goes under the metal chassis part of the seat, so I'm not sure how I would disconnect it... Happy to try doing it at the "fuel rail" but no idea what that is or how to do that.

Sorry for the last minute rush but if anyone can help I'd appreciate it hugely.

Cheers


Max

 

[Peter.N.]

You could disconnect the fuel line the engine end and extend it.

Peter

 

[DIYNotIan]

You could disconnect the fuel line the engine end and extend it.

Peter

Thanks for that but I'm not sure what I'd be looking for nor how I could extend it with what I have to hand.....


Just one other question as well RE getting the fuel into the Xsara. All I have to hand is a long metal tube and a funnel. I've tried it with some spare fuel from a jerry can and it seems to work fine. The only thing is that the tube is slightly too big and therefore does not go right in as a fuel pump gun does at the petrol station. It just goes into the first opening BEFORE where the smaller hole is. When I pour, the petrol still goes in fine, but I wanted to be safe and make sure that this is ok and that the fuel will end up in the tank doing it like that....

Cheers

 

[libby lou lou]

Should of holed the tank from underneath with a cheap washing bowl under it. Bit late now, and that's all they do at the scrap yard.