1 hour ago, Zed Head said:

Corrosion/rust.

But I thought the inside is stainless steel/aluminum, no? If there's corrosion/rust but its running fine now, should I replace it? The pump is only a couple of years old. This is the one I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00496VHGC

Leave it alone and keep keep an eye on the pre & post filters IMO.

I believe fuel will crystallize. I have a 56 beetle that was left with fuel in it. The bottom of the tank was full of ruby colored amber. Took a chisel to get it out...

Didn't mean to contradict you directly. There might have been something in the fuel that was left behind as a solid. Crystalline and solid are two separate things in the materials world. A solid can be crystalline but it doesn't have to be.

Who knows, it might have been residual fuel stabilizer, left behind when the gasoline evaporated. Most of them are a witch's brew of chemicals designed to save the metals and the fuel.

I took some chemistry courses! 🤢

https://www.lucasoil.com/pdf/SDS_Lucas-Fuel-Stabilizer.pdf

https://defender.com/assets/pdf/sta-bil/safety_data_sheet_302110.pdf

@Zed Head Do you think I will need a new fuel pump or I'm good as-is now that I smacked the pump to get it running? The pump is only about a year old when I let it sit.

I don't think that it takes much to lock up a 12 volt DC motor. There were probably a few rust spots sticking that got polished away once you got it spinning.

If it was mine I would just use it until there are problems. If it's not making noise and it's pumping how would a new one be better? They're not really precision instruments, they just push as much fuel as they can according to how much voltage they see. The regulator controls the pressure. Should be fine, I'd guess.

On 10/14/2025 at 9:53 PM, Zed Head said:

I don't think that it takes much to lock up a 12 volt DC motor. There were probably a few rust spots sticking that got polished away once you got it spinning.

If it was mine I would just use it until there are problems. If it's not making noise and it's pumping how would a new one be better? They're not really precision instruments, they just push as much fuel as they can according to how much voltage they see. The regulator controls the pressure. Should be fine, I'd guess.

Sounds good - I wasn't sure if that damaged it making it fail faster. Could the process of it polishing off the rust spots damage the things that spin (I don't know how these work internally)?

My 240 had almost a pound of rust and crud. Tank cleaned up beautifully and I haven't had any issues since I coated it with Red-Kote. I'd already done the tank on my 280 and was anxious to do the 240 then I realized all the hoses and the evap tank I needed to replace. What a job that turned into!

For my 280 I think I bought the last Bosch OE fuel pump in 2011 thinking that was my problem. Oh boy was I wrong! A lot of other problems with the EFI were ahead but I got it all worked out and made a fuel rail for it and put in a 6to1 ceramic coated header. The EGR was clogged up and caused a huge rotting hole in my aluminum intake manifold. It runs good now but only after adding a potentiometer to add more fuel to the ECU's coolant temp sensor function. I've got the OE pump still and it works fine but newer is always better. I think it was $250?

I say run it until it starts not keeping the pressure you need. These pics of my 240 tank are not indicative of the 280s tank from what I've seen with my cars.

1 hour ago, siteunseen said:

My 240 had almost a pound of rust and crud. Tank cleaned up beautifully and I haven't had any issues since I coated it with Red-Kote. I'd already done the tank on my 280 and was anxious to do the 240 then I realized all the hoses and the evap tank I needed to replace. What a job that turned into!

For my 280 I think I bought the last Bosch OE fuel pump in 2011 thinking that was my problem. Oh boy was I wrong! A lot of other problems with the EFI were ahead but I got it all worked out and made a fuel rail for it and put in a 6to1 ceramic coated header. The EGR was clogged up and caused a huge rotting hole in my aluminum intake manifold. It runs good now but only after adding a potentiometer to add more fuel to the ECU's coolant temp sensor function. I've got the OE pump still and it works fine but newer is always better. I think it was $250?

I say run it until it starts not keeping the pressure you need. These pics of my 240 tank are not indicative of the 280s tank from what I've seen with my cars.

That picture is wild and fun story - thanks for sharing

Great that you got your tank coated, hopefully it will work fine for many years. As far as your intake manifold goes, I've seen that rot hole happen more than a few times through the years. What I do is cut off the egr section of the intake and I weld an aluminum plate on top of the hole eliminating any problem in the future. I have to do that with the manifold on the bench, it can't be done while it's still in the car. Then you need to weld shut the tube going to the exhaust manifold or better yet install a header like you already did. If anyone wants me to weld up their intake you'd have to send it to me. See attached pics. I do have lots of used intakes in stock so I can weld mine up and send it to you, then you send me your old one. That way your car doesn't have to be laid up for awhile. Or I could sell you an intake that is intact and doesn't have a rot hole. As far as your header goes, as long as you don't have an auto trans you're best bet on the header is using a 6 into 1, not a 6, 2, 1. I have a ceramic coated 6 into 1 header with round ports in stock hanging on the wall waiting to be sold if anybody needs one. The one in the pic is just like it except that one is alumacoated whereas the one I have hanging on the wall looks like chrome. see pic Z man of Washington

That EGR tube was a recall from Nissan and if you had the work done there was a sticker inside the hood on the passenger's side.

The pics show efi then carbs. Which 1 you running?

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by siteunseen