Has anyone experienced gasoline gelling? I started having a drivability problem that acted like vapor lock while driving it on a hot day for the first time. Long story short, I ended up with a new intake manifold and while I was at it I upgraded to a serpentine belt drive, replacing the alternator and power steering pump in the process.
The truck briefly ran okay after the upgrades, but soon returned to stumbling before just refusing to run. There was no fuel coming out of the accelerator pump squirter, so before going to the carburetor I replaced the fuel pump and the rubber line the P.O. installed to the rear mounted tank with a hard line with rubber connections on the ends. When it still wouldn't run, I bit the bullet and purchased a new carb. After installing that carb and getting the truck running, I decided to take the old carb apart to see what I could see. This is what I found.
A gel like substance in the bottom of the bowl. Additionally the accelerator pump I replaced when I rebuilt the carb over the winter had fallen apart. For the life of me I can't figure out where it came from. The tank is new this spring, the gas in it is probably a month old at most, and there was nothing in the old glass fuel filter to indicate a problem.
The only thing I can think of is that the o-ring on my bed mounted gas cap isn't as good as it could be, allowing water. But would water cause the gelling? And why wouldn't it show up elsewhere in the system? I had plenty of fuel flowing through the old hoses as I replaced them.