I'm sorry if this is widely known, but I don't know it and didn't find the answer after a good bit of searching....

Right now after Hurricane Sandy there's really no fuel to be had. All, and I mean all the gas stations around here have emergency tape around them with 0 gallons of fuel to be had, and I have no fuel for the generator. So I went to syphon fresh fuel out of my JCW. 1" hose would not slide in. So I bought a 3/8" outer diameter rigid (yet still bendable) tube. And even that would not slide in and hit the fuel.

Why is that and is there a way to syphon from a R56? I was able to get the tube in to my '89 MB 560SL and '98 MB C43 and got the syphon drawing the fuel out (but both have old fuel in the tank so I can't use it), but could not get it into my '97 Jeep's tank or the '09 Mini JCW to reach the liquid.

So is there some sort of grill or screen inside the fuel tube that prevents a siphon from reaching the fuel being used in vehicles now'days?

Thanx to those in the know.

 

Yep. There sure is. I had to replace a fuel pump in my 01 GM truck and found out there is anti-siphon mesh of some kind in the tube.

I wonder, if you pull the back seat and remove the fuel pump will that get you to the tank? I assume the pump is in the tank (could be wrong)

Or can you get to the Jeep fuel line from underneath and disconnect it and gravity drain the tank?

Good Luck. So sorry to hear things are coming back online so slowly.

 

Thanx for the confirmation. ...bummer on that.

I've been seeing power company vehicles from Illinois, Wisconsin, and a friend of mine said he saw New Mexico. They're making excellent progress IMO. I know other parts of the country get hit by hurricanes regularly. But I think the thing about this is the enotrmity of scale of the urban/suburban sprawl it had impacted and affected, with the combination of two or was it three different weather systems that merged in this event and seriously affected infrastructural way beyond typical levels of destruction even 200 miles away from the actual hurricane.

Ya, the fuel situation is serious. Even today there are lines miles long of cars waiting all morning and into the afternoon for an inoperable Hess station to get a delivery and eventually open; and that's the only station that shows any possibility of eventually having fuel in the near term. I'm lucky in that I work from home, and have a frugal Mini. After days of closed stations all the people who have to drive for work or ferry the kiddies or drive your typical SUV or Minivan have no option but to commit an entire day waiting for even a few gallons if they won't be allowed full fillups.

 

Yeah, most vehicles now have an anti-siphon feature built in.

And I'm in the northeast as well (Hoboken) with a long daily commute, so I hear you on the gas lines being awful. We are ssslllowwlyy starting to get power back but progress here has been terrible. Still better than the shore region though, it looks like they will be out for at least another week. Glad you made it through the storm ok though

 

So sorry to hear that. Even here in San Diego, we are thinking of you and trying to help. My hubby works for the local utility, and he said that they sent linemen and trucks out to you. The utility trucks went via train, and the men are flying in, probably.

Hang in there. At least your MINI is not full of water and beach sand.

 

Pull out the back seat and pull the fuel filter you should be able to siphon from there.


There is a good how to on the boards somewhere

Good luck!

 

Thank you for the kind thoughts and help from your husband. It means a lot. My wife and I were very fortunate that our condo was unharmed and that our MINI survived. Unfortunately while we were away, some family used our lower level garage parking space and lost their car to the flooding from the storm surge. As bad as it was, things could have been much worse. The question on fuel siphoning is very relevant though as there are a lot of people trying to steal fuel out of cars at parking lots, etc.

 

There have been times I've wanted to siphon fuel from the cars too with no luck. 03 Dakota, 00 Miata the Mini and a 08 Saab. None of them can I get any fuel out of. We had that Derecho this summer and were without power for 6 days on that one. Sandy only got us for 50 hours (but a very large tree fell on the roof and there may be some structural damage), but I have a 10KW generator that takes about 15 gal/day but it runs everything except the A/C, stove and dryer.

Probably the only way is to get under the car and remove a hose at the fuel filter and let it drain out. Better than sucking it anyhow. I should figure it out, sometimes around here even the stations don't have power and if I've got 50 gallons sitting in the cars I can't get to.....

You guys in NY/NJ really took the brunt of it. Good luck.

 

Hoboken, hey! I owned & lived in a brownstone for a number of years between 7th & 6th st. (or was it 7th & 8th?) on Park Ave in Hoboken before I moved out here on LI a bit over a decade ago.

I'd regularly get the old "geyser of sewage" spewing out the back-yard drain from all the pressure in the combined street/home sewer system, sewage traveling thru my building, being pumped out by my basement sump pump into the street, to return to a street drain and be returned to my backyard later... :p

How bad did it get there? Were the raw basements & basement apartments flooded to the rafters this time and water maybe even reaching the 1st floor this time?

 

Yea we had some crazy lines here in Bethlehem Pa from people in NJ coming over from the rationing. Luckily our lines died down a little quicker than NJ's. Went to the barrier islands and it was unreal my heart goes out to all of them and thank all of the people from other areas that came in to help.

 

If I ever get to the point again before I fully move out of here and into NYC, I will do that. Thanx.