Mykro

So about 2 months ago, some hoodlums vandalised my car. Aside from the cosmetic damage i came home to find my 8's gas tank door pried open and a rolled up news paper in the shape of a funnel hanging out of my tank. After 2 months of tests that have mostly come back from the insurance adjuster saying that there is a high amount of water and a really high amount of carbon in the gas. They are trying to suggest that the Vapor Canister may be defective and that it is adding carbon to my gas tank.

I did some light research and from what I can tell, the gas vents into the canister, not the other way around.

Could anyone who knows about these systems give me a response. I would like to understand how the canister works as well as how carbon may have been getting into my tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as i would like to have my insurance cover the repair not coming out of my pocket, especially since the entire fuel line is now compromised with water and carbon.

Thank you in advance.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Hmm.

Gasoline is carbon heavy, not to mention virtually every part of the car is made with a carbon derivative. What exactly are they saying that this 'carbon' is? If they mean charcoal, it's one thing, but i'm exceedingly dubious about their claims.


Another way of putting it: It's like they tested the air in your cabin and found 'that it has nitrogen in it' (air is 78% nitrogen).

If, for example, all they did is get a testing strip or something that reacts to the presence of carbon and dipped it in the tank, the gas would certainly trigger it.

Mykro

They did mention charcoal, but I didn't ask anything using charcoal as my word of choice. Would charcoal be something I should ask more about?

As for the 2 tests they did: the first one, they took about a litre of gas from the fuel line, and found a lot of carbon so they requested a second test: about a litre from where the fuel pump is. Again a lot of carbon was found.

I live in Winnipeg, Canada also. If someone added water to the tank and the car ran for about 2 minutes, would the watery fuel make it to the engine? It stuttered out about 2 minutes in, and has not been running since. Would the water freeze? maybe water got into the vapor canister and froze?

I am no mechanic, any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

"Found carbon" is something that is really hard to define. The gasoline is mostly carbon. The fuel line is mostly carbon. If they found chunks of it, it might be charcoal that somehow got pushed out of the canister from water freezing in there (seems highly unlikely, but theoretically possible). If they are talking about carbon flaking or caking, that sounds even more unusual.


Yes, water would settle to the bottom, and get pulled through the fuel system. If enough water was sitting in the fuel system and froze, it could cause problems for sure. And yes, it could prevent the engine from firing until all of the water is cleared from the system.



Since you already filed an insurance claim anyway, discuss with the adjuster the possibility of them paying to have your fuel tank and entire fuel system flushed. If the flushing is successful, you should have gotten away with no fuel system damage. Otherwise the process should identify what was damaged. The canister could just get removed and inspected or replaced.

Mykro

Thank you for the information. I will discuss with my insurance agent.