Plastic nozzle in fuel tank?

[Smart86]

I ran out of gas and was refilling my E21 when the plastic nozzle of the gas can fell inside the tank. I tried to fish it out but just made it worse, and it's out of sight now. I decided to say screw it, it's probably too big to cause any problems and went to the gas station, filled up, and went on my merry way. Haven't noticed any difference in performance, but this happened just an hour ago.

Basically, how much should I be worried?

[epmedia]

I ran out of gas and was refilling my E21 when the plastic nozzle of the gas can fell inside the tank. I tried to fish it out but just made it worse, and it's out of sight now. I decided to say screw it, it's probably too big to cause any problems and went to the gas station, filled up, and went on my merry way. Haven't noticed any difference in performance, but this happened just an hour ago.

Basically, how much should I be worried?

I'd imagine no worries. The fuel level sender's float is in a tube and the fuel pic-up sits in a bowl.

Edit: see my next post.

Here's a pic of the tanks, etc... realoem

Was it one of those really stupid, 'new design to meet regulations' gas can's that spill more gas than what goes into the tank?

[epmedia]

I was just thinking about the wires for the in-tank fuel pump. I'd imagine if the plastic tube made it all the way into the tank, and if the tube floats, the tube may bang around on the fuel pump wires. This would not be a good thing.

[Tom D]

it would take a hell of a jolt to do damage, my thought is that no harm will come.

[Hagbard]

I'm still just sitting here trying to figure out the mechanics of how you managed to do this.

[bassboy3313]

Ever think to use a boroscope to see if its still in the filler neck or actually made it to the tank? If its still in the filler neck you can try using one of those flexible claw grabber tools to try and fish it back out. If its in the tank, maybe draining the tank and removing the cross over hose would get you enough room to fish it out that way too. Just some thoughts.

[320iAman]

I doubt any harm as well, except it might run into the gas tank walls moving around and remove debris from it,,the filter would pick this up though,, future maintenance, good idea to replace the top ventilation hose that connects the two tanks these are prone to crack with age,if draining and dropping the tanks, mine needs to be replaced, will do later .

Randy

[epmedia]

I'm still just sitting here trying to figure out the mechanics of how you managed to do this.

Some gas cans are very crappy. I've thrown two away that the 'kids' have left behind with me. One of them, the nozzle would fall off if it got bent the slightest bit. The other had one of those spring loaded open/close nozzles that were ridiculously difficult to operate and would spill more gas than what went in the tank, and if you were able to eventually open the spring loaded nozzle, the nozzle would pop off the can. I got so fed up with those cans...