The Dreaded Drip.......... 95R and 00R Fuel Safe cells, tick, tick, tick.............

[cobra186]

Well gang, it's time to replace my fuel cell bladder. I will attempt to pull the cell out myself and then ship to Fuel Safe for the replacement. I've read through this great thread and noticed that most of the time spent getting the fuel cell off was disconnecting the fuel lines and fuel filler hose. Other than the fuel line removal tool, are there any other "special tools" I need to purchase to remove the fuel cell? Also, any other tips or precautions for me before I start the removal? Never done anything like this before, so I need all the help I can get! Thanks again!

Best advice I will give you is to make sure you relieve the fuel pressure out of the fuel lines before disconnecting the lines at the tank.... otherwise you will take a bath in gas as its under 40+ psi of pressure. To make sure all the pressure is off, find the schrader valve located on the fuel rails on the engine and push it in while covering it with a shop rag.

Otherwise just becareful of the weight of the fuel cell and what ever amount of fuel that is still remaining in it.

 

[tomshep]

Didn't this thread have mention of how to jumper the fuel pump using a plug in the motor compartment so you can empty the tank while in the car?

I did that and it worked AWESOME!

Tom

 

[RJY]

Thanks guys...keep any suggestions coming as I haven't started this yet!

 

[9secondlx]

just curious.

im sure this had to be discussed at one point.

since the outside of the tank is aluminum. can you pull the bladder out (get all the gas out ) and just weld the holes on each corner put new gaskets on top and the side and call it a day?

may not pass race tech inspection but for the street???

 

[Robert M]

just curious.

im sure this had to be discussed at one point.

since the outside of the tank is aluminum. can you pull the bladder out (get all the gas out ) and just weld the holes on each corner put new gaskets on top and the side and call it a day?

may not pass race tech inspection but for the street???

I had this same thought when mine started the drip. Once I got the old bladder out, I noticed the aluminum rings shown below attached to the old leaking bladder. My first thought was.........why don't I just have those rings migged to each respective opening on my fuel cell tank, mig closed the hole in the lower right front corner and then attach my sender, vent, inlet and fuel pump plates to each of these rings with gaskets and the tank would "appear" to be fully correct, it would hold the fuel as a regular metal fuel tank does, and my 95R would not have this type of leaky bladder issue again while still keeping the fuel cell " correct look".

Of course if the car were to get in a rear end wreck, the tank could rupture as could an non bladder tank, but that is the way it is without a bladder. So for street use and car shows?? it seems like an option to contemplate??

But, I bit the bullet and did the cell correctly..........but, is this aluminum ring thing and alternative? :shrug:

R

 

[GJMCAR98]

I have got to put my two cents worth in on fuel safe....THEY ARE THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF JERKS I HAVE EVER DELT WITH.....PERIOD.
Gary

 

[93SVTCobra]

This is SO not a good idea...... I really don't even know how to respond......

 

[tomshep]

+1.

Tom

 

[r82of250]

This is SO not a good idea...... I really don't even know how to respond......

I'm with you on this Mark. Aluminum is too soft and the cell is way too exposed to use as a fuel tank without the bladder installed. Use a stock Mustang fuel tank. If you have to have the "look" of the fuel cell, why not fab an aluminum shell to go over the stock tank?

 

[sdfrog177]

I have got to put my two cents worth in on fuel safe....THEY ARE THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF JERKS I HAVE EVER DELT WITH.....PERIOD.
Gary

Exactly why I decided to do the fuel cell install on both my R's myself. I did not trust sending them off....PERIOD. The job was cake on the 95, a little more involved on the 2000 due to the IRS configuration. Anyone who can change their own spark plugs can do this job IMO.

Matter of fact these days I will never let anything I remotely care about out of my sight.

 

[r82of250]

I have got to put my two cents worth in on fuel safe....THEY ARE THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF JERKS I HAVE EVER DELT WITH.....PERIOD.
Gary

OK Gary, don't hold back now, tell us exactly how you feel! So what happened with you and FuelSafe? epper:

 

[GJMCAR98]

Well Dean I'm just going to say that when almost ALL of the vendors that I deal with tell you the same thing that I stated above you have to know it's not just me. I will come back and agree that the worst thing anyone could do is remove the bladder from that R can. The way that cell hangs down in the back you are just asking for a Pinto bonfire re-creation if you do that...I haven't had one of the R cells leak yet but when I do I won't deal with them to rebuild it. When I get some time after Sebring I will call ATL and talk with them about the repair of one of these cells.Dose anyone know if they are leaking at a seam.I replaced all the gaskets in my #99R cell before I put it back in the car and I remember the one that was in my car had a lot of seams in it. They do make a bladder repair kit that you can get from HRP that only cost about 15 bucks that I have fixed a cell or two in the past with but I just don't have that much experence with the R cell.I'm going to say it one more time. THE BIGGEST BUNCH OF JERKS I EVER DELT WITH......

 

[93SVTCobra]

Gary,

You are aware that Fuel Safe and ATL are the same company, right?

Most of the failures I've seen relate to the actual bladder material getting hard and cracking.

Over the last 9 years I think I have bought over 30 Cobra R cells from Fuel Safe and have never had an issue with them. IMO their most knowledgeable rep left about two years ago and know I know more about the Cobra R cell than they do now to the point that they frequently send people my way to have questions answered.

 

[Robert M]

I'm with you on this Mark. Aluminum is too soft and the cell is way too exposed to use as a fuel tank without the bladder installed. Use a stock Mustang fuel tank. If you have to have the "look" of the fuel cell, why not fab an aluminum shell to go over the stock tank?

Those were my thoughts also. The gauge of the tank seemed to be too soft/flexible and "if" there were to be an accident, it would colapse and rupture very easily spewing fuel all over and a probably fire. It was not worth a $2K savings to take the chance of killing myself or whoever hit me in the rear while I was driving on the street.

One other issue...........the amount of extra "fuel weight" 20 gallons vs. whatever the car was originally designed for, that will slosh from side to side and front to rear, even on the street.

R

 

[SnakeBit 50]

As a newbie, what am I to be looking for exactly? My 00 Cobra R has 3,200 original miles now. Drives great - and I don't see anything leaking.

Is this a problem that will certainly happen to me sometime soon? What is the cost to fix the problem if it were to occur (and I'd have to have a dealership help me, as I'm not a handy-man).

Thanks guys-

 

[Robert M]

As a newbie, what am I to be looking for exactly? My 00 Cobra R has 3,200 original miles now. Drives great - and I don't see anything leaking.

Is this a problem that will certainly happen to me sometime soon? What is the cost to fix the problem if it were to occur (and I'd have to have a dealership help me, as I'm not a handy-man).

Thanks guys-

When you see the dreaded drip under the fuel cell, you will know that it is time. When you go out in your garage and smell a strong odor of raw fuel, at first you will think to yourself, it must be the lawn mower, but then when you realize that everything is fine with the mower, you will know that the tick, tick, tick clock has run out, and there is raw fuel under the rear of your Cobra R. Hopefully the tank is not full. If you smoke, make it a practice to not go smoking into a closed garage that contains a Cobra R for an extented period of time with a past due fuel cell, you may open the door and the room is completely full of raw fuel vapors. If the cell drips steady, a lot of fuel can spread out on a flat floor over a short period of time. If it is a slow drip, as mine was, the previous drip would evaporate before the next, but that evaporation is filling the garage with fuel vapors. You will know when it is time.

My 95R leaked at 12 years old. Fuel Safe's certification is for 5 years if I remember correctly, so anytime after than, it could happen. There were some 00R owners who replaced their bladders in the last couple of years. It is just a matter of time. I thought that mine would go forever, the car only had 8xx original miles........

Tick, Tick Tick..............

The Ford dealership will not be the place to take a Fuel Cell issue, IMHO.

Contact Mark W. on this forum for pricing and info. regarding this issue.

R

 

[ac427cobra]

As a newbie, what am I to be looking for exactly? My 00 Cobra R has 3,200 original miles now. Drives great - and I don't see anything leaking.

Is this a problem that will certainly happen to me sometime soon? What is the cost to fix the problem if it were to occur (and I'd have to have a dealership help me, as I'm not a handy-man).

Thanks guys-

If the fuel cell is not leaking, you have nothing to worry about.

When it does start leaking go to Brown Brothers Ford in Vancouver and talk to Wayne:

Wayne Johnson
Diablosport Revolution Tuner/Dealer
Brown Bros Ford Performance Division
Brown Bros. Ford - Vancouver's Ford Lincoln Dealer

They can help you out!

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[Philcsag1]

Didn't this thread have mention of how to jumper the fuel pump using a plug in the motor compartment so you can empty the tank while in the car?

I did that and it worked AWESOME!

Tom

this only works on the 95R once they went to OBD 2 in 96 the EEC connector as we knew it is gone.

Phil

 

[GJMCAR98]

Mark
I had no idea they were the same company or I wouldn't have mentioned it. You are on the money when you say they have nobody there that knows anything about an R cell. They all but told me I was stupid when I told them there R cell wasn't a drop in for a 99 Non Independent Rear ( GT ) Mustang and even after E-mailing them pictures of the diffrence in the fuel pump set up using a tape measurer for a refrence they still told me it would work. There is about 3 or 4 inches diffrence in the top that the pump goes to. This was the first SN95 car that I did and I figured out that you have to use the pump holder from a 94 or 95 car and swap the pump and pick-up over from the 99.There were also some other problems to make it work but I can't remember them all now... Not my idea of a drop in cell.Then I had one of there 65 race cells leak right out of the box and they told me I must have pinched it when installing it. That didn't happen. I had to buy a new bladder because they wouldn't do anything about it and I wasn't going to put a patch kit on a customers new cell.One more time for the record. WORST COMPANY I EVER DELT WITH.......BIGGEST BUNCH OF JERKS I EVER DELT WITH.....I have had a few of my vendors tell me the same thing about trying to deal with them... Gary

 

[tomshep]

When I took my bladder out it had cracked all over on the inside bottom like a dried up mud puddle. No way you could attempt a repair.

For RACING purposes they are 5 years. It seem most are lasting closer to 10 years before leaking.

Gary--sounds like they were confusing your 95R cell with an 00R cell. They are different. The 95R unit is a 100% drop in assembly. Not sure why yours was giving you problems.

Tom