Please help identify this fuel tank

[Adam McLaughlin]

Hi Guys,

Can someone up here please help me identify my gas tank? The one that I have is shown as the smaller of the two units. It has developed a leak in the last week, and when I visited the wrecking yard, they sold me the larger unit that I have parked adjacent to my tank.

Does anyone know what the larger tank actually goes to? They tried to tell me that this was a Ranger extra cab, like what I have, but I have a feeling that this is a F150 or something similar.

Adam

[MalcolmV8]

Wow they are very wrong. I've pulled my Ranger ext cab tank before and it looked like your little one. Not sure what that super long one is from.

[v8ranger]

It doesnt even look like your sending unit will go in that tank. Is there an option for your truck for a bigger tank? If you have the room and want to put a new sending unit in it I would say use it. But other than that it look way wrong. It does however look like the straps are in the same place. Where does your tank leak??? I didnt think plastic tanks had a problem with leaks.
I would love to have a bigger tank in my Ranger. With the supercharger on it now, I get like 12 miles per gallon, on a good day, lol. Mine is only a 16 gallon tank.

[cgrey8]

My 89 Ranger has the same tank your truck has (the smaller tank). However I believe my 97 Ranger Supercab has that longer tank. As I recall, the 97 has a 21 gallon tank vs my 89 Ranger's 16 gallon. I've run the level down to when the gas light comes on and it filled with 19+ gallons. I suspect the longer tank is an optional upgrade for the newer Rangers.

But I agree, it doesn't appear that your sending unit will go on there. The lip doesn't look right. I've never pulled the bed off of my 97 to see if the sending unit and all that looks the same as my 89. So I couldn't say whether its different or not. But I wouldn't be surprised if the newer pressure-sensing gas tanks for the EEC-Vs were different. If you find a sending unit that will fit in the larger tank but connect and hook up to the truck like stock, I'd personally find it worth it to buy a new sending unit just to have that larger tank.

[94stranger]

it looks like a '93 and up ex cab tank and the smaller one looks like a reg. cab one. in my '93 ranger its big and bulky like that I think never had it out completly since I'd have to pull my rear end to drop my tank since the long skinny part in the front of the long tank hangs over the hanger bearing crossmember.

[MalcolmV8]

My 94 Ranger had a 20 gallon tank but I don't recall it looking that long. Maybe that is a Ranger tank and just looks super long in the picture?

[v8ranger]

That tank looks like its 1 1/2 to 2 foot longer. Wierd shaped tank for a Ranger. Guess I havent seen a tank in a "newer" Ranger lol.

[94stranger]

I could be wrong it does look longer but it kinda does look right, I think!

[Adam McLaughlin]

Thanks for your help guys. I returned the extra long fuel tank and exchanged it for a shorter version. The extra long edition was a little more than 12" longer than the tank that came out of my truck.

I even had a couple of thoughts to convert my truck to this style, and then decided against it.

Anyways, the matching - size tank is now in the truck. I installed it with two modifications.

A. The rock shield around the tank is a little bit smaller, especially where it wants to ride adjacent to the cab floor. I believe that this pressure and vibration are what caused the tank shield mounting knobs to crack the tank case AND make it leak. I had this leak problem after I removed the 3" body lift on my truck. My theory is that the energy suspension body mounts are a little smaller than the rubber and steel editions that they replaced. With a little less clearance, the cab wanted to sit on the rock shield and then force it down, thus cracking the plastic.

B. I installed a 2' jumper for the pressure, return and EVAP hoses between their frame mounting points and the tank. This allowed me to connect the hoses with the tank on the ground, and then work the tank up into it's frame corner mounting spot. I also had a MUCH easier time working the tank into its final position with these jumpers installed - a little bit of clearance goes a long way towards making things fit. I also coiled the hoses around on top of the tank access cover to keep the hoses from vibrating against a frame and chaffing or getting pinched between two hard things.

Anyways... I was pretty happy to get this replacement unit for $50. I was pleasantly surprised about that.

Adam

[v8ranger]

Glad you got it all worked out.

[gorgo]

in case anyone is interested the tank shown is the same one i have in my 93 std long box. i was doing my brakes and look under. it is 20gals.

[cgrey8]

I think it'd be neat to have a larger tank particularly if we ever get E85 in this area and I do the conversion to use it. MPG on E85 generally goes down, but the boost in octane allows you to run a much much higher compression. I've heard that if you do engine mods to get into the 11s for compression, you can actually recoupe a LOT of the fuel economy you loose by going to E85 to start with. But the engine is at that point would be a purpose-built E85 engine that will run like crap on 93 octane pump gas. And for states that only have 91 octane, it obviously gets even worse.