the Carwash vacumn system. is it okay to......?

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

Are you talking about pleated paper type filters? I have always been afraid to get those wet. On water vacuum jobs, I pull them out.

I did buy a spiffy fiber type that was meant to be washable. Looked like the kind of element the K&N car filters have.

As to the free car wash vacuums, I say go for it. Beats the cloud of dust from the air hose in the driveway.

Yep, the paper ones...my vac is a 6.5 hp ridgid brand from home depot, but the same technique worked with my old Sears vac...which kinda died after I backed my old pickup over it...forgetting I'd left it there. They are wet/dry vacs, designed to suck moisture, so the paper ones wash out well. They can take days to fully dry though. During cold weather, once the filter is done dripping, I just put it over a house heater floor vent....they dry pretty quickly then.

[unclebilly]

In university I didn’t have much money. I still don’t but I had a lot less then.

I rebuilt a 88 Toyota 4Runner that was a rollover with only 6000 kms on it. It was a multi year project.

Part of getting it going after it sat for the better part of 10 years was replacing a crusty, seized in tank fuel pump. When I finally got it on the road, after the first few tanks of gas, I figured a good thing to do was to put in a bottle of fuel system cleaner... bad idea.

This resulted in all of the rust in the fuel tank coming loose and plugging the fuel filter on a daily basis. I actually added a Racor fuel filter so I could drain the sediment as needed.

The good thing about this vehicle was that there was a tank access panel under the rear seat that could be removed which allowed access to the 5 or 6 screws on the top of the fuel tank to remove a ~4.5” cover that was integral with the fuel pump mount and tank sensing unit...

One day, after several daily fuel filter sediment bowl removals, I decided that I should run the tank low in gas, remove the remaining gas, and vacuum out the sediment from the tank with a shop vac... one problem, I didn’t have a shop vac and being a poor engineering student, I couldn’t afford to buy one either.

Then I decided to try the car wash vacuum at the local Payless gas station.

My then girlfriend, now wife and I pulled in there one HOT afternoon, she went to the ice cream shop next to the gas station and got 2 10L ice cream pails while I removed the tank access panels... when she came back with the pails, I began scooping fuel from the tank with a yogurt container that was small enough to fit through the access hole...

We removed about 10L of gas and put it about 20’ away. I then put my quarter into the vacuum and began operation sediment removal... this went great for maybe 20 seconds before the flames started to shoot out of the top of the vacuum...

We frantically put the hose back and pushed the 4-runner away from the vacuum which we couldn’t shut off. They run in a timer and it ran and ran and ran... it ran for my full 25 cent interval...

One of the gas station attendants saw the black smoke billowing out of the vacuum and came over to ask if it was on fire... I told him that I was pretty sure that it was indeed on fire... he told me that some idiot must have sucked a plastic bag into it again.

We nonchalantly poured our gas back into the gas tank, buttoned up the access panel and drove home where I dropped the tank and pulled out an icecream pail of sediment, rinsed it out with water, and reinstalled the tank.

It never acted up again after that.

The vacuum was out of order for about a month and the paint was completely burnt off of the top of it and all rusty... damn those cursed idiots who suck plastic bags up into car wash vacuums...

[pwd72s]

Now, THAT'S a FUNNY story!

[vash]

My friend now feels better... wow.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

The good thing about this vehicle was that there was a tank access panel under the rear seat that could be removed which allowed access to the 5 or 6 screws on the top of the fuel tank to remove a ~4.5” cover that was integral with the fuel pump mount and tank sensing unit...

Blah blah blah
I once had my '88 4Runner not start in the parkinglot of an Arbys, while driving home. To Arizona. From Chicago...

Ended up tearing quite a bit of the fuel system apart in said parkinglot overnight, including the easily accessible fuel pump, which, yes, was under the fold away rear seat.

The real adventure was when a local cop decided to check out WTF I was doing at 1am in the Arby's parkinglot. He wanders up, and proceeds to light a cigarette, all while my fuel pump is sitting exposed my tank was wide open. Um, dude, can you stand, like, over there while you lecture me about private property?

[speeder]

FWIW, I clean my shop vac filters regularly by simply dropping them on the pavement from 3-4’ off the ground, turning them and dropping them on all sides. Sometimes I knock them against the inside of the trash can or dumpster, which is great until you drop it in the almost empty dumpster.

You need to close the lid and walk away a couple times while the dust settles and an N95 mask is not a bad idea if you have one handy but it works great. Just takes a little patience and a few minutes and they are good as new w no water involved or compressed air. I have water, compressor and other vacuums all available at my shop and this is the method I use. You will have a nice pile of dust to sweep up if you use the pavement. Just drop it or knock it perfectly on the sides, IOW, top and bottom of cylinder hitting the surface together.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by vash

My friend now feels better... wow.

Betcha the guy who owned that car wash doesn't

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

In university I didn’t have much money. I still don’t but I had a lot less then.

I

Hilarious story! Man, the things we did when we were young...

[Mike Andrew]

Self serve carwashes...… Who knows what gets washed off or sucked up there. Lots of things cleaned there that would not be cleaned at home.

Buddy had a late 60's Chevy wagon and was bar hopping with another buddy who had already well exceeded his limit and was semi passed out on the back seat. As the car rounded a curve, chocking, gagging and retching sounds came from the back seat as dinner and a dozen shots and beers poured forth all over the rear interior.
Fortunately, a car wash was nearby and the driver, gagging himself at this point, managed to roll into a vacant bay. He opened the door and wanded down the retcher as well as the vinyl interior and then proceeded to the vacuum where he sucked up water and food particles. Canister must have smelled great when emptied. The retcher was driven home and the car left to vent and dry overnight on a 0 degree night. That seat and floor had ice until Spring and stunk until he totaled it

[A930Rocket]

I use the multi prong method: bang on the inside of the trash can, hose spray off the outside and then reverse wash it from the inside. Let it sit in the sun until dry.

In an emergency, I reinstall it, thinking that the flowing air will dry it out. Seems to work.