Overheating Fuel Tank.

["therealdmcvegas" <DMCVegas@xxxx>]

So far, my car has been ok thru the early summer heat. But 
Tuesday I had to make a trip across town forr my job. And I had 
the car parked outside the whole day. Long story short, my fuel 
pump became quite noisy. So much so to the point where I coulf 
feel the vibration from the fuel line thru the center console! 
Durring this time, I also noticed that my voltage took a severe 
drop @ idle. With the A/C on, and the fan on speed 2, the needle 
was down to the 2nd mark on the voltmeter! Usually I can only 
hit that mark with the fan on 4, rear defroster, and all clearance 
lamps & high beams on! So, my guess is not that the fuel hose 
is collapsing ( there is a spring installed), but that the excess 
heat in the tank is causing the internals of the pump to expand, 
and thus grind making the sound. The kicker though, was this. 
When I parked the car for 20 minutes, and got back in, the sound 
was worse! After driving about 4-5 miles, it did quiet back down a 
bit. But did not improve from where it was before. With the 
exception of after I parked the car, and until the fuel cooled a bit, 
the accelleration on my car was fine.

Now, from all this, I have determined the following:
1. A noisy fuel pump isn't always due to a collapsing fuel pick-up 
hose.
2. Air flow from the front radiator is NOT heating the fuel. When I 
stopped the air flow, the noise became worse. It wasn't until I 
restored air flow that there was a sign of cooling.

So, I've determined that the heat MUST be comming from the 
coolant pipes that run along the sides of the fuel cell (I do 
believe that Walt mentioned this one before). So, now I have the 
following questions. I've seen ads that giving a ceramic coating 
to exhaut pipes helps to keep the heat inside of them, and 
reduces the heat in the engine compartment. Does this really 
work? If so, can I expect the same results for the two sections of 
pipe next to the tank? This is the only "safe" solution that comes 
to mind. I've no idea what kind of a reaction household insulation 
would have with high water temps and/or chemicals found in 
that region of the car.

Venting the tank to air flow is another entire possibility, but I have 
concerns about aerodynamics and compromising the integrity of 
the plate protecting the tank on the bottom.

Ideas?

-Robert
vin 6585 "X"