draining gas tank...

[aar0s]

car is still stumbling and backfiring under part throttle. there are no codes coming up. I'm starting to wonder if there's not something in the gas tank. There is a little oil around the intake, looks like the intake might be leaking a little so I'm going to have to fix that. A buddy thinks that maybe the fpr is going bad, i pulled the vac line (with the engine off, should it be running?) to see if i could smell fuel in the vac, negative. i was told that a fpr that was bad would put fuel in the vac line.
so, other than running it dry, is there a way to drain the tank that don't require me to get a mouthful of gas?

 

[HISSIN50]

If it only runs poorly under part throttle (but not idle or WOT), why would you think there's something in the tank? There's a sock on the pump assembly that acts like a filter.

If you were losing fuel, you should generate lean/O2 codes.

Ironically, running it dry would probably kill your fuel pump. Fuel lubricates and cools the pump.

 

[aar0s]

because it seems to be worse as the tank gets closer to empty.

 

[HISSIN50]

because it seems to be worse as the tank gets closer to empty.

But if it's only happening at part-throttle, that's a part-throttle issue, not an issue with the fuel system.

 

[aar0s]

Id like to pull some of the fuel out of it, catch it in a jar and see if it separates to see if i have more water (or whatever) in the tank than a bottle of gas dry can handle.
If its not a fuel problem what could be causing it if no codes are showing?