well i replaced the rotted fuel lines today. last time i got a diesel bath underneat the truck so i drained the lines until they stoped leaking fuel. I guess tanks are empty. I put in five gallons and now i'm not getting fuel to the filter or out shraeder valve.

Is 5 gallons enough to get fuel uP? i went underneath and that front tank is awfully long. Nothing is going easy with this truck.

 

Did you fill up the fuel filter and crack open all the injectors and crank till u see fuel? That's what I'd try

 

x2

and just for grins...are you sure you have that tank selected? Just have to ask.

Thad

 

Are you sure the lines are connected right? Another thing to double check just in case.
5 gallons should be plenty in the front tank. It will draw down to just about nothing, unless the fuel pickup is broken off. But you also have to think, if it worked before you dropped the lines, you shouldn't even have to put any fuel back in, the lines don't hold that much.

I'll x3 for filling the fuel filter up, make sure the batteries are well charged, and do a few more cycles of cranking. It may take quite a while to suck all the way through totally empty lines. If you have a vacuum brake bleeder, hook it up at the fuel pump and see if you can prime the line that way. Then you could at least know you can pull the fuel from the tank.

 

Damn Tec, never thought about using a vaccum brake bleeder for priming the fuel lines/filter. Simple enough, and I have one here somewhere!! Thanks for the suggestion!

 

That jumps out to me, both of my tanks have that cheap-o plastic pickup broken off, I have to have a 1/2 a tank of fuel just to start.

 

yes on selector. I let the line run out until it stopped about 15 gallons came out seems the selector switch didnt matter because the fuel kept coming.

Yes i filled the filter. But i'm not getting fuel to the filter. usually air or fuel will come out the schraeder. I'll get another 5 gallons today give it another shot. If it don't work i'll try using a marine primer or vacuum pump. If that don't work i'll buy an electric pump.

tec god draw down to nothing? i don't know that tank has to be 5 or 6 feet long.

 

I'd dump more fuel in it too, the higher the level, the easier it will be to get it moving.

Here's another option....fill the filter, then fire the engine, and rev it as soon as you can....it may stumble, but if the lift pump is working, it should keep going, though you may have to do it a couple times. If not, I'd be suspect of the lift pump.

If the lines were rusted/rotted, they may have taken the pump out.

 

yes they were rusted bad i was thinking the same thing but there no pressire to get the fuel to the ip pump. i'll post back later.

thanks

 

15 gallons came out of where???? Do you mean you took the line off and thats how much drained out? If so, you must have had the end of the line under the level of the tank and it siphoned it completely out. I hope you collected that 15 gallons in something so you can just dump it back in the tank. And if you did, why didn't you dump it all back into the tank? In any event 5 gallons is plenty in the tank.

Yah I know the tank is long, and it has a depression at the bottom where the fuel sender draws from. The way the sender is designed, its pressed up to the bottom of the tank so it can suck all the way to almost the last drop. Theoretically, sitting on flat ground, I would imagine that you could draw down to maybe a cup or two of fuel in the tank before it would suck air. In the real world you need more than that because the fuel will slosh around when you're driving.
If you think about it, why the hell would Ford design it so that when its empty and can't suck anymore, there would still be several gallons sitting in the tank. That would just be stupid. I know it can suck pretty low, its been tested. I ran the truck past E one time and barely made it to a gas station. pumped in a bit over 16 gallons (I have the smaller ~16 gallon front tank). Just as I was leaving the station, it stalled out. Turns out it was sucking air as I was pulling in and literally just made it. After a few rounds of cranking it did start back up again. But it took 2-4 attempts (waiting for the starter to cool a bit inbetween). Luckily I had pulled up to a red light when it stalled and noone was behind me. So yes it can suck the tank almost bone dry.

I would try a marine primer or vacuum pump on the line that goes to the fuel pump. If you can get fuel out of it, then you know the lines are good. If you cant get any fuel there, then you know there is a problem either at the selector valve, or the lines you ran.

If you get fuel there, hook up the pump and make sure the fuel filter was filled (fill it first, then try sucking the fuel up) then see if it will run. I wouldn't give up on the fuel pump yet, with a cold engine, and empty lines, it probably takes a good while to get it all primed again.

 

It's not a matter of design, there is a cheap little plastic pickup filter on the end of the pick up tube. It becomes brittle and brakes off thereby making your pickup tube several inches shorter than it should be.
I am currently working on my own tanks, the rear one was broken completely off and the front one was so bad it fell off when I removed the sending unit. My rear tank had to be over half full to just pick up full, the front one would run to just past half a tank.

From: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...owner-faq.html


Rear Tank Not pumping all the fuel? - Diesel Forum - TheDieselStop.com

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...k-issue-3.html

 

Yes I know all that. And if the OP drained 15 gallons out of his tank, he obviously doesn't have that problem as it couldn't have siphoned that much out of a fuel line.
My point is that if he was siphoning the gas out using the fuel line to the pump it was sucking through the stock sender. When it stopped, air got to the bottom of the sender. At that point you have to add at least enough fuel to get about the bottom of the sender before you can suck fuel again. If the pickup was broken off, it would have stopped sucking at 1/4 tank where its broken. Adding 5 gallons would get the fuel in the tank OVER the broken part and it could suck fuel again.

Now if he stuffed a random piece of fuel line down the filler tube and siphoned the diesel out that way, then I'm wrong. However, I doubt he would have been able to stick a tube in far enough in the right place to suck out 15 gallons, but I might be wrong. If I'm wrong I'll shut up and let someone else figure this out.

Lets think of it this way:
Take a glass and fill it with your favorite beverage. Put a straw in it at any level, and hold it there. Suck (drink) until you suck air from the straw. How much fluid do you have to add before you can start sucking again? Basically very little because the bottom of the straw is barely above the level of the fluid.
If the straw is at the bottom of the glass, its like the stock sender. If the straw is only halfway from the bottom, thats like the broken sender. It sucks until it reaches air, then stops. In both cases you need the same amount of fluid to get above the end of the straw.
Does that make sense?

 

hello my friends.

yes i couldn't start it of course it started fine before thatg but the day i'm going to put it into the field and it blocking my path it won't start. so i was thinking maybe there was a leak in line because they were wet. i have it a wiggle and the line broke spraying me with diesel. I couldn't get it to stop because i couldn't lift it higher than tank. I ran out and grabbed some 5 gallon pails and let it go til it stopped.

I didn't have covers for it so i used the fuel in my VW

I used a 3/8 to 3/8 brass barb fiiting in the plastic line. then i used rubber black hose to connect it to the new metal tubing. So either it need to be turned over more or i still have a problem with the line. I got another 5 gallons which might help if i still can't get it going ill pull the line off the barb fitting and see if it's getting that far.

Another 5 gallon should help gravity push the fuel up. I forgot to get a marine primer. I'll post tomorrow.

After this if i get it running the tranny lines are shot also and power steering and oil pan. But i just got a nice f450 rolling frame to switch everything over one day if she turns out to be a good running truck.


I like the straw scenario but these lift pump only have 5lbs of sucking power and the straw in class is a few inches. try sucking water up using a 10 foot straw in a glass of water.

 

well added another 5 then another 5 to rear tank still nothing. pulled off the line nothing. blew into it heard some air and bubble but nothing came out. decided to craddles the ***** and sucked the line mouth full of diesel and another bath. connected it back together cranked truck over and nothing. went back underneath disconnected at fuel pump nothing sucked on it got mouth of diesel right away. connected it again nothing.

disconnected and ran straight to 2 liter botte with clear line ...cranked nothing. amazing how a ;lift pump just goes bad ****ling amazing.

 

unreal this truck is rotting from outside in. fuel pump has hole in it.

new jersey mud is worse than west va ohio mud. never leave your truck on mud for 6 years


i took the sender out of the front tank from another truck but i broke the damn plastic part where the float arm goes in. Is there any way to fix that?? the pick up looks like steel to me??? unless it's missing plastic tube??








unreal this truck is rotting from outside in.

new jersey mud is worse than west va ohio mud. never leave your truck on mud for 6 years!