Had a wild thought. While stumbling around on the net I ran up on rebuilding the fuelbowl. It claimed the o-rings could leak. Could the o-rings be leaking inside the fuelbowl and the fuel treatment causing them to seal? What do you think?

 

You can't use a parts store code reader. You have to use something like auto enginuity, snap on mt2500, or a few others.

 

Kind of had my doubts about those code readers. Just wondering, why aren't they good enough. My guess is the one I would need wouldn't come cheap. Wonder if it would be worth it to purchase one or better off taking it to a shop to let them check it. I would hope this would be something I would seldom need in which case a shop might be my best option.

 

I would get a cheap hand held tire gauge - and a buddy - to stab the shraider valve ( IPR area) and get a idea where your pressure is at idle. careful hanging over the engine.

 

Well around here shops charge $50 - $80 for a diagnosis. AE is ~$360 from RiffRaff for the Ford Bundle. I don't know about the snap on but I'd expect it to be more than that. So around here the AE would pay for itself in 5 - 8 shops visits. There's also the Aeroforce Scangauge that pulls codes, does CCT, injector buzz tests, and streams live data and I believe to be the cheapest option. Where are you located?

 

I'm in Rome,Ga. Wonder if anything would show up when it's running normally?

 

From what I read it seems like it might be a good idea to put new seals in the fuel bowl anyway. I'm leaning toward doing that first before I do anything else. What do you think on that?

 

First of all, let me reinforce what these guys have said and confirm that the cheap parts store code readers won't communicate with the PCM in your truck so you won't get any codes that way. If the check engine light has come on, unless you have disconnected the batteries or cleared the coeds, they are still stored in the PCM.

A couple things to try: Check the fuel pressure like has been suggested. Use a cheap stick style tire gauge (just make sure it goes to 100 PSI or so). You can check it on the side of the fuel bowl at the Schradeder valve. Here is a picture:


You're looking for 60 PSI plus.

Another thing you need to do (provided you did replace the fuel filter already) is to clean the FPR. If there was junk in the tank, it probably got to the bowl as well, and if it did, the FPR screen may be clogged. There are two ways to clean the screen. One is to remove the two bolts that hold the FPR onto the fuel bowl and clean it out good while it is off. However, doing this may cause you to need to replace the FPR o-ring when you reinstall the FPR. The other method is to cut the cotton off the end of a cotton swab, remove the fuel filter from the bowl, then reach the stick of teh cotton swab into the hole behind the FPR and carefully scrape the junk off the screen. I am betting this is part of your issue.

As far as the o-rings go, there is nothing in the fuel bowl that can leak internally. The only reason to rebuild the bowl with new o-rings is if it is leaking into the valley on top of the engine. It's your call though. Get the o-rings through Bob (guzzle) at dieselorings.com or through Clay at Riffraff diesel. Either way they're all the same o-rings (Bob sells them to Clay) and they are better than OEM quality. Honestly, even if the bowl isn't leaking, removing it, cleaning it out thoroughly and putting new o-rings in it might be a good PM practice. It isn't all that expensive and it will eliminate several potential problems if you do so. Do yourself a favor and install new fuel lines and clamps at the same time. Use SAE30R9 hose and some Fuel Injection style clamps.

Welcome to the site! Stick around and we will have you modding that thing in no time!

 

Welll, so much for my wild thought. I noticed the holes in the screen in the tank was awfully big. I assumed the filter was catching the smaller stuff. Didn't know about the other screen. I agree that I think it would be good PM to rebuild the bowl. But I think I'll try your route first. I was already trying to figure out when I could find the time to do it. Got a ton of things to do and it's been MUCH too hot to do much outside. Mornings is about all you can do. I'll get the stuff together to do this and plan to rebuild it sometime later. It is 16 years old and I would imagine those seals could fail at anytime. I'll try to get things together today and jump on it tomorrow. Speaking of mods, I would like to improve the airflow. It is stock.

 

I've got it back on the untreated front tank for now. It'll probably run 50 miles or so before it acts up. Think I'll check the pressure when it acts up and when I put it back on the treated tank. Not sure what it'll tell me, but it might be interesting to find out.

 

Probably a stupid question but have you drained the fuel bowl? There is a yellow lever on the passenger side of the front of the fuel bowl that opens the drain valve. You may have some water in the bowl if you haven't drained it.

And again, have you replaced the fuel filter?

Draining the bowl should be step 1.
Replacing the filter should be step 2
Cleaning the FPR, step 3 (or reverse 2 and 3 and do them at the same time).

As far as better filtration goes, here is what most of us are running. They flow A LOT and the replacement filters can be bought from Riffraff or through your local NAPA.

Riffraff Diesel: RDP 6637 Filter Kit
These 6637 kits work really well and you can't beat the price (less than $100). You can also assemble your own kit and just buy the filter at NAPA, but you won't get the fancy schmancy pre-filter sock.

 

I've drained the bowl and changed the filter 2 or 3 times. Haven't done the screen yet. Thanks for the tip on the airflow system. Could you guys tell any difference?

 

I could tell a difference. You hear a lot more intake sound, you can hear the turbo spool a lot better (although gutting the cat will make a bigger difference) and the spool up seemed to happen a little quicker.

 

Cat? What cat? All my truck has is the pipe from the manifold and they come together under the truck into what I guess would be a 4" pipe. The pipe stops at the bed. I've been wanting to run 2 pipes from that point out from under the truck to try and get some of the noise out of the cab.

 

Yeah, sorry reading and responding to too many threads at once. If you've gutted the cat the intake will help, but not a huge "Wow! That's awesome!" kind of help.