I bought my reservior valve on-line at Townsley Ford for about $100 less. Shipping was fast, no sales tax. Because it comes from Ford, it carries a 1 year warantee.
Copy and paste:
Service & Parts - Tousley Ford - White Bear Lake Auto Repair - Truck & SUV

 

Thank you subford. You have given me some hope on this issue. I called Allstate Ford hear in Louisville since the the ford plant is right down the road the part will be slightly cheaper at $232.55, but i will try and clean mine that way when i spend the 135 and 150 and the brand spankin new fuel tanks i will just replace that as well along with the fuel lines and filters in tank and in line. This was my grandfathers van and it has a lot of sintimental value to me, plus i found one the same year with 250000 miles for four grand last night so i think it is still worth it to get fixed(that was in horrible condition). When I do get around replacing the tanks my front will not register the fuel level how do i go about fixing that? I know it is not the gauge that has a problem, because the rear tank registers.

 

More than likely the sender in the tank. But it is welded to same thing the pump is welded too.

 

Guys,

I did tear it down and could find nothing wrong that was visible. It was still plugged up, barely letting air thru to reservoir when I blew on it. Operated diaphragm manually both ways to see if had even one side that would work, but one side completely blocked and other barely passed air to output line (towards main fuel pump on chassis).

So I bit the bullet and gave Ford dealer a little over $200 for another one. Got it installed this afternoon and it started right up.

Still glad to learn all that I did while reading all of your posts. Thanks again for input and thanks again Subford for that fantastic post.

Oh, the sawed off 3/8" bolts worked like a charm for stopping the fuel flow from the two supply lines from the two tanks. I honestly think they would have run until those tanks had both been siphoned empty had I not used my two home made plugs to stop them. My truck was in my basement driveway when it broke down, so I was working lying on the ground under it. Awkard is the word. I did put a bottle jack under the drivers side frame to raise it 2" for comfort. Still hard to get away from running fuel in a situation like that. Return lines and lines going towards fuel pump did not have but a dribble in them so needed no plugs to stop them up.

 

Well i took off the top the diaphram looked great took that off then pulled the piston plate off and found my problem. it was rust it stop it up pretty bad. So bad bad that it came out all most pea size. i cleaned it out with pb i let it soak for about thirty minutes before playing with the pistons that didn't move at the start. They were surprisingly easy to move after the pb had ate though the rust. I filled it back up with pb and let it sit for another half hour just in case. Then I emptied it out and put it back together. I couldn't get all of the pb out so it was running a little funny at the start, but it is running. I am glad I didn't have to spend that kind of cash. So i will say this if you have rust in your tanks and you are having a problem with fuel pressure take it off and clean it. Don't replace it until the tanks are replaced.

 

Calvery24

You might consider having both tanks washed out by a radiator shop. Could be that will do the trick and save some money too.

Gerry

 

Just got a 92 F250 4WD 7.3 diesel. Bought it with intention to convert to WVO.

The second tank, being 40 gal, seems perfect for my WVO tank. As I've looked into it, it seems the tank switchover can be wonky on these vehicles. However, everything seems to be working just fine on mine.

So it seems that if I heat the tank with an in tank coil, put in a flat panel heat exchanger just outside the tank, set it up with a really nice heated racor filter/water separator, through heated lines, I can just run this line into the Tank Selector Valve, replacing the rear tank in.

What I'm unsure about is the return. Will this work without bleeding WVO into my diesel tank? It seems that if I get my Veggie up to temp by the time it hits the valve, everything should be okay..

Am I missing something?

 

Hey whisker,

My selector valve defaulted to whichever tank was selected and was pumping gas. It worked strictly on the pressure from that incoming line and the return path was automatically selected when the selector moved to either position for either tank. Sounds like you want to retain the capability for one tank to be diesel and use the biofuel for the other? Wonder if your selector valve is mechanical like mine, or is electrical?

I am wondering if the residue in the selector valve will gel up over time when the vehicle is sitting idle and cause trouble??? If so, than it may be best to make up a mechanical hand operated selector with some lines and valves to be foolproof if you want to have dual fuel capability. It is just plumbing that way and is guaranteed not to ever fail.....

Gerry

 

gsim777,

A 92 F250 4WD 7.3 diesel has the electric motor driven fuel selector valve.
It is nothing like yours, the motor driven valve also switches the fuel gauge to the selected tank.

The motor driven valve would work better than your type for what he is trying to do.
But your advice would be fool proof if he wants to go that route as I have hear of the motor driven valve getting stuck half way between tanks.

 

Subford,

I did not know which type he had. I still am thinking that the biofuel might gel and cause trouble in that part. I suppose the only way to be sure is to just do it? A lot less trouble than plumbing in the type of thing I talked about for sure. If he is committed to doing it no matter what, why not try it first anyway then????

My thoughts were that if these gadgets give trouble using the fuel they were designed for, what might hapen with a thicker fuel???

Gerry

 

Gerry,
I'll flush it with diesel before shutting down each time. Hopefully that'll clean it all up.

Hey Subford,
Do you know if I have a six port valve? What's the best way to figure out which line comes from where? I'll also be hooking in a 12v heater/filter. Best place to draw power nearby? I know little to nothing about wiring, so any hints you have help me out immensely.
Thanks very much!

 

Yes you do.
Look at the diagrams below and follow the fuel lines.
Battery ??







/

 

Most of these things have a 6 port valve to insure that the return or excess fuel goes back to the right tank. I have seen 3 port aftermarket versions, but I cannot figure out how they can get the return fuel to the right tank, unless there are two return lines coming from the fuel rail on those particular installations.

 

Hello. I'm new here, but share in the fuel system blues. I need to bounce some thoughts off of those who have been here already. 1988 F-150, gas, 302w/automatic. It was converted from 6cyl manual by previous owner if that matters.

Front tank was leaking, so removed it. It had also been filling up with fuel from the rear tank. This happened slowly, as if just gravity flowing. I know now that that selector/reservoir was the cause. When we removed the front tank, we plugged the supply, return and vent hoses. The plugged supply and return hoses are still connected to the selector valve.

About 2 weeks and a hundred miles later, just as were beginning to think that nothing else had gone wrong my son was hauling a wagon and the truck just stopped. He said no real sputtering or any warning, it just quit. We towed it to neighbor's farm and the next day, it started like nothing happened. We let it run for a few minutes and then left. Just out of the driveway, it quit again. No warning, the engine just stopped. Hauled it back again and began diagnostics. Had spark. Took the hose off of the engine side of the big filter on the left forward frame and cycled the key. Not even a drip of fuel. We could hear the high pressure pump running. Put it back together and left it there as it was getting dark and towing a black truck at night didn't sound like a good idea. The next day, we got a call from the neighbor telling us that it had been running fine for the last half hour. It ran all the way home, no problem.

Looking back, we should have started unhooking fuel lines working back from the one we did until we found fuel. That's the plan now next time it quits.

In trying to think my way through this, I've come up with some questions.

Given that the selector valve is lower than the rear tank, there must have been fuel at the inlet to HP pump. Why would it not have pumped any fuel through the filter?

Do the in-tank and HP pumps run when the engine is running? Seems like they'd have to. I gather from the rest of this thread that they run briefly when the key is first turned to pressurize the system, then shut off until it starts. In the case of the engine quitting, would they keep running?

The selector valve is bad, we know that. It it possible that something in the plugged line is building enough pressure to switch it to front tank and kill the fuel flow? If so, could I remove the valve spools so that both front and rear tank inlet ports are essentially connected together. Seems like that would pretty much make it the same as the single tank unit that subford has talked about.

Where is the fuel pump relay located.

There is a picture of a diagnostic plug on right front wheel well under the hood a few pages back in this thread. Can I use that to test and see if the pump relay is on, or what. I'm looking for a way to determine if the tank pump is powered w/o dropping the tank if troubleshooting by pulling fuel lines points me to the tank pump.

Thank You
Craig

 

They run for one second when the key is first turned to the on position.
Then the fuel pumps will run all the time the engine is cranking or running. They stop running one second after the engine quits.

No the valve will not switch from a plugged line. The selector valve only switches when fuel pressure is put on it from the running in tank pump.

Under the hood on the drivers inter fender along with the Power relay.

Yes you can ground pin #6 of the plug and turn on the key. The pumps will run as long as the key is on with the engine not running.