Time to make the first installment on the repay for all the insight gained over the past few months of ownership.

Noticed the drip on the ground under the bell housing a while back and did some thread searching. Got an o-ring kit but leak persisted. tightened the banjo bolt but the valley was still damp. Better Half made a 100 mile trip and consumed over 1/2 of the rear tank so figured I couldn't afford to defer the repair any longer.

Verified the lift pump wasn't leaking at its "weep hole" via mirror and paper towel inspections, both running and standing.

Suspected the driver's side of the bowl as the electrical connectors were "slippery" when looking for leaks....never did witness a drop leak from there though. so plan was developed to fix this for at least another 100K and use that rewarding K-I-S-S principle.

Removed fuel bowl and stripped it down. Measured the WIF thread pitch and tried to verify it with bolts and taps. 7/16 x 20 was a 'sloppy fit' and the metric tap set was in the other truck. found the metric pitch gauge and found the 1.25mm pitch gauge fit well. Decided it was 12mm x 1.25 but couldn't find that bolt in the fastener stock. Did find a clean 1/2 x 20 bolt so drill out the WIF port and threaded it for this bolt. bolt installed with threadlocker, hand tightened to 'snug'.

Now how to eliminate the heater connection (t-stat ?)??? Plan was to use a 1/2 NPT plug but upon measuring the existing bore, it was already too large. Oh ^$@$%, now what???

Found the hole to be about 0.83" in diameter...searching thru the 'leftovers' bins, I found an old, unused freeze plug. turned out it was for a 1" hole. Checked my favorite parts catalog and found 7/8" was next size smaller. A quick run to the local parts store yield two.

Tried to tap the 7/8" plug into the existing bore but it was too tight. decided to taper the mouth of the bore without being able to seat the plug correctly. decided we had to open the bore in the fuel bowl. Wound up using a 7/8" paddle bit (yes, I cringed at the thought initially but it went very well - I suspect to the gentle taper I had created earlier). Test fit the plug and was happy with the result. Applied thread locker and seated the plug.

It has been over two weeks and over 1000 miles. Valley is still dry as it the bell housing.

My suggestion is that if you need to service the fuel bowl, do some upfront research and decide what you can eliminate and do it all at once. Not having unique parts is really a good thing. In addition to the above, I found adding a 90 street EL, under the Schrader valve, made it much easier to obtain a fuel pressure reading. Only regret is having to take the bowl out more than once.

Last MPG calculation produced 21.6 - all highway, over in the flat country, with the air temp right @ 100 deg, F, and the ac on MAX. Couple hundred pounds in the back - no trailer.

Hope this helps

 

First post with such good info. Welcome to fte and thanks for the full writeup.

 

Welcome to FTE!!! glad you got it all fixed and leak free w/ good MPG afterwards as well. did you clean the FPR screens while it was out as well???

 

Yes, cleaned the FPR screen and the "packed s/s ribbon" strainer, too, when the bowl was out the first time, for new o-rings.

Think I have a jpg of the bowl after the mods; will try to locate it and post later tonight.

Thanks for the welcomes.

 

Good info for you guys. Thanks for choosing FTE and WELCOME. Reps sent to ya for the write-up.

Another bit of useful info:
I had a leak out the bottom of the bowl. It had a small hole in the bottom from corrosion.
I removed the bowl, cleaned it real good with degreaser and a hi pressure water hose. Let it dry. Then roughed up the surface on the outside of the bowl. Applied JB weld or similiar over the hole and the surrounding area. It lasted for close to a year till I removed the bowl for electric fuel.

Others I have read on here did the same thing and have been running for years with this type of repair.

 

Thanks Neal!

I tried to post the pic last night but found I am restricted (rookie status). Anyhow, using the ONLY method currently available, here is a link to the Post Mod fuel bowl:


I read about the "corroded thru" bowls but, surprisingly, had none of that phenomena on mine. Just what i can only describe as a mix of snot and sand & grit with a couple water drop rolling on the bottom. The bowl was replaced asI found the date code on it and it was eleven months beyond when my truck was assembled. No idea when the swap occured.

 

Welcome aboard! Darn good idea!

 

Ditto.

you also may want to eliminate the fuel restriction sensor with a 1/8" NPT plug.

Rep sent for the writeup and the fuel bowl MOD.

BTW I also used JB weld i the bottom of the cannister and has been working fine since.

 

Thanks Geep!

Don't worry, I saved the pipe plug from the temp sensor install for when the vacuum switch decides to act up.

 

so whats up with all of the gmc ads on a ford site? hoping for a conversion?

 

thank you for the tips and info on fuel leaks. my 95 has recently developed a leak after sitting all winter. not sure yet where it's coming from though it looks like the top rear of the motor. fuel filter?

 

Top rear could be fuel pump, fuel lines, fuel filter bowl... everything drains towards the back of the engine. I had a leak from my fuel filter bowl recently. Put new o-rings and lines on it and it's fixed.

 

I know this is old but does anyone know what this does or could explain how to do it a little better.

Fixina get into mine and don't wanna miss anything.

Also when I use JB weld I put a layer of fiberous material down then coat jb weld over for dramatic strength increase

 

The fuel restriction sensor just turn on the fuel filter light in the diesel light cluster when the filter gets clogged (or at least it is supposed to). Mine never worked and IA have clogged a couple filters to the point that the truck started to run poorly, so I just plugged the bowl and removed the sensor when I rebuilt my fuel bowl. The sensor is a common leak point as well, and since mine obviously didn't work like it should I just plugged it off.

Good advice on the JB weld as well. A piece of fiberglass mat or something sounds like a good idea.

 

Ok thx for the info. I just replace my sensor when it was leaking fuel. Wish I woulda just plugged it. So the OP also plugged the water in fuel sensor and some type of heater connection? I guess these are all unneeded as well?

Are there any other mods or helpful hints I'm missing. I'm gonna look into the electric fuel I heard mentioned. I need to do the injector pump as well soo, now's the time