Hello all,.....need help.....Had an accident with my 2003 f350 7.3 about a month ago...fuel tank wasn't damaged ,but, when I picked up the truck, body man said he ran out of fuel bringing it in for realinement and, gauge read 1/4 tank.....so, I topped off tank ( took about 15 miles for gauge to read full...registered full real slow)..and ran it down over 4 days....get to 1/4 tank and truck ran out again! ( had a can of fuel just in case) Before I spend big bucks at dealership for new sender....what simple things should I try first....use Techron...bat tank with mallet.....? any other Ideas would be welcome.....also running out of fuel like that is hard on the injectors?..........Thanks guys....."Stay Safe".......Mark

 

You may find that if drop the tank and open it up, the float may be jammed. An impact can cause them to bend or jamb into something, especially with fuel in the tank.

 

The 1/4 tank level sounds suspiciously like the symptoms that occur when the duck bill on the mixing chamber in the tank begins to harden with age and when the tank level reaches 1/4, it begins to suck air into the pickup system. It could be that the bump from the accident stirred up some junk it the tank and it is wedged into this duck bill valve.

If you search on "in tank mod" you will find some pics of what I am talking about.

 

Should have who ever fixed it fix it the rest of the way.

But like they said, sounds like the tank needs to come out.

 

Well, brought it to dealership, they dropped tank,replaced the whole fuel pump/sender assembly...($900+ later) insurance covered it (accident related)....now I can't seem to get the last 3to4 gallons of fuel into the tank with out creating a long line of vehicles behind me waiting at the pump ( bout 10 to 15 minutes).....Can,t tell if I ever get it completely full or not..... Never did that before.....Dealership is 50 miles away and I'm running out of patience.....any ideas....? ................"Stay Safe".....Mark

 

Check the vent tube for kinks

 

And if it is kinked and you can't get it out take it back to the stealership and make them fix it on their own dime and time.

 

Thanks guys for the response, I really appreciate the help ......well, I brought it back to the dealership ( 50 miles), and they said both the vent tube and the filler tube look good.....they won't have a loner car till next Mon. ....told me to run the fuel down so they can drop the tank again...... do you guys have any other ideas?? Getting tired of driving back and forth.....and now, they haven't a clue as to whats wrong.....should I trust them.....?....Thanks...."Stay Safe"..........Mark

 

Hello again guys.....Well they dropped the tank, and the mechanic told me they could find nothing wrong....blew out the vent tube, and, the fill tube and reinstalled the tank......got to thinking ....did they install the right pump/sender assembly? So, I called back and asked if they could find out for me what size fuel tank I have on the truck....he said he'd check and call back......called later and said it was 18 gal. tank......I said that doesn't sound right for a 1 ton diesel! He told me that they order parts using vin # and it should be the right part......Soooo next, I call Mrs. Tomcat and ask her to get window sticker from truck file and check fuel tank capacity.........she phones back and says....29 gals standard equip.........try getting thru to mech and get receiving guy, and tell him what I found.......he says he'll tell mechanic and have him call me back but are really busy with a lot of customers................no call.........no call....I get off work, ( do i drive the 50 miles again, fourth trip?) I call and am put on hold......20 min.......hang up....call again... will page.. put on hold again 5...10 ....15 min and salesman pics up ....tell him my story......he tells me he'll check into it and call back......hour later I get a call from svc mngr( he's splitting his time between new dealership 130 miles north, and this dealership)......asking about problem......Tell my story again......He said he'll check into it and call me back......calls back and tells me that the pump/sender assembly was the right one, that the parts guy made a mistake on the fuel tank capacity , when asked by the mechanic after I called....but that they will keep the truck another day and drop the tank again and find out whats going on....and/or fill it to see/find whats wrong.......svc mngr gives me his cell#.........says he'll call me tomorrow...............WHEW!...........Any ideas guys on what else could be wrong with this truck.......Thanks...."Stay Safe"................Mark

 

Mine had same symptoms and it was the duck bill. In tank mods took care of that for me!!

 

Hello again, ....(hey jmathews..fuel guage works since new pump/sender assembly were replaced).....but......got it back today and problem not fixed.....last 4 gallons took about 10-15 min......they told me the mechanic dropped the tank : lowered the filler tube and put back in.......svc mngr will be back next mon. and to give him a call and bring it back in......he said he'll get a ford engineer to check it out......now my question to everyone....when you fill up, do you see fuel in the filler tube when full....? ( I know that I could when full) otherwise, how can you accurately calculate fuel mileage...? Would appreciate any/all responses.....Thanks....."Stay Safe"......Mark

 

Filling up the tank in stock configuration to the point where you can see it in the neck will take extra time. I just did the Hutch and Harpoon mods to another FTE members truck and he filled it up with 34 gallons in only a few minutes. The pump shut off and he could only get another gallon or two. He said it was much faster and more quantity than before. We had about 5-6 gallons in the tank after the mod and he added 34 more just down the road. That adds up to 39-40 gallons in a 38 gallon tank. The Hutch and Harpoon will definitely help your problem. Foaming of the diesel at the pump is a problem. That may very well be what you are experiencing.

 

If you are going to keep the truck long term, getting the intank work done is a great choice especially with your current issues. It seems some trucks have high mileage and clean screens and other lower mileage trucks like mine had badly clogging screens (link below). My thought is you never know when you are going to get some dirty diesel or how clogged the in tank screens may be getting. Too bad I do not yet have a fuel pressure gauge for pre and post pressure numbers but I am sure they are improved especially under a towing load or WOT.

As Ken described, when I filled up after the in-tank work there was only one click instance of pump shut off. It occured 2 gallons before completely full. Fill of the last 2 gallons was very quick and there was no pump click off during that time.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...r-screens.html

 

Well, had to bring the truck back again, and brought along a copy of Guzzle's harpoon mod instructions.... They couldn't think of anything else to try so....they conferred with a Ford engineer, and he told them to go ahead with the mod because he was stumped as to why it was kicking out the pump, and didn't have any other ideas as to how to solve the problem. Well I'm here to tell you it worked great! Pump kicked out once.....twice.....full up the filler tube.....!!!!!You guys are great! Soon as I can get my shed built, I'm going to start to do my own wrenching on this truck.........Thanks......"Stay Safe".....Mark

 

As i read through this my thoughts were 1) fuel pick-up, 2) gauge sender and 3) hutch and harpoon.

Glad you got it going.