I guess I have never tried to run mine without the filter in it, but I have never heard that the bowl won't fill without the filter in place. I'm not saying that can't be the case, but I have never heard that before.

 

There would have to be a mechanical link between the bowl and the fuel pump for such pin to deactivate it. And the pump would have to have a mechanism in it to either disengage it or feed the fuel back through the return.

There may be a pin on the SDs that turns on/off the electric fuel pump, but their fuel systems are nothing like ours.

 

Read it somewhere ... one source here but not the one I was thinking about:

If it runs, it will likely get starved for fuel. There's a pin at the top of the filter that releases the check valve in the stand pipe that allows full flow.

From this thread ... https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...el-filter.html

 

HOT would be up to temperature - not overheating

Fuel Filter is the one with the cap lid attached - don't like the ones that are separate

Truck has a slide-in camper on it and it's on Portsmouth Island, NC (outerbanks) - no roads on island, just sand and a ferry to get you on/off (no bridges)

So if i get 20PSI on cranking, it's not a pump or supply issue, what could it be?

Is the bottom blue line on the pump the return line to the fuel bowl or does it feed back to the tanks? what i'm getting at here, is there only one place where fuel comes into the fuel bowl and if so, where is it at?

for the stand pipe, does the fuel have to come all the way to the top of the pipe to be sucked down through the filter to get the high pressure side of the fuel pump?

thanks much -- and if you got that mm size, that'd be great!

 

My truck did something similar a few weeks ago together with a slight fuel leak and I found that the hose on the bottom of the pump was cracked all the way through. What I think was happening is that as the engine warmed up the rubber softened enough to allow the hose to separate enough that it was sucking air. The truck would idle fine and was driveable but as it warmed up it felt more and more like it wasn't getting enough fuel. Turns out that hose was nearly severed in two. It would leak fuel only when I shut it off, which makes sense considering that this was the suction line.

The crank pulley takes a 24mm socket by the way. I just verified it on my truck. I told you my memory was off a millimeter or two...

 

Thanks much - have ordered some new lines just in case - all 3 of the blue ones

I thought the bottom blue line was the fuel return from the motor though - if that was leaking/severed, you'd think it'd be spewing fuel everywhere

Another question:

Ford Dealer has sold me 2 different CPS in the past

F7TZ-12K073B which is gray and then the same # but a C at the end which is a black sensor -- I just put the C one in the F250 last week when this started....the Ford Dealer today told me they don't make a C, but I have one in my hand that I found in my '03 f350 that I had bought as a spare

so what's the difference in the B or the C?

Should I put the B back in the 250?

 

The "B" and the "C" are just different revisions of the same part. I believe the "C" is the latest revision, but I can't recall which one is the preferred one. All in all, I know the C should be a good one, but I can't recall if it is the "best" one...

 

Thanks much for your help - will have a new fuel pump, new blue lines, required tools in hand plus fresh cans of diesel just in case and a couple extra cps's since that was my last one I just put in this weekend. Sounds like it's got to be the pump or one of the blue lines like you mentioned which is very similar to what my truck is doing except I can't find any fuel in the valley. If both my pickup tubes are cracked badly in the tanks, I guess I can limp it home by stopping to put fuel in it every so many miles so I can get it home to drop the tanks...will be a long trip that way but better than paying for a tow on the island

 

if i get there on Sunday, crank it up and have good PSI at the Schrader valve - would it be worth running a quart of non-synthetic ATF through the bowl? i've read some guys run a quart in the bowl everytime they change the fuel filter to lubricate and clean - some guys even run it 100% in their tanks

i'll check the drain valve again because i may have an issue with some clogging in the bottom of the bowl if it won't drain

starting to wonder if the regular sea foam additions aren't really helping to my tanks and making things worse with this ultra low sulfure diesel we have to run now

 

I wouldn't use the ATF.

One other thing you should take with you is a few q-tips. When you open the fuel bowl, on the driver side about an inch down from the top you'll see the bypass hole where the fuel pressure regulator is attached. There is a little screen in there to strain anything that might get carried into the return lines. Pull all the fuzz off the end of a q-tip and use the little stick to gently scrape any crud out of that hole and off the screen. If that hole is all clogged up that could certainly be part of your issue.

For fuel system cleaners, I generally use Power Service with every fillup. Other guys use ashless 2 cycle oil in a certain dose. The only other fuel system treatment I have used is some Lucas at the recommendation of a friend who works on these things all the time. It seemed to have worked fairly well but it didn't do any miracles. He's a mechanic for UPS and they run a lot of these 7.3's so we typically shoot the bull about these engines when we're together. You could try that, though if the bowl isn't filling, I doubt it is going to do you any miracles either.

 

Update - it was the pump. First, we changed the IPR out just to be sure since it was the original IPR and filled the fuel bowl with fresh diesel. Fired up and idled for about 20 seconds and shut off. Fuel bowl was empty. Took bowl completely out and pulled suction line off and blowed air back through it to see if we had a leak in the line. Nothing except hearing the tank gurgle and the vent cap blowing air out. Then reversed process and pressured the tank it was selected on and fuel came out easily of the suction line (disconnected from the pump). So removed pump, put new pump on - connected lines with new blue connector hoses and new clamps and left the fuel filter out. TUrned the motor and the bowl fills and overfills in just a few turns. (thus, the filter does not have to be in the bowl for the mechanical pump to fill the bowl which was disputed a little earlier in this thread). Put filter back in, drove it 3 and half hours home with no issues. That mechanical pump was put in new 2 years ago and has already failed on the low pressure side. So, this new one will get replaced and the fuel bowl assembly will be discarded, etc to an electronic system this winter/spring. Plus plan to change out the 2 tank system to a single so we'll have less fail points and a simpler system with less potential leaks, etc. Thanks much guys for all your help and assistance. The ICP did have a little oil in it and i did unplug it after had it idling to see if it would shut off and it wouldn't. SO we decided to replace the IPR while we were in there.

 

I'm glad to hear that you got it going! E-fuel is always a nice upgrade, just be aware that the electronic pumps can fail too so it's not a bad idea to carry a spare. At any rate I'm glad you got it going.

 

Single tank would only reduce the risk of failure if you needed both tanks to run. By going single tank, you're actually INCREASING your risk of breakdown. When (not if) the single tank leaks (the most common failure aft of the engine is a tank rusting through), you're shut down. With multiple tanks, when one leaks, you can operate on the other until you can replace the failed one.

Yes, the switching valves are known to be problematic, but I'll bet there are 10 tank rust-outs for every switching valve failure, overall. You just don't hear about them on the forums because, well, they don't leave people stranded.

Another advantage to dual tanks is the "insurance" against a common issue over which we have very little control -- the possibility of bad fuel. Whenever possible, I run one tank down, then fill it, run for a mile or two on that tank, then switch to the OTHER tank (which is still full from the last fill-up). That way, if you get a tankful of bad fuel, you've got the other tank to run on.