Happy turkey day everyone.

Ok, here we go, the other day we started the 03 with a 7.3 in it and I noticed that while it was warming up the tailpipe had a vibration to it. Checked the fuel filter and it was clogged from what I could see. Left it alone and went to ton in another truck got the filter came home and proceeded to change it out. Upon further inspection I noticed CRUD in the bottom of the bowl and broke out the turkey baster and sucked out the trash. rinsed it out with some diesel and suck it all out again.
Now the fun begins reassembled the filer and went to start it and it ran for about a minute before it ran out of fuel. Unscreded the filter and guess what No fuel. Dry as bone. I immediatly checked the fuses and all checked out, pulled the plug for the heater on the back of the bol (just in case I jiggled something) All this time I did notice no noise from the frame pump.
This morning I go out and scan it with the mt2500 and nothing showning as for codes. After that I ran a jumper from the hot side of the pump to a test light and cycled the ignition to run. Got power to the hot side. Now I am sure its a fuel pump (ordered one last night) but here is my questions.

(1) isnt the pump supposed to cut off after several seconds?
(2) Now that I have sucessfully ran the fuel system dry, what steps do I need to take to reprime it? Just cycle the ignition a few times and let it catch itself of what?
(3) is this system controlled by a ground (the one thing I didnt check)

Thankks guys

 

1. Mine does
2. Just cycle the key without cranking a few times
3. Check your ground... but if there's 12volts, the pump should run.

 

Gotcha, I had thought about the relay but if that was the case I would think that the pump wouldnt get power at all.
Waiting for it to warm up a little before I go back out and hit it with a multimeter.
I cant think of anything else to check in the system so I am almost 100% sure I will be doing a pump when it comes in.
Fuel tank mods in the spring and the prepump filter as well.

 

You will only have power to the pump for about 20 seconds when you turn the key on. The pcm sends a ground to the fuel pump relay to control it.

 

Makes perfect sense now, I only left it on for about 10-15 secs. I was just looking at my alldata and dont really see much that I havent checked. Maybe I have but time will tell.
I guess my new pump will be here Monday, Im not really in a hurry for it as I do have backup trucks.
Anyone have suggestions as to a prepump filter? I have read the forums and it seems to be a toss up.

 

I'll say this and stay neutral about it: If you've done the complete Hutch mod and go to the spin-on filter/water separator - get a fuel pressure gauge to make sure you didn't kill the flow at WOT. My fuel system with my injectors needs a screen, not a pre-filter - or else the FP crashes.

 

I would not go finer than 25 micron on a prepump filter.

 

When I did the Hutch/Harpoon mods inside my fuel tank, I ran new biodiesel compatible 3/8" fuel hose toward the pump, prior to the pump I installed a Fram 3/8" clear fuel filter for ease of changing and cost. This set-up has been on my truck for over 80K miles with no problems whatsoever, I can easily find a replacement filter at Wally world for under $5 and it takes just a couple of minutes to change it. Another benefit to the filter being clear is that I can see the condition of the filter or the debris inside at just a glance.

 

I havent done any of the mods as of yet but plan on it in the spring when I have more time. Ive seen the posts here about the filters and knew I was probably opening a can of worms. I would like to go with a spin on type for the tank filter and an inline one for the aux tank from the bed.
I very seldom hit wot on this thing never really have the need as it generates the power I need without going that far. I can hauk 14 bales of hay with no problem.
I know I said pre pump but I am also pondering the idea of going post filter but havent made my mind up yet. Thats why Im trying to get some opinions on the best way to do it. I like the idea of the pre filter so the pump doesnt get much trash through it and considered the fact that it might cause a restriction therfor poining me to a post filter. DAMN desisions desisions......

 

We have an adequate filter already. The pre pump filter is there to protect the pump. Why would one need more filtration to a system that works fine from the factory? It seems to me there would be other issues that need to be addressed if the stock system isn't working.

 

I doubt those are diesel rated filters. I bet you are running with slight starvation and you do not realize it.
Get the wix 33972 from any wix dealer. It is diesel rated and is equivalent in size to those from WW.

 

There are better water separators out there than Ford gave us.

Though I don't live in an area with "wet" fuel, I am taking no chances. My Dahl also is using the two-micron element, so I have better filtration for both the pump and the factory fuel bowl.

I rarely change the stock filter, and when I do, it isn't dirty (except for the normal asphaltine that's evident).

As the man says, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later".

Pop

 

I would think about dropping the tank and cleaning it if nothing else it sounds like you have a lot of crud in there, when you pull the pump off check the intake and see if it's clogged up.

 

I have never had a fuel starvation problem using these filters. The filter on the truck now is over 6 months old with no problems. When I did the Hutch mod I removed the filter screen assembly inside the tank(as well as modding the fuel pick-up), the reason for my pre-pump filter. My truck is hitched to a gooseneck trailer for approx. 70% of it's odometer readings, mostly a 10k gooseneck but sometimes a 24k tandem axle gooseneck with it's combined trailer weight totaling 16K or a bit over(I know I shouldn't, WAY overloaded, but my fathers F550 w/ 6.0 been in the shop too many times to count and I had to get the trailer back home) with no fuel starvation issues. I have checked fuel pressures w/ gauge and at idle I have 68-70 psi, haven't checked WOT pressures due to gauge placement. I have not seen ANY filter deterioration or filter media failing since using these filters(still have drop-in filter on engine). Thank you for the "heads-up" on the Wix 33972, I will look into using these if the Fram G3's ever fail me. Todd