I have owned this 1991 Ranger 2 wd XLT, standard cab, 2.3L 5-speed truck for more than 10 years. It has always been a bit reluctant to take fuel, but while maybe not able to take full pump flow, could be filled in a reasonable time. Earlier this year, due to family issues, the truck sat for approximately 6 weeks. When I began driving it again, it would only accept about 0.5 gallons per attempt, before shutting off the nozzle and/or spitting fuel out the filler neck. A bit of research and a LOT of reading here led me to the conclusion that I had a clogged vent line and/or a collapsed fuel filler line.

So, I ordered a replacement filler line, pulled the bed, installed the new line and checked the vent - only to find no real vent line in place! There is a smaller - say silver dollar sized - fitting in the top of the tank with an obvious tubing connection, but nothing connected to it and no apparent line leading from the tank forward to the evap canister. I did remove this fitting and can blow through it.

The fuel filler line - at least to me - appears to be an inner hose, connected to the fill nozzle in the side of the truck, that extends down into the fuel tank. The outer filler hose clamps over the fuel tank opening and then to the outer tube of the fill nozzle - and looks to me like it provides a vent path from the tank up to the fill point in the side. Put it all back together - and the truck would only take maybe 0.1 gallon before shutting off the nozzle and/or spitting fuel.

Bed off again - nothing apparently wrong. Fill hose took 2 gallons from a can with no issues, so buttoned it all up again and tried to fill it this morning. Now it only takes 0.03 gallons at a time - 10+ minutes to pump 2 gallons!! I'm obviously missing something simple here - but for the life of me , I'm just not seeing it. I'll be under the truck this evening to see if I've somehow managed to pinch/crush the line when I got the bed back on, but it appears that there is enough clearance built in to make that unlikely. My only other though is that there may be supposed to be some "spacers" or some such to prevent collapsing the hose - the front two bolts do appear to be longer than the others.

Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions welcome.

Jeff Rees

 

My 1990 Bronco (full size) manual has the instruction to install hose with stripes in line with two dimples on fuel tank.


There is a smaller inner hose and a fill hose outer, This might be arranged so that there is no air flow.


The outer hose caries the air and the inner hose carries the fuel.


I hope that information helps.

 

Thank you for the suggestion - no stripes on the original or the replacement hose. It has an "S" curve shape that really only allows one basic orientation - although it could vary a few degrees either way. I've crawled under the truck - and while the bend is pretty snug where it leaves the tank and runs under the bed, it doesn't feel kinked - but it won't take fuel!!

Jeff Rees

 

It's kinked. there's a clamp at the top of the little hose and the big hose and a clamp only on the big hose at the fuel tank.

 

No - from an on-line supplier - possibly Rock Auto. I honestly don't remember - the truck's transmission failed just as I got the new hose and it has taken me a while to get it back together and on the road again.

I can believe it is kinked - any advice on how to "prevent"it from kinking again if I pull the bed? With the bed off, I was able to dump two gallons down the line from a can with no issues.

Jeff Rees

 

Don't take the bed off.
Remove the hose at the fuel tank and at the fuel filler neck.
Are there three screws holding in the fuel filler neck? remove those and the clamp at the bottom of the hose at the fuel tank, remove the whole assembly and test.
You might have the wrong size hose, but you might be able to cut it to fit.
Assemble the parts outside the truck, on a bench and see if it will feed back in thru the bed with the bed in place.

 

The new hose was a bit long - I did have to shorten it by maybe three inches to avoid a kink when bringing it up to the fuel door. The end that extends into the tank is still a bit long, but I figured it couldn't cause a problem if it extended into the fuel level a bit - IF the tank vented correctly. The inner hose is easy to blow through - the outer seems to be, but it is a bit harder to test as it's opening is bigger than my mouth can comfortably handle. Both seem to be clear.

As for removing the line with the bed on, the clamp at the tank is oriented so that it faces inboard - seemed like a good idea at the time, and provided easier access with the bed off - no way I'm going to get my hands/screwdriver up in there now. The bed removal is maybe a 15-20 minute task - I've done it several times in the last two weeks!

Jeff Rees

 

Inner hose just has to reach the tank, not extend into it deeply.
you might consider cutting some off that as well.

 

The trick there would be getting the "correct" length with the bed still on the frame - but, as i said, it's not a big deal to pull it back off/out of the way.

Any ballpark "measurements" for the needed inner tube length extension into the tank?

Jeff Rees

 

The trick here is to not remove the bed, you have tried that and it's not working.


Take a little deal and remove the hose without removing the bed, then install only the inner hose and see how much length you need, then assemble with the outer hose and you should be good to go.