I know that this subject has been discussed several times in the past but I have searched through all of the old posts and cannot find anything that offers a resolution or clear answer to my issue.

I purchased a 1985 F250 that has a carbureted 7.5l 460 and dual tanks with electric fuel pumps in both tanks. Both tanks, pumps, sending units, and the carburetor have been replaced and are new. The gas gauge would not respond or show an accurate reading for either tank. The rear tank was selected on the dash selector switch but the front pump was running and the front tank was providing fuel to the carburetor. I realized that somebody had used a jumper wire to provide power to the front fuel pump and that was the only tank being used.

I noticed that the selector valve was broken so I purchased a replacement Pollak selector valve from Ford this week and put in on the truck. The install went smoothly and the molded, quick-connect hoses went on without any trouble. However, when I connected the wiring harness in, as you can see in the photo below, the 5 pin pigtail is smaller that the 5 pin female connector on the side of the selector valve. It has the same number of pins and the same "D" shape, but it is a smaller male pigtail so it does not properly fit the selector valve. It felt like it was sliding onto the pins so I attempted to test it. I disconnected the jumper wire and wired everything back up the way it was from the factory. Now the correct pumps are powering on and off when I select each tank on the dash switch but the fuel gauge is still not working and I am not getting any fuel to the carburetor from the front tank. If I select the rear tank, I get a good stream of fuel to the carburetor and the truck runs great. As soon as I select the front tank, the front pump kicks on yet I get no fuel flow to the carburetor. I disconnected the fuel line running to the selector valve from the front tank and verified that the pump is working properly.

So I am needing some insight now. If the selector valve harness is not making sufficient contact would that cause the unresponsive fuel gauge and keep the fuel from the front tank from passing through the valve when the front tank is selected on the switch? If so, does anybody who a source to get the proper pigtail for the selector valve? Thank you to anybody who takes the time to read my novel. I apologize for the length but I wanted to be as detailed as I could to avoid being on "The Roast For Not Providing Enough Info"!!

 

My guess is that you have the wrong selector valve and it doesn't work with your connector. And, I'd bet that the connector being the wrong size is why the valve doesn't work on the front tank as well as why the fuel gauge doesn't work there.

I've put up two new pages on my web site to show the info from the catalog:

• Fuel Tanks, Lines, & Valves: Shows the various components for all of the gas-engined trucks.
• 460 Systems: This shows the 460's fuel system as well as gives the part numbers for the valve and wiring harness.

 

Gary, thank you for the information. I sent that to a friend of mine in parts at the local Ford dealer. I'm hoping that he will be able to locate the proper pigtail or possibly identify that the selector valve that I purchased was a different variation of the 9189 valve. Looking at the information that you sent, I need the 9189-C. I know that it is easier to bypass the valve but I would really like to keep the truck all original if possible. And it is nice to have the extra fuel capacity. I have seen the 38 gallon tank upgrade but I did not want to replace the rear tank since it was just replaced and still new.

Any other insight would be much appreciated.

 

One approach would be to swap out the connector. If you had the part # off the valve you might be able to find a truck that would have had that valve and get its connector. Either a short piece of the cable and connector to graft it in, or you may even be able to swap the pins out of your connector into the new one.

 

Your insight helped resolve the issue. The dealership sold me the only selector valve that they had in stock. It looked identical so I assumed it was correct. It turns out that it was a 6C3Z 9189-A for a mid 90s 7.3l diesel. The correct selector valve for these years is a E3TZ 9189-C or a E5TZ 9189-A. The correct valve for my truck is the E3TZ 9189-C. It is on the way from NC and should arrive in 2 days. Thank you for the help. Much appreciated! Hopefully this will help others in the future since it seems to be a common need.

 

Glad to help. I hope this does help others as well. But, let us know how it goes.

 

Hope it does the trick ! Gary is the Motts ! (thats the applesauce for those not in the know,lol).
In the future....always ask the parts guy to do a Part Number Change Reference Update.
PNC's are sadly common with manufacturers parts operations.

 

In Ford, it's the O.S.I. catalog: Obsolete/Supersede/Interchange and apparently (according to one cranky, old ex-partsman here) Ford changes tens of thousands of numbers per year.

But this is OLD stuff, many dealers won't deal with anything this old anymore and don't have records of such changes at this point, so, take what you can get.

 

Just a tidbit I had a defective pump in the front tank that was the culprit on mine. So after you get the new selector valve installed be sure to check the connections to the sending unit itself. After I replaced the second in tank pump it solved all my problems. Good luck on on the project. Richard

 

I Recently Purchased an 1989 F250 with Double tanks and when i took it to the mechanic they informed me that the Selector Valve was missing but i had been driving it for over a Month without any problems . My question is How Necessary is the Selector Valve and what can happen if i dont replace it ,Im not sure if a Previous Mechanic ran anything Directly to the engine since it doesnt mark the correct fuel levels for either Tank . I only seem to get a response from the Rear Gas tank when i move the Switch but not sure if that means its the only one in use .

 

Juan - Welcome to FTE. But, there are two issues with your post:

1. Forum: You are in the wrong forum as this one is for the 1980 - 86 trucks and you have an 1989. So, we don't know much about your truck.
2. Thread: It is better to start a new thread to ask questions like this. That's because only a few people are subscribed to this thread so there's a limited audience. But, if you start a new thread everyone on the forum will have a chance to see it.

Having said that, I have some information on my web site that might be of help:

• Illustrations: 1985 on F-Series - ???Gary's Garagemahal
• Part Numbers: Fuel Tank Selector Valve - ???Gary's Garagemahal

So, you can look at the illustrations, find the one that represents your truck, and then slide under to see if everything is there and hooked up. However, from what you said it sounds like someone may have removed the valve and plumbed one tank directly to the engine. That's not too unusual since these systems had problems.

As for what you need to do, if they did a decent job of bypassing the valve I wouldn't worry about it. You said it works, so that may be enough.

 

E3TZ-9189-C .. Fuel Tank Selector Valve-6 ports / Marked: E3TB-9F271-AA / Available from Ford for a horrendous MSRP!

1983/85 E & F250/350 460 with electric in-tank fuel pump / 1983/86 E & F250/350 6.9L diesel / 1983/89 Ranger 4 cylinder diesel.

MSRP: $444.38 / autonationfordwhitebearlake.com price: $293.29 / This is dealer cost +10%, I doubt you'll find it any cheaper. White Bear Lake is located in MN

(sigh) Hmmm, now I see this is an old thread from 12/29/2015 that a