Cab and chassis trucks seem to have the worst problems. To avoid problems we have been filtering all fuel put in the truck. We have never found any contaminants in the fuel coming from suppliers. We also remove the sending unit check out the inner tank, wipe it all down with a rag, remove any rust or debris we find.......below is how easy it is to remove the sending unit cover, 6 bolts, press in the blue tab to disconnect the lines, lift off and we still found the following 37 days after $80 of new Ford filters were installed. This from a 9 month old, new Ford installed tank. The same one that has now been cleaned and sealed. The really brown rusted place on the second filter is the steel part. Not sure I am impressed with Ford OIM filters either. They sure rust badly in 37 days.





First fuel filter, under the drivers door. We clean the filter housing, the side door at the water separator is removed and cleaned as well. 37 day old Ford filter. The tank causing this is a 9 month old brand new Ford installed tank..



Second fuel filter that sits on top of the engine. 37 day old new Ford filter. Perhaps 250 miles driven after new filters installed.

This is what we are fighting....no wonder the ficum, injectors, fuel pressure reg, etc. are screwed up.

 

I have to say I'm having a hard time understanding how a new tank with normal diesel fuel in it would develop that quantity of rust unless maybe it had no coating inside of it.

You mention your suppliers fuel is clean. Have you had a lab test the fuel your suppliers is delivering, and by your mention a supplier rather then station, have you tested the fuel coming out of your storage tank?

It maybe the exposure of the camera, but on my screen that tank looks poly, not steel.

Since we couldn't operate in wet weather I never thought about this, but one thing I would suggest is to modify the tank vent behind the sender with a hose to take the open end to a drier location with a vent screen. Depending on the angle it looks like the vent cap could get submerged in the depression from splashed rainwater.

The FICM would not get screwed up by fuel delivery issues, only low voltage during engine start, or other low voltage supply issues.

 

Looks almost like somebody is doctoring the tank,if you know what I mean.

 

TooMany...I have never seen a coating inside our tanks. I have always been of the opinion they are bare steel. Ford says they are coated. What do I know?

No lab tests. We purchase from Shell, Exxon, Standard, etc. Regular fuel stations everyone uses. What we did do is purchase a very fine wire mesh filter that won't let any grit, rust, water, etc. go through when we fill out tanks. Yes this slows down filling considerably...and we have never seen anything other than clean diesel fuel from these vendors. This was done to rule out Ford insisting that it was out fault for using bad fuel. I don't know where they expect us to purchase our fuel. Just BS from ford.

The latest rework by the dealership was for them to take the less than one year old tank, send it out for sealing. From what I can tell whoever did this cleaned the tank, spray painted the outside with grey primer and then coated the inside with that red stuff.

The dealership did all of this at their expense. "They" finally admitted the tanks were crap, that they had no better option and would do that much at no cost. What is pictured is what the cleaned, painted and sealed tank looks like. It is the same new Ford tank that was installed 9 months ago. and, even with us filtering the fuel and removing the sending unit when the fuel was low so we could make sure the tank was clean.....you see what the filters look llike in 37 days. The truck stopped on the side of the road again, I picked up new filters from the dealer and we cleaned out everything, put in the new filters, fired it up, ....the next day we took it to the dealer. It sat there for over 6 weeks while they tried to decide what to do. I told them I wasn't giving them another penny. I did have to pay for their diagnostic efforts.

What I think Ford needs to do is install a polymer tank, reimburse me for the new Ford sending unit, clean all the lines, install new filters, fix the pressure regulator, any high pressure oil leak, any injectors ruined by this rust and replace the FICUM....what ever it takes to get my truck running as it should. Again it only has 66,300 miles on it. It has been well maintained, it is clean, it has never been wrecked. It was purchased new.

Your comment on the vent is an interesting one....hmmmmm? I will have to give that one a second look.. You might be on to something there. M1911

 

There is no way a "new" tank would produce that much rust in roughly a month. And the debris in those filters is not only rust.

Sure looks like the fuel is contaminated.........

 

Regarding the FICUM....I actually don't know. The Service manager and certified mechanic working on the truck told me that if the injectors get screw up from rust and I have to crank on the engine too long to get it started that indirectly the injectors could ruin the ficum due too this. He also said it is possible the ruined injectors, since each injector has coils that are powered by the capacitors in the ficum....that they could be causing some overloading, too much heating of the ficum parts. This is above my pay grade...

I'm 67, I've fooled around with cars and trucks forever, tuned a friends Chevelle Z16 396 back in '65. Would bet you guys have never seen one. We changed out the parts for the Corvette engine parts. I'm not sure anyone ever fully understood what engine was in that car. They only made 201 of them. This is to say.....I've been around engines....for a long time. Race SCCA, can still pull an engine apart and put it back together. Just don't have that interest anymore. Don't have any interest in Ford BS either. I'm a landscape architect, sitting at a desk and designing..while I love it, gets old after so many hours.....then I have to do some shooting or gun smithing , guitar playing or go out and try to solve what I can on a pesky truck. I actually enjoy the work to a certain extent....I just don't want to have to pull the cab off so I can really get in there. And, I can't fix what I don't understand....which is why I am so appreciative of the comments you guys are providing. M1911

 

You could be wrong...... M1911

 

Amazing how many "certified mechanics" who are essentially really only "Black-Box Replacement Specialist" profess to "know" how a fairly complicated electronic injection system really works.

The injectors are essentially electromagnets (AKA linear "motors") powered by a DC-DC converter that runs on 14vDC. It puts out around 48v DC.

The IHI Fuel Injection Control Module is actually 2 black boxes. The actual DC-DC converter and the "computer" used to control it (in addition to the ECM)

DC-DC converters aren't actually "DC " all the way through. They convert the input 14v DC to (fairly high frequency) AC using transistors as high speed switches (or oscillators if you prefer)

They "transform" the AC to a higher voltage using a "regular" transformer. (although at the frequencies involved, that transformer might not look like one you'd recognize)

THEN it's rectified and filtered (capacitors) back to DC.

There's nothing special or unique about 48v DC rectification, filtering or regulating, systems. (it's the output regulators that are "controlled" by the FICM computer)

Also, it's very easy for Electrical Engineers (like me ) sitting on the outside, to look in, "throw rocks" at, and criticize a system designed 15 or more years ago knowing what type of solid state devices ("transistors, rectifiers etc") are available today.

The fact of the matter is that the original FICM may have had some design flaws...... That could be corrected with a newly designed power supply board..... Instead of just increasing the "size" (ratings) of some individual parts like the caps. It also had some assembly "flaws"......."cold" solder joints and/or poor soldering of components and some component failures.

Since IHI, Delphi, Delco Electronics, (or whomever designed that thing) has "moved on", A complete redesign is probably NOT going to happen. The sharp after market people (Like ED) have figured out what breaks in these power supplies (either from the assembly errors, vibration or components that are operating near the limit of the device) and preemptively "fixes" them.


The DORMAN (and other) FICMs don't get these hands on mods and many have the same problems as the originals. I have seen radio equipment manufactured by some of the most reputable companies in the world that had some components that were just sitting in the circuit board "hole" with NO solder.....AND they worked for nearly 20 years before exhibiting a problem!

This is not unique to automotive electronics. The problems just show up more often because of the environment (heat and vibration)

I know that was long and drawn out but if I were replacing my FICM, I would exchange it with one from ED (or if I had the time, have him fix mine)


Regards,


Rick

 

Repainted with grey primer would explain the color. The tanks should not be bare, they were coated. And the major issue was the coating delaminating and clogging the filters. Rust would form after the coating was gone.

The only agreement with what your dealership stated was if someone tried to crank the motor for a long time and got the battery voltage to drop too low in the critical range. Debris in the fuel will foul the bottom end of the injector, but the oil hydraulics top end should not be adversely effected from what I remember.

I ask that you post a reference to the filter being used when filling the tank. With the new fuels they are hygroscopic so I'm having a hard time understanding at the vehicle tank filling stage they are able to do everything you've been told they can do.

I would also target as few of stations as your crew can and think about getting samples for testing. Close to a decade ago over at TDS I participated in a study by George Morrison of AV lube where he was testing fuel and diesel fuel filters all over the country, and with all the vehicle manufacturers filters. I choose a local station that had two year old tanks and busy volume. The fuel from there tested the worst of all in the study. It looked fine.

Rick is correct, there's more being captured in the secondary filter then just rust.

 

+1 for recommending the Techsmart FICM board. I put one in mine last fall. Got really, really tired of mulitple hundreds of dollars for a reman unit that fails just outside of the warranty for the same issue. Stumbled onto these. The board looks different than what came out of mine, and I'm not meaning the 4 screw vs. 7 screw. It actually looks like it is redesigned a bit, which they say on their website too. I figured $125, half an hour work that I'd mostly have to do any way with another reman unit, what's the worse that could happen. I also did the DIY resolder, that got me back up to 49V. I stuck the DIY resolder board in the Techsmart box, put it on the shelf for a backup, and haven't looked back. I'm consistently above 48V all the time with it so far. The truck actually runs better and smoother than it ever did with the original FICM and the Alliant reman unit I put in. Worse case, it fails just like the other did and I'm out $125 instead of $350.

 

I don't know what you mean. Please explain. I'm trying to get to the bottom of all issues. Thanks. M1911

 

Very good post Rick. You know sometimes people say...that thing sucks. That doesn't tell me anything but someone who knows something about what they are talking about....I'm all ears. Some of what you are writing is above my understanding but plenty of it makes sense. The new board looks good to me.....but looking good probably means nothing. The solder joints are good, better than on the original. The parts for the most part look the same. The capacitors seem to be just a tad smaller in o.d. and the new part has more vibration dampening glump. That than that, it was nicely packaged and sealed, came with new rubber pads that keep the power board underside off of the aluminum case. I just put em over the old ones.

I fully expect there are cheap electrical components and more expensive and better components....I wouldn't know the difference. What I'm hoping is that the new unit puts out 48v long enough to either smooth out the engine or tell me there is something wrong somewhere else. I appreciate your thoughtful post nor did I think it too long. Sometimes it takes a bit to properly explain something. Thank you. M1911

 

You have lost me a bit here. I will admit that I don't know the composition of the tank/liner. A year or two ago I looked into "rusting F 450 diesel" tanks. There were two internet positions. Some tanks had a galvanized type coating that something in the diesel fuel was reacting with causing it to separate from the steel and the other position was that the "other" tank being installed on these behind the axle cab and chassis trucks had not lining of any kind. We have never seen any of this silver stuff people talk about. All we have ever seen is what looks like rust in all of the tanks we have had. Perhaps the other stuff gets rusty too...I don't know and all that brown stuff on the filters I assume is rust. The fuel lines begin as rubber, change to what looks like galvanized steel and these attach to the first fuel filter housing with a water drain plug. It has been my understanding forever that diesel fuel and brake fluid are both hygroscopic. I've seen plenty of rusted wheel units from rust caused by water in them. I have a '70 John Deere tractor.....glass bowl and filter for draining water. My Bobcats have drains for water. My '96 Dodge has water drains. My '06 Kubota farm tractor has a glass water catch bowl and drain. My Ford has a rusty tank and stopped up filters.

So, I don't know where all of this goes from here. The filtering I'm talking about....other than the new OEM $80 double set of fuel filters is that we purchased a separate funnel type filter with very fine screening to eliminate the possibility of grit and rust getting pumped into the tank when filling up. But, in the past three years we haven't seen any contaminants (water, grit, rust particles, etc) in the filter. All the diesel we have purchased looks good to me...runs fine in the other five diesel vehicles we own.....just not this one. And I attribute all the problems to the tank.

I am curious about the point you made about the vent on top of the tank. I'm going to give that a very careful inspection tomorrow. Ford has worked on this truck so many times I don't suppose something was cut off that we never knew about. If that device is open then fuel could slosh out and water and road grit could get in. I have no reason to suspect this but will certainly give it a good look. The sending unit is 7" or 8" across and if removed it is easy to look in the tank or stick a camera in there. You can't put your head in there but you could stick a mirror in there and I did put my camera in there. I was a bit nervous abut the flash....but nothing exploded. I don't think I would do that with gasoline. There is about 4" of diesel in the tank as pictured. The floor appears to be spotless at this point and a check of the front fuel filter showed absolutely no rust/debris either on the filter or bottom of the bowl. This is with the newly interior coated tank. Sure hope I don't see any either. I would really love for this red sealant to work.

The dealer funded the removal, cleaning and red sealing of the 9 month old tank that produced the rust shown in the previous filter pictures. They have a record of filter purchases and the history of all their work. I checked the receipts....37 days from purchase and installation until the truck stopped running due to the filters being stopped up. Actually it didn't stop running but it ran so poorly my driver had to pull off the road and wait for help. We removed those filters, cleaned and put new ones in. I couldn't believe it either. Really aggravating. I've never had anything with any kind of tank including old lawn mowers produce that much stuff. It can only be coming from the tank.....unless that vent hole is open for some reason. Took 12 min to remove the focus, not one drop of anti freeze spilled. It would have taken 6 min but some clown ran a rubber heater hose right over the top of an already hard to access driver side rear bolt. Hard to get a socket on the nut.

Takes another 4 min to completely disassemble the old unit. I laid out the old power board next to the new one. Took some pictures, took some microscope pictures of the same solder joint on both. Might put them up and see if you guys can guess which is which.. Now it is raining....sure want to go back out and install it and see if I can get 48V and I sure am hoping this cures the rough running, possible sticking, dirty, rusty, not enough electricity, whatever injector. Wish me luck. I've spent enough on this truck already.

I'm also absolutely not opposed to sending the old board to Ed for refurbishment or whatever he recommends. Seems to me he knows his stuff. Bet he has an opinion on the red treatment in the tank too. M1911

 

https://titanfueltanks.com/titan-unv...rk-truck-show/

Above is a link provided by Titan trucks at the time of the release of their new tanks for my truck. It goes into some of the problems I am having. M1911

 

Diesel vehicle tanks are not galvanized as the zinc will be drawn out and destroy the injectors. Do any of the local stations use a blend of bio-diesel?

The fuel lines are stainless.

Any funnel screening is not going to separate out water that has bonded to hygroscopic low sulfur diesel fuels. Those of us who used to drain out water of our HFCM and occasionally see a WIF light hardly ever do now.

I just deleted most of what I had written. If you want company about the problem, check this out:

http://www.finishing.com/442/19-3.shtml

I do understand how you're feeling about this.