I'm new here and just bought a 1995 Ford F350 Crew cab, SRW, long bed.

When I bought it the front tank on it wouldn't take any fuel and you could see the fuel in the pipe leading to the tank. I was pretty sure that it was full, but the guage didn't work on that tank so don't truely know for sure. The rear tank is fine, but only takes around 18 gallons of fuel.

I drove it for a while on the front tank and it died after around 100 miles. Switched it to rear and got it going again. Was a real pain. I drove with the rear tank and every time I would switch back to the front it would loose power and not accelerate. Switching back to the back would solve the problem. No light would come on with the loss of power.

I had a Super Duty with the 460 V8 that had dual tanks and the front tank was 12 Gallon, rear tank was 15 Gallon. I would have assumed the front tank was larger than 8 gallons which is how much it took when my mother filled it up.

My question is how large are the tanks on this truck. I've already used the search feature to try to find out on my own, with no luck.

Is it really an 8 gallon tank and I simply ran it out of fuel?

Or is it possible that there is still something wrong with the fuel, pump, tank that would cause an issue?

Sorry this is so long, but I figured all the info I could give would help those who many answer.

Thanks.

 

The front and rear tanks are approximately 19 and 18 gallons respectively.

 

I figured it was just a simple problem of the fuel sensor/sender or plunger (I am used to old PUs) until I figured your possible MPG. If yours is comparable to the 250 then you should have approxamtely an 18 gallon and 19 gallon tank. I have a 1995 F-250. To go just a hundred miles on ~18 gallons is really bad MPG. You might have a combo problem of a tank fuel sensor/sender malfunction, fuel leak(s), and/or bad MPG(dirty air filter, oil, etc). With no leaks in fuel system you should be at least seeing around 200 miles with even a bad ~12 or 13 MPG on using 16 of possible tank gallons.

Sorry to go off on the subject of MPG. You have a front tank sensor, sender, or wiring from front tank problem. The tank should be either 18 or 19 gallons. Make sure to check out MPG on your PU.

 

Running just the rear tank, I can get approx 18 miles per gallon. So I'm fairly certain that isn't anything wrong with the truck itself.

The front tank just took an 8 gal fill up, not 18. Prior to anything being put in it this last time, it was running very badly on this tank. Leaving me to think that something was wrong with the fuel itself, or possibly the pump/sending unit. I knew the sensor was bad because it won't register anything on that tank, however it works fine on the rear.

Assuming the tank was really full when I tried to fill it the first time. I drove approx 100 miles, and a recent fill up showed it taking 8 gal. That's only 12.5 miles per gallon. The rear tank is getting around 18 miles per gallon.

If the front tank is 18 gal then there has to be something wrong...

The only fuel leak that I've noticed on the truck at all is with the rear tank, and only with a complete top off. When fuel is in the filler neck it will leak a bit, but will stop once it's been driven a few miles. I'm certain that isn't an issue here.

 

The owner's manual lists the capacity of your fuel tanks as 19.0 gal in the front and 18.7 in the rear. The actual capacity is 22.0 front/21.0 rear. I know this from running mine dry intentionally, to see how much it would take to fill them both back up.
As for the problem with the fuel in your front tank, the mechanical possibilities have already been brought up, but it could also be possible that there is indeed something wrong with the fuel in that tank, such as algae buildup, and running it will choke out the engine. I'd consider putting in some biocide to clean it up before running it any more.

 

Another possibility is the tank selector switch is going or the contacts gone for the front tank. I had my switch on my '90 F250 burn out completely (melted the plastic cover even), leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere. I had to disassemble the switch, grab the contacts out of it, and jumper across the wiring harness to get her started again. New switch and everything was fine.

Just another thought.

-David

 

16 gals in each of mine and the needle is just past the red line.

 

This is doubtful. Algae or any other impurity would plug the fuel filter and then it wouldn't pass fuel from either tank. Keep looking at the mechanical system, or any electronic gear involved in switching from one tank to the other.

 

Could be that your fuel pickup has a hole in it about the 8 gal. mark. Meaning: it sucks air and acts empty after you use the 8 gal. of fuel.

You will have to drop the tank to check this, but that would be my guess. (Yes, I had this problem once in an old dual tank F150.)

Good Luck!

TUT

 

Ouch, that would suck. Makes sense though. I had an old 66 Ford Galaxie that I had to replace all the lines on cause of small hole in them that I couldn't locate.

Thanks very much everyone. I'm still looking into all the possibilities but you've given me much more info than I had to start with.