I have 4 days coming up with the wife out of town and am deciding what work I want to do on the truck.

I decided to check how / if my fuel tank was clean. ran the tank down to 1 gallon of fuel remaining. at the 1 gallon or less point the truck is in constent regen. keep it at 2 gallons, and all is fine.

when I got it down to 1 gallon again, and the constant regen started again, I drained some fuel from the fuel separator...wound up having to use a vacuum pump to suck out what looked like orange gunk.

so the tank is coming off these weekend so I can see what type of lagoon I have floating around in there. probably years and years of gelling accumulation.

 

I suppose that having issues in your tank could make sense given the number of issues your truck has had. Good luck!

 

yes...so far..there is no issue that I checked that was not on my truck

I would say that if you are in a cold weather area...be careful about letting your fuel hit below an 1/8th of a tank.....you might hit the Saragossa lagoon of gelled floaties.

 

I've drawn my tank down previously, did not think about completely draining or pumping out to eliminate 9 years of gunk. Great idea.

 

Interesting indeed. Pictures below of are my last filter change. I wondered about the stuff that looked like rust at first...which made me s&it myself...but it turned out to be some other particulate. It also shouldn't be rust the way I baby this thing. Typically Shell diesel(no biodiesel)...fuel additive with every tank...drain separator every month...filters every 10k. Also...had absolutely zero "shiny stuff" in the fuel bowl...so that was good. However the stuff was still weird. Haven't pulled that much out before. Also the LPFP and seperator housing were replaced at around 76k. Oh and regular pen ink will hold up for 10k on the primary filter. I write the mileage at install on every filter. Check these out...Let me know what you think of filters and all. FYI...You can see the 2 cup measuring dish in the background on one picture. THAT is about how much I usually drain out of the separator each month.

Man...my hands were soggy because of the damn 10 mil HD shop gloves I just bought. Man they're awesome...but you'll drain 10 gallons of sweat out of them when you're done and your hands will look like they've been in the pool for an hour.

I think I've got this picture thing down like a fat kid on a seesaw. Warp factor 7...Engage.

 

from what I can tell...theres not much iron in the fuel system. fuel lines are stainless steel and crimp joints are aluminum. based on the HPFP metal particles not being magnetic Im going to bet the impeller is aluminum.

the brown stuff looks like algae to me...diesel grows the stuff.

there are 4 things I want to see in the tank.

how much gel is in there from years of northern abuse (no anti gel in the winter)

how much 2cycle oil or other different than diesel density snake oil. i read somewhere there are two types of 2cycle oil, one that blends with diesel and one that does not.

how much algae ...probally mixed with the gel (aka Saragossa lagoon)

how much water.

 

So I pulled the tank today. Tip...if you ever have to do this....might be easier to lift the bed.

the was about a half of a teaspoon of dirt...pick up screen was fine.....about 2 gallons of a dark pancake looking fluid...no gell.

Driving it out of state tomorrow so we will see if this is resolved

 

speakerfritz, did you replace the tank with a larger one? If so, what kind?

 

No I just pulled and cleaned it out.

its a 40 gallon tank right now.

i would like to get one of those Chas is cab tanks that mount where the spare goes.

 

Interesting...Maybe I'll crawl under the truck this weekend and take a look at how difficult it would be. Removing the bed seems like it would suck...and I don't have a way to do it either.

Having a clean fuel tank is something I've never really thought about before.

Man...it's going to be so hot this weekend though.

 

i would hold off until you have a reason to do it.

low return on labor investment

I did it and was surprised how clean it was ..

it it comes out a lot easier than it goes back in....those two bands are a PIA to get back on and all the connections to the top plate are just too short.

if it's going to be hot..,spend the day doing something fun.

 

Even with the growth in my fuel caps?

 

here's my thoughts...its in the cap becuase the filter is doing its job.

there will be some heavy dirt on the floor of he fuel tank...but maybe a teason ....the sump screen cant reach it.

a pull the tank senerio would be you cant drain your separator because gunk keeps coming out.....you keep getting drain the water separator messages....etc

 

Thanks fritz. I've never seen that dash message before and I hope I never do. I just hope none of the previous owner's saw it. I don't think they did otherwise I would've has some serious issues by now potentially. That fuel bowl had no sparkle under flashlight this last time so that was a relief.