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OK my 73 was totaled, I found a replacement, a low mile E150 shorty, with an inline 6, it has a miss, I'm certain its tuneup time, dad was out to replace th4e fuel filter, he's spotted 3 canisters on the fuel line, I heard someone talking about a fuel pump on the fuel rail in these vans coinciding with the one in the tank, so is one a fuel pump, or does this thing have 3 fuel filters. Thank god it has only one tank, so no faulty switch nonsense, I just can't understand why Ford would put more than one fuel filter on it.
Hi Maples. Sorry about your loss. The shorties are hard to find so I hope this one works out.
Here is some info for the 88 but should be close or the same for your van. On my 88 I have a low pressure pump in the tank and a high pressure pump on the frame rail. There is only 1 fuel filter. The fuel reservoir may look like it comes apart but there is no filter in it and if you haven't taken it apart then don't. I have read about folks taking it apart thinking there is a filter inside it and it leaking afterwards. The filter is behind a bracket and held in place by a large hose clamp.
Dad freaked out, after crawling under it, he saw 3 round devices that look just like the fuel filter along the frame on the fuel line, I was sure one has to be wired, making it a fuel pump, but that just didn't answer the other 2, he's wanting to replace them all since it has a miss, my book shows nothing, but it does say it has a lifetime fuel filter that never requires replacement, sounds insane, or just said that way so only the dealer is trusted with it. He was also concerned that the line wasn't like my 99 E350, its not all steel, at the filter it was short rubber lines with the high pressure connectors on the ends, its factory tho, too bad the tank is so small, being the middle tank.
The first time i ever saw this configuration was when I bought my 88 and it took a while till I learned what everything was and how it worked. Fairly simple now that I know.
My ford service manual says the same about the filter being a lifetime filter. But if you need to change it!
I don't know if they make a bigger tank or not for the shorty without having one custom made. I think 22gal aft axle is standard on the 138WB vans with a single tank.
Dad saw where the filter and outboard pump are, has hose clamps on it, not factory, hope not to have issues with it, not been able to deal with it, had the 99 break down on me, alternator needed rebuilt again, only tackle one at a time. Dads hoping an increase in mileage with new fuel filters, I doubt it, I say injector cleaning would be necessary, they are original, been reading how some have put the injectors for a 302 in the 300 for more power, just not been able to find a chip to reprogram it, they aren't as available as they once were.
I read a thread a while back where someone used an older type selector valve without the reservoir. to get past the lack of reservoir, they added a second fuel filter by the valve. The hoses were regular rubber fuel lines and all clamped. That is probably what we are going to have to go to as time goes on and there are no selector valves available except from China. I have done a couple of searches for marine 6 port fuel valve but they were all manual valves. Someone probably makes an industrial or marine electric 6 port valve and we have to go with that one day. Well not me as I only have one tank! I think I will invest in the single line reservoir to put in stock while i can still find a ford one.
Why would the van have a reservoir if it only has 1 tank?,
Maybe so they can use the same lines on all vans, since there is a connector between the tank and engine, who knows, I keep fixing crazy crap, this is why many mechanics refuse to buy Fords, working on them lets them see the extra stupid add ons.
Maples might have a point about the engineers using it in part as a junction to be able to use the same lines on the rear tank. The duel tank selector valve and single tank reservoir bolt up in the same place and connect to the HP pump the with the same lines as well as share the same lines to the rear tank.
But what I have read is that the pumps may have trouble keeping up when in WOT or when say, pulling a trailer and climbing a long uphill grade where you are near WOT. The reservoir make sure there is plenty of fuel available to the HP pump in the event that the in tank pumps cant keep up.
I would think that maybe with the duel tank system, there might be a momentary interruption in the fuel supply when the valves swap over from one tank to another.
Also perhaps on a single tank system the HP pump would always have fuel even during the initial priming of the pumps when you turn the key to run. Say the back flow valve was bad in the in tank pump. The HP pump would never start up dry.
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