Notices
1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel  
Sponsored by:
Sponsored by: DP Tuner

Fuel pressure dropping below spec?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 07:40 PM
  #1  
Hyakkimaru's Avatar
Hyakkimaru
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Top Answer: 1
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 1,143
From: Fairhope Alabama
Fuel pressure dropping below spec?

I just noticed this while driving just now. My truck has been using a lot of fuel lately and I found a leak on the bottom of the fuel / water drain valve and all the screws were loose. Which was my fault for being overly careful when tightening them down so I tightened them up and I put some napkins under it and couldn't get any diesel to drip down onto it so I figured I fixed it. Well, just now in a 65 HP performance tune, when I really get on the pedal I'm dropping down to 35 PSI of fuel pressure. It shoots right back up but when I first pushed the pedal it does drop way down. So, I'm thinking I either still have a leak or a clogged fuel filter which is not that old. The fuel filter does not have 15K miles on it for sure. It's hard to tell what is diesel or oil because my hpop is leaking oil so, everything has a coating of oil on it.
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 08:36 PM
  #2  
Hyakkimaru's Avatar
Hyakkimaru
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Top Answer: 1
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 1,143
From: Fairhope Alabama
My fuel light is on right now but, I got on the pedal pretty hard and I feel pressure drop down to 20 psi for a split second and then it jumped back up to 60, but right after that I took the truck out of gear and idled and the fuel pressure dropped to 50 and then kind of jumped back up to 60 slowly. It's acting really funky. I just replaced my fuel pressure regulator a while back so I don't feel like that should have anything to do with it. Does this sound like a leak? I wonder if being this low on fuel my compression fitting holding my Hutch mod in place is pulling air. I guess it's possible. I guess I'll have to add some fuel and see if it still does it. I feel like I probably just have a bad leak. I probably should replace the fuel filter just to be safe
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 09:27 PM
  #3  
Wes444's Avatar
Wes444
Logistics Pro
5 Year Member
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 4,667
Likes: 1,455
From: Muskogee, Ok
If you've ever watched your fuel pressure when you run the tank down below 1/4 you'll see that on decent acceleration and every stoplight decel the fuel pressure will drop down and come up a few times, the lower the tank level and harder the start/stop the more often and pronounced it will be. Fuel sloshes in the tank cause there's no baffles. It's basic physics of momentum. Get er above 1/2 tank and the slosh isn't as pronounced and won't affect the fuel pickup cause the fuel doesn't have the ability to go all fore or aft and have the momentum to overcome gravity in the area available in the tank.
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 09:48 PM
  #4  
Hyakkimaru's Avatar
Hyakkimaru
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Top Answer: 1
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 1,143
From: Fairhope Alabama
Originally Posted by Wes444
If you've ever watched your fuel pressure when you run the tank down below 1/4 you'll see that on decent acceleration and every stoplight decel the fuel pressure will drop down and come up a few times, the lower the tank level and harder the start/stop the more often and pronounced it will be. Fuel sloshes in the tank cause there's no baffles. It's basic physics of momentum. Get er above 1/2 tank and the slosh isn't as pronounced and won't affect the fuel pickup cause the fuel doesn't have the ability to go all fore or aft and have the momentum to overcome gravity in the area available in the tank.
yep, I added diesel and it quit dropping fuel pressure.

I still think it is possible that I have a diesel leak and I pray it is not the fitting on the rear of the head that I redid while I had the turbo off because it is very hard to get to with the turbo on. With as much oil that is leaking out of my hpop it is hard to see if there's actually diesel anywhere cuz there is currently oil everywhere. The reason I started thinking about a diesel leak is because my fuel mileage was worse than it was before. Of course I now have 35 inch tires and a tuner and a big Turbo. I used to get 23 miles to the gallon on the interstate which was amazing. I went to get my transmission from Louisiana and got like 16 miles to the gallon which is quite the jump but going from 28 inch tires to 35 in tires and adding a tuner is probably why that happened. Does 16 MPG sound about right?

I think I'm going to get some of that fluorescent dye and put in my tank and use a black light to see if I can pinpoint a leak if there is one just in case
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 09:53 PM
  #5  
Wes444's Avatar
Wes444
Logistics Pro
5 Year Member
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 4,667
Likes: 1,455
From: Muskogee, Ok
Depending on where you got fuel you might have got some winter fuel if you traveled North. If you got it at Luvs you can usually expect to loose mpg vs other suppliers. Granted large tires, higher truck ride height, many alignment issues, could all lower mpg a tiny bit on their own. Even a slightly dragging brake will drop it.
Since you're not running sick tires have you at least recalibrated your speedometer? You'll be covering more distance per rotation so actually getting better mpg than your odometer and hand calculation would show, unless you use a GPS to track every single drive and add up the distance per tank
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 10:35 PM
  #6  
Hyakkimaru's Avatar
Hyakkimaru
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Top Answer: 1
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 1,143
From: Fairhope Alabama
Originally Posted by Wes444
Depending on where you got fuel you might have got some winter fuel if you traveled North. If you got it at Luvs you can usually expect to loose mpg vs other suppliers. Granted large tires, higher truck ride height, many alignment issues, could all lower mpg a tiny bit on their own. Even a slightly dragging brake will drop it.
Since you're not running sick tires have you at least recalibrated your speedometer? You'll be covering more distance per rotation so actually getting better mpg than your odometer and hand calculation would show, unless you use a GPS to track every single drive and add up the distance per tank
oh, my speedometer is off by 5 mph. I don't have any way of changing it because my computer is too slow to use forescan. Could that make it read off that much? I got my diesel at the place I always do which is the Walmart gas station not far from here cuz they have the cheapest price. Getting diesel there right now for about $3.70 a gallon. It's come down quite a bit the last couple months. It was almost $6 a gallon. So I might have gotten a little bit better fuel mileage than I thought. I filled my tank slap up with 30 gallons from the moment my needle hit E. I know this is not very accurate but, I basically checked my mileage when I hit E again and I was at about 500 miles driven on the odometer. Which 500 Miles ÷ 30 gallons is 16.6 mpg. Again, I know this is a very crude way of testing it but I wasn't exactly sure how else to do it.

I do still feel just for the sake of doing it I should get some dye to put in my tank and a black light.
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 11:36 PM
  #7  
Wes444's Avatar
Wes444
Logistics Pro
5 Year Member
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 4,667
Likes: 1,455
From: Muskogee, Ok
5 off at what speed? @ 50 and the math is easy enough to do in your head. @ 63mph you might need to take your socks off for the math

If it happens to be @ 50mph your actually doing 55; or 10% more, so you can ad 10% to your mileage before you divide by gallons. Still that would only take your 16.6mpg up to 18.2 ; a far cry from 23.

Those new wider tires have more rolling resistance than the narrower stock tires tho. Which is the downside to a wider contact pad which helps with braking and weight dispersement per psi on unpaved roads or yards.
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 11:41 PM
  #8  
Hyakkimaru's Avatar
Hyakkimaru
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Top Answer: 1
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 1,143
From: Fairhope Alabama
I was going 70 for most of the trip. Although I did a lot of testing on my new turbo while I was on the interstate if you know what I mean. Can't complain about fuel mileage when I'm having fun LOL

but yes at 50 mph it is off by 5 mph. Hey, 18.2 is pretty good mileage considering my truck weight 7680 with my mounted tool boxes and fuel. I can live with that!
 
Reply
FTE Stories

Ford Trucks for Ford Truck Enthusiasts

story-0

Top 10 Most Expensive Ford Trucks Ever Sold on Bring a Trailer

 Joe Kucinski
story-1

2027 Ford Super Duty Buyer's Guide (Every Model, Engine, & Package)

 Brett Foote
story-2

Top 10 Ford Truck Tragedies

 Joe Kucinski
story-3

AEV FXL Super Duty - the Super Duty Raptor Ford Doesn't Make

 Brett Foote
story-4

Lobo Vs Lobo: Proof the F-150 Lobo Should Be Even Lower!

 Michael S. Palmer
story-5

Ford's 2001 Explorer Sportsman Concept Looks For a New Home

 Verdad Gallardo
story-6

10 Best Ford Truck Engines We Miss the Most!

 Joe Kucinski
story-7

2026 Shelby F-150 Off-Road: Better Than a Raptor R?

 Brett Foote
story-8

2027 Super Duty Carhartt Package First Look: 12 Things You NEED to Know!

 Michael S. Palmer
story-9

10 Most Surprising 2026 Ford Truck Features!

 Joe Kucinski
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 11:51 PM
  #9  
John in OkieLand's Avatar
John in OkieLand
Lead Driver
Community Builder
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 5,057
Likes: 1,413
From: Oologah, OK
Club FTE Silver Member

does your truck have a GPS in it?
my Garmin GPS has a Miles Traveled log,
i used to refer to that with another truck that has a bad calibration on the speedo/odometer
 
Reply
Old Apr 4, 2023 | 11:54 PM
  #10  
Hyakkimaru's Avatar
Hyakkimaru
Thread Starter
|
Logistics Pro
Liked
Loved
Community Favorite
Top Answer: 1
Joined: Jan 2021
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 1,143
From: Fairhope Alabama
Originally Posted by John in OkieLand
does your truck have a GPS in it?
my Garmin GPS has a Miles Traveled log,
i used to refer to that with another truck that has a bad calibration on the speedo/odometer
it doesn't have GPS but I do have an Android head unit with Google Maps. I would like to get my actual GPS and a dash cam one day.
 
Reply
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Nathan Murphy
1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel
5
Nov 6, 2021 08:20 PM
BrendanT7
1994.5 - 1997 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel
6
Dec 21, 2012 11:33 AM
Razec
1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel
3
Feb 24, 2008 11:07 PM
99powerstrokeSD
1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel
1
Nov 9, 2006 10:07 PM
01ferguson
1999 - 2003 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel
6
Aug 14, 2005 12:18 AM




All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:41 PM.

story-0
Top 10 Most Expensive Ford Trucks Ever Sold on Bring a Trailer

Slideshow: 10 most expensive Ford trucks ever sold on Bring a Trailer.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-27 16:24:34


VIEW MORE
story-1
2027 Ford Super Duty Buyer's Guide (Every Model, Engine, & Package)

Here's everything that has changed for the latest model year.

By Brett Foote | 2026-05-27 16:17:28


VIEW MORE
story-2
Top 10 Ford Truck Tragedies

Slideshow: Top 10 Ford truck tragedies.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-18 19:34:33


VIEW MORE
story-3
AEV FXL Super Duty - the Super Duty Raptor Ford Doesn't Make

And it might be even better than that.

By Brett Foote | 2026-05-18 19:26:42


VIEW MORE
story-4
Lobo Vs Lobo: Proof the F-150 Lobo Should Be Even Lower!

Slideshow: Does lowering an F-150 Lobo RUIN the ride quality?

By Michael S. Palmer | 2026-05-18 19:20:37


VIEW MORE
story-5
Ford's 2001 Explorer Sportsman Concept Looks For a New Home

Slideshow: Ford's bizarre fishing-themed Explorer concept has resurfaced after spending decades largely forgotten.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-05-12 18:07:46


VIEW MORE
story-6
10 Best Ford Truck Engines We Miss the Most!

Slideshow: The 10 best Ford truck engines we miss the most.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-12 13:09:47


VIEW MORE
story-7
2026 Shelby F-150 Off-Road: Better Than a Raptor R?

Slideshow: first look at the 810 hp 2026 Shelby F-150 Off-Road!

By Brett Foote | 2026-05-12 12:50:07


VIEW MORE
story-8
2027 Super Duty Carhartt Package First Look: 12 Things You NEED to Know!

Slideshow: Everything You Need to Know about the 2027 Super Duty Carhartt Package!

By Michael S. Palmer | 2026-05-07 17:51:06


VIEW MORE
story-9
10 Most Surprising 2026 Ford Truck Features!

Slideshow: 10 most surprising Ford truck options/features in 2026.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-05 11:17:22


VIEW MORE