I am new to this site and wanted to see if anyone can give me some ideas as to what might be going on w/my 1986 Ford 150 with dual gas tanks. I was running about 1/4 tank in my back tank, stopped to put gas in my front tank (Quiktrip), topped it off at 13 gallons. Switch to the front tank, starting the truck and didn't go 1/4 mile before I started losing total power, I was putting my foot on the accelerator but the truck wouldn't pick up speed, it was hesitating and I thought it was going to completely stop. I finally was able to get home and left it running in the driveway thinking maybe switching the tanks had something to do w/it but it completely stalled out after about 5-8 minutes. I tried to start it again and it would turn over but would not start. Before I got gas, I had the oil changed and new air filter installed. Any ideas what could be going on here? I haven't tried to start again for about 2 hours. Any guidance?

 

Sounds like you still have a little gas in the other tank, what happens if you switch it back? The switch may have failed. Try the other tank to rule out other issues and let us know.

 

Think it's possible some junk shook lose from the tank after fill up? Maybe stopped up the fuel filter(s) or carb?

 

It could also be the selector valve on the frame rail. They are notorious for failing and VERY expensive to replace.

 

Appears that youve recieved good feedback from that last person as I expierenced the same problem and found that it was in fact the fuel selector valve which was defective. Like he said , it's on the frame rail ,drivers side, about a foot or two back from the drivers door. obviously there are 4 incoming lines and two outgoing to the motor. My particuar truck is an 86 and the mounting bolts werent that rusted so it wasnt so bad removing it. just make sure you have something to plug the lines with when you remove them, in my case, i used golf tees. this prevented all that gas leakage everywhere. My back fuel tank actually had numerous holes in it and was beyond repair so I removed it and therefore removed the fuel selector valve and just spliced the two lines from the front tank back into the ones for the main lines and no more sputtering or hesitation such as you have. Just to note before all of this, I replaced the fuel filter( which is also on the frame rail just ahead of the selector valve), the motor ran good for about 5 minutes until vaccum built up throught the lines and system then the problem started all over again. so if you change the filter and the prolem reappers, you'll know its not that. Anyways, I hope hs helps and your sucessful at solving this problem.

 

Ok, sorry it took me so long to get back to everybody. Here's what happened. Halefleender, I switch to the back fuel tank as you suggested, started the truck up, ran it around the block several times w/no problem, took it to the B/P gas station this time and filled up the back tank. Been driving it since then with no apparent problems. Have not switched back to front tanks...probably won't until I can identify exactly what type of problem I will be faced with. All the suggestions are ones I can check out. Thanks.

By the way, does anybody have an opinion on Quik Trip gas vs. B/P gas. Some folks say it doesn't matter what you put in your car gas is gas, comes from the same pipeline and others are committed to a brand like B/P, or Texaco cause they think it's better gas, any thoughts?

 

Like you said gas is gas but it is the station you need to be weary of. Some of the smaller less maintained stations rarely inspect the underground tanks or syphon out the water. This need to be done regularly. I worked at a well maintained BP truck stop and would syphon out at least 5 gallons a week from one of the underground tanks. This is easily done due to gas is heavier and lets the water float on top.

 

You got that backwards, gas floats on water