First time poster on here, reading for sometime. I have a 2003 7.3 ps, automatic and this morning while driving the motor would shake at 45 mph like it was about to come undone from the frame. I nursed it home, put it in park and gave it gas and more than the usual black smoke came pouring out of the pipe. One time it even back fired, never did that before. I have no lights, bell's or anything showing up on the dash. I starts and idles fine and appears to go through the gears and rpm's ok until you reach 45 mph. Any ideas before I have it towed?
Things I just checked, last night I was was low on fuel and filled it up. Same fuel station I always use, it was diesel fuel, had the smell and the extra 5-10 minutes to fill up because of the foaming. Just checked the filler cap, took it off and did a smell test, smelled like diesel. Found the yellow tab right behind the fuel filter, I believe this is how you remove the water or take a fuel sample. How exactly does this yellow tab move? It looks like it is a yellow plastic part that goes vertical with the fuel filter housing and then at the bottom it goes horizontal towards the passenger side. Little help...
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It rotates around, not up and down, and then fuel comes out right above the passenger side of your front axle. Sounds like a fuel starvation problem to me. I would look into starting by replacing the fuel filter on top of the engine. Thats the cheapest and easiest thing. Then you will possibly end up looking at cleaning the screen in the tank.

 

Thanks Mike, I just had a new fuel filter installed about a month ago, but did run the tank very very low yesterday, maybe I have a fuel tank problem, figures just put in 30 gallons...I'll play with the yellow tab in the morning.

 

rebelchevy2 made the right call, my fuel pump took a dump.

 

Replace it with this one.
GSL392 Walbro 255 Inline Fuel Pump GSL 392 COMPLETE kit:eBay Motors (item 310170555152 end time Oct-04-09 10:45:37 PDT)

 

Here's Robin's (PaysonPSD) write up on the install.

Walbro Fuel Pump pictures by PaysonPsd - Photobucket

 

If you ran it out of fuel it will run like that for awhile until it gets all the air out. Otherwise it might be the pick up unit in the tank. Mine ran kind of like that and it was the fuel pick-up unit. The screens get clogged and they need to be cleaned. It doesn't matter that you just filled it. My mech put the Ex-box on a lift and dropped the tank using a jack. Never spilled a drop. Cleaned the screens and now it runs like new.

 

Before you go and blame the fuel pump, you may want to drop the tank, and clean the pickup assembly screen. Our fuel pumps are very, very reliable, and long term survivors. But unfortunately, the method that the fuel is drawn from the tank, can cause the same problem you are facing. I would siphon out your fuel, and drop the tank, and clean up the pickup assembly first. Maybe do the intank mods while your in there, and go from there.

 

When I turn the key on, there is no noise coming from the fuel pump but I do have voltage there. As stated, newbie here, what in tank mods?

 

Here is a link to the kit that I and many others have done. It gets rid of the screen system in tank, and puts a nice replaceable fuel filter, on the frame somewere of your choice. The OEM fuel pumps are pretty quiet. You may cycle the key, and grab ahold of it, and make sure its not vibrating. They are mounted with rubber isolators, to keep down noise. IIRC. You say you had voltage there, so you actually pulled the rubber caps off and check with a meter at the pump? If thats the case, and it doesnt vibrate, then is probably toast for sure. But the pump will only run for a few seconds when you first turn the key on, and the engine is not running.

Good luck!

ITP 7.3L Fuel Tank / Pre-Pump Kit

 

rebelchevy02, i saw voltage and by touching the wire leads but as soon as i saw voltage i removed the test probes, didn't notice that they stopped getting power, maybe it stopped as i was removing the probes. Thanks for the heads up, i like the fuel tank kit you are suggesting. It looks like a lot of guys on here are doing that. I need to read up on it.

 

Well if you had the probes on the fuel pump, and didnt notice it vibrating at all, I would have to say, unfortunately you will need a fuel pump then. They do start to make a noise when they dont get fuel. IIRC the pump from the dealer is in the $200+. But they are also a very good unit. Others have run the other pump listed above with success. I cannot comment on it, since I have not. But I do have over 216k on mine, our early 99 has 230K+ on it, and the rest of the trucks around here are 170k+ and all have the origional fuel pumps.