Hi All,

New guy here and proud owner of an '86 F250 4WD with a 460. I beloved truck has an issue and I am totally lost on what to do. This will be long but I will try to make it as short yet detailed as possible.

About two months ago, the front tank fuel pump quit. I dropped the tank and replaced the whole hanger assembly. It worked fine for a while, but the other day I went to switch to the front tank from the rear (switch is in the dash) and the gauge went up like normal but after a few seconds, the engine died. I switched back to the rear tank and everything was fine. When I got home, I switched the tank to the front and couldn't hear the fuel pump like I normally do. So, I dropped the tank again and sure enough, the new (2 month old) pump was dead. I replaced the entire hanger assembly and remounted the tank. When I turned the key, I could hear the pump running so I thought all was well. I had performed a little PM work in the engine compartment and was letting the truck idle while I looked for problems and it died. I could hear the pump running, but it was like it wasn't putting out enough fuel. Again, I switched to the rear tank and everything was fine.

I read on here about the tank "switch valve" and thought that perhaps that may be the problem...maybe it isn't completely switching to the front tank...maybe only allowing some of the fuel through which may have also caused too much back pressure which killed the pump I put in two months ago. Anyway, after reading about this device, I read that there are two kinds, a 3 port and a 6 port. Mine has 6 ports but it doesn't look like anything I have seen pictured. I have enclosed a couple of pictures so hopefully someone can tell me what kind of switch/valve that is and if it is possible for it to go "partially" bad.





One last thing, I reached up to make sure all of the nylon lines were attached to this thing properly and it was hot to the touch. Not warm, hot! Is that normal?

Any help you guys can offer will be greatly appreciated and thank in advance.

 

Well, I would go for the switch valve as I have heard on this forum that this can be a problem. As for the pumps dying, check all the wire connections and make sure you aren't shorting out some where.

 

Has or does anyone know what the part number of the device shown in the pictures?

 

No one has seen this before? Surely I don't have the only truck with this thing installed in it...

 

it's a 6 port tank selector valve i have one on my 86.
this might help
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...d=182593&.jpg=

 

As was mentioned, that's the 6-port tank selector valve, I would imagine you could get
aftermarket variants at the auto parts stores and somebody like NumberDummy could tell
us if any of the NOS parts suppliers have any.

They're talked about fairly frequently on FTE:
6 port tank selector valve site:ford-trucks.com/forums - Google Search

 

Thanks for the info. I read lots and lots of the threads on this board along with others and have read quite a bit about these 6 port things. I keep reading however about "motor driven" which I have no idea what that means, I keep reading about "hot fuel option" but cannot find out what that means and I read about "reservoir" and have even seen pictures of a six port thing, but it has some type of canister on the bottom of it. Mine looks nothing like that.

Thanks again for the info.

 

The best explanation I can recall came from Franklin2 last summer:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ml#post7618100

 

Thanks again to all for the info so far. This is what I know or think I know.

1. I understand what the "hot fuel" option is though I don't know if my truck has it.
2. After much more reading, I believe that "motor driven" means that there is a wire from the oil pressure sending unit that goes to the circuit some how and if there is no oil pressure, the pumps won't work. If that is true, mine must not be "motor driven" because I can switch back and forth from front to rear with just the key on and no engine running.
3. I have looked up many pictures of the "six port" valve on the interweb now and none of them appear to be what I have. All of the pictures I have seen have a six wire connector. Mine has only five.
4. I can hear both fuel pumps running. When I switch to the rear tank, the rear tank runs. When I switch to the front tank, the front tank runs...so both in tank pumps are working.
5. The truck runs fine off the rear tank. When I switch to the front tank, but when I switch to the front tank, it will idle for a couple of minutes then start acting as if starved for fuel and eventually die. Likely burning the fuel that was in the carb and being starved after that.

So, I am still at a loss. Do they make one of these six port valves with a five wire connector? Could the valve be only opening partly on the front tank causing the the lack of fuel?

Thanks again for all of the help guys.

 

Not to hijack, just want to know!

Whats the 6 port selector valve for??
For 3 tanks??

Thanks.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

it works just like the 3 port but the hot fuel option has a return line like efi.2 lines to rear tank,2 lines to front tank and 2 lines to engine.with the 6 port when you switch tanks the fuel returns to the tank it's drawing from.