1968-Present E-Series Van/Cutaway/Chassis Econolines. E150, E250, E350, E450 and E550

'89 E350 cutaway in line fuel pump add?

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Old 09-10-2017 | 03:20 PM
beagledog's Avatar
beagledog
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'89 E350 cutaway in line fuel pump add?

I've left my '89 E350 cutaway with a 351/C6 and an enclosed 10' Stahl utility body sit since the last big economic downturn. I got a job that I no longer used it.

Fast forward about 8 years, and I'd like to get it going again, but use it as a portable tool shed on my farm. I have no intentions of putting it back on the road, other than a one time 100 mile trip to the farm.

I have a no start cause no fuel situation. The pump in the tank does not appear to be running. Has about 11 volts to the appropriate wire near the tank. I cannot get into the tank without dropping it, obviously. Don't really want to do the "cut the hole in the floor" thing. Front (high pressure) pump runs.....it may or may not pump fluid, but it runs.

I'd like to install one of those electric in line, self priming pumps near the tank, using the hot and ground wires that are there for the in the tank pump.

I've tried everything I can figure to get the old pump in the tank to run. Obviously, checked the relays, checked/bypassed the switch that opens when you crash, jumpered the test plug to get the fuel pump(s) to run more than 2 seconds, tested the ground wire coming off the pump for good continuity to ground, banged on the center bottom of the tank while pump energized.

Maybe (hopefully) there's something I'm missing. If so, please set me straight about what else, other than a dead pump could be the problem.

If no one has any other suggestions, I'd like to try that electric self priming pump. However, I'm not sure if the in the tank pump will allow fluid to free flow through it. Does anyone want to weigh in on this?

Again, this is to be a farm use truck. getting 50 mph is not an issue.

Thanks!
 
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Old 09-11-2017 | 09:03 AM
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annaleigh
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My 85 sat for years and after a few stalling problems, i found the sending unit looked like this... Can you imagine what your pump might look like? My 88 had sat for years too and the PO told me they had just replaced the tank and pump.. Have you drained the old gas? Did you try 12v directly to the rear pump? Are you just trying to move it or do you want to use it around your place? Am thinking most often when you change a fuel filter there is pressure in the line if it was recently ran so the pump probably has a anti drain-back valve or something like that. if it is all rusted or gunked up you probably won't be able to get any flow through it.
 
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Old 09-21-2017 | 11:02 AM
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beagledog
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Thanks much for the reply. That's not a very pretty sending unit you have there!

I'm planning on driving the van about 100 miles, then just using it around the farm. No, I haven't yet, but will be pumping the tank empty, or nearly so.

I've done some more research and found from a youtube video that at least some in tank pumps contain a discharge ball check valve. That item would prevent me from being able to do what I want to do. I disconnected the pump line (not the return line) between the tank and the high pressure pump. I was able to blow air back into the tank, but not take a suction on the line. I triple checked to make sure I had the correct line.

Take those facts, along with the likelihood that if this was doable, there would be 10,000 hits on google about using an in-line pump to pull through the tank pump.

However, before I bite the bullet and drop the tank, I'm going to try a couple more things. First, I'm going to do as you suggest and put 12 V right to the pump, at or near the pump. When I checked line voltage near the pump, it was about 11 volts. I was not surprised, probably some drop through old connectors, etc. I'll use my jump box to put about 13 volts right there within inches of the pump.

Another thing I'm going to try is to reverse the polarity to the pump with that jump box. If successful, trying to run the pump backwards might unstick the old thing.

I'm also replying to my own thread so others in the future might benefit.

What I'll likely end up doing is adding another tank to the truck. I have several gas vehicles that get run only for a little bit, right at the farm. For example, I use an old lime spreader truck to spread compost every once in a while. I'm always conflicted, cause we know that for long term, its better to prevent tank rust if it's full. At the same time, that can cause an awful lot of gas to go bad.

What I'm thinking of coming up with is a small gas can - maybe a 6 gallon boat gas can, that I move around to vehicles and equipment on the farm as I want to use it.

I don't know, could become a PITA to use. I did have a really good mechanic friend tell me years ago that if you ensure the carb is empty when you shut down an engine for long term storage, you'll have no carb/fuel problems......

Thanks for your reply!
 
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