Hodge

No tick, no blown gaskets.
I have a lift pump coming. I am going to pull the old one tomorrow, pull and clean up/check the fuel heater, and replace the fuel lines to the tank, since I will have access to them.

Hodge

I am replacing the fuel line from and to the tank, I have deleted the fuel heater, I am replacing the 1/2" hose between the preheater and the lift pump, I am replacing the lift pump (waiting for it to come in), and the heater has a new screen in it. Any other suggestions, while I have things apart? The only thing left would be the pickup in the tank, I believe.

gorms

Keep going, it's free to clean it. Mine was plugged solid when I finally cleaned it out last year at around 220k miles.

Hodge

That's on the agenda, just not yet. The lift pump came today, so I will put everything back together in the morning. If it isn't cleared up, then I will pull the bed and go for the tank; otherwise, I'll do that later. I don't have the bed off now- I was able to get my head and shoulders in between the frame and bed side, and change the lines. Not the most comfortable, but it worked and I was by myself/not in a position to pull the bed.

Diesel Dave2

Keep us updated on how things go...

Hodge

The bad news- I've spent $399 on parts. The good news- I have a new fuel system, from outside of the tank to the injection pump. I know the fuel system real well, too. Back to the bad news- after installing a new lift pump, deleting the fuel heater, running new fuel line, and installing a new fuel filter, it still wouldn't run- I could barely get 15 pounds of pressure. So, I lifted the bed and pulled the pickup- it was a tablespoon amount of goop covering the inlet. The screen needed cleaning, but it wasn't blocked; the entire hole on the end of the pickup tube, though, was covered by this gray glob of stuff. I cleaned the whole unit, cleaned the screen, put it back together, and it runs like a champ now. It pulls about 22 pounds at idle, and about 38 running down the road.
Everything is working except for the temp gauge- I need to see if I knocked something loose, but let me ask this- I cut the wires for the fuel heater, and taped up the ends. I assumed that the could be dead ended, but do they have anything to do with the temperature gauge? I can't imagine that they would...

Diesel Dave2

That's great to hear...that it wasn't the IP....I did the same as you did...I wasn't as lucky...

My IP was sick...

Hodge

I don't know how the temp sensor plug got pulled off, but it did. I struggled for about 15 minutes trying to locate and reach it from the driver's side, then I tried over the valve cover- that wasn't too bad to reach.

infidel

Instead of cutting the heater wires all you have to do is remove the heater relay located next to the shutdown relay on the firewall.

Hate to say it but I thought my truck was fixed after the dealer under warranty did most everything you did to your truck.
Six months later I had the same problem again...
Fuel pressure always remained great when it happened.

Hodge

I had to cut the wires, to delete the fuel heater. I wanted it out of there, so it can't leak air.
It had been either removed or replaced before, because the wires were spliced and soldered.
Once I had the fuel pressure gauge, it was easy to see that a loss of fuel pressure preceeded the shutdown, every time. Which was a good thing- I had expected it to be difficult to observe the fuel pressure, since it seemed that a good bit of driving at highway speeds seemed to preceed my problems. But, the goo had really clogged things up, and I couldn't go 2 miles down the road before a shutdown. So, at least I didn't have to break down 50 miles from home to observe what it was doing.
It is running fantastic now.

j-fox

Your fuel delivery issue could be algea in the tank and lines. It is a black gooey mess.
Water and the right temps allow it to grow in the tank. Biocide is used to kill it.
(I've also used gasoline)

Take the line off of the lift pump and wrap a rag aroung an air hose and pressurize the tank to see it much fuel comes out.
Don't use more that 35 lbs of air.

I have seen this on one of my trucks.
I couldn't get any fuel at first!!! When I blew it back tot he tank and a higher pressure it popped and ran good after that. It was dosed heavy with biocide for several tanks, then we dropped the tank to check it. The sock was slimmy.

Hodge

I have the goo in a ziplock bag, sitting here on my desk. It is soft like silly putty, black, you can sqeeze it and it will ooze diesel, it pulls/stretches without tearing (to a point), and when you squeeze it, it flattens but stays together. It feels like silicone, impregnated with diesel fuel. I don't know what algae looks like in diesel fuel, but this isn't how I would imagine it.

http://s65.photobucket.com/user/br54...tml?sort=3&o=1

No doubt, the goo in the photo is what caused my grief. With a new lift pump, new screen, new filter, new fuel line/return line, new overflow valve, and deleted fuel heater, the truck still wouldn't run. I removed that quarter-sized blob, and it runs, it runs stronger than it ever has, and it hasn't stumbled at all. Before removing the goo, I couldn't go two miles without it quiting. Now, it is running perfect. And, it started easy this morning, with temps in the low 40's. It has never started that easy. Never, even plugged in. I am sure that is partly due to the new fuel system.

ktfroy

Congrats on the solving of your problem. About 3 years ago I was experiencing similar conditions on my '97 and went through pretty much the same progression of fixes. A new lift pump solved the problem for me.

But now I am getting some stalling happening again and think I need to clean out the inlet in the tank. So what is the procedure to lifting off the bed?
I also have been w/o a fuel gauge since right after the warranty ran out and I would try a fix for that at the same time.

Also, how did you go about installing a fuel pressure gauge?
thanks,
Roy

Hodge

There are 8 bolts that hold the bed on (I have an 8' bed- possibly the short bed has less). I removed all but the two at the tailgate end of the bed. I backed them out, but left them threaded in, so the bed couldn't shift left or right or slide back on me. I took my floor jack and cut a post the length of the distance between the cup on the floor jack and the front crossmember of the bed. I also cut some 4x6's to use for cribbing. If I someone had been with me, we probably could have done it all by hand, but I was by myself. As I would jack up the bed, I would slide cribbing in on top of the front two frame members where the bed bolted on. It took a total of 10 inches to have enough room to pull out the fuel unit. I used two red and two yellow zip ties so that I didn't have to guess which fuel line went back onto which fuel nipple, unplugged the vent hose and the sending unit plug, and unscrewed the big cap. The unit will compress, which I did to get it to clear the bed crossmember and pull it out. Be careful- it will hold a fair amount of diesel fuel in it, and when you turn it sideways to pull out of the tank, it can dump fuel on you. You can raise the bed higher for more clearance, siphon the fuel out, or make sure it dumps away from you. Once out, I pulled the big screen off of the bottom, which had buildup on it, and cleaned the dime-sized inlet on the bottom. I cleaned the straw and return straws with brake cleaner, then blew it all out with compressed air. I cleaned the screen real well with brake cleaner, dried everything off, and put it back in.

ktfroy

Thanks for the description of lifting the bed, definitely a help.