I plumbed in a clear piece of hose on the supply side of the LF, and at first thought I was not getting any air in the system. My fule pressure gauge would either sit on 16 PSI and then drop gracefully as I massed the pedal, or it would bounce erratically between 12 & 14 PSI, all the while still being a turd on power. I've checked it twice while it was bouncing and it appeared to have a solid stream of fuel going into the LP, but the 3rd time Saturday afternoon I checked and there was a pocket of air about the size of a 500mg tylenol pill sitting right at the end of the barb fitting on the LP side. I moved the hose, and it went on into the LP and again was a solid supply of fuel. My question is this: I'm obviously getting air from somewhere which I need to locate, but can a bubble that small cause the loss of power I am experiencing? I cannot even break my tires loose hardly on a wet road.......

 

A bubble in the line at rest doesn't really mean anything. You are not seeing a stream of bubbles in the line while the engine is running, right?

 

No sir, and 2 out of 3 checks with the gauge acting crazy resulted in no bubble at all. I am wondering of the screen on the bottom of the pickup assembly could be stopped up. But I guess that would result in bubbles though right?

 

are you running the low pressure piston lift pump?

are you saying the truck has lost power or it never had power? Because at the stock fuel levels the truck are not the fastest things on the road.

 

Yes, I am running the 15.5 PSI LP from the sticky.

The truck has lost power over the last year or so. It used to pull really strong, now its a turb. I could not even break the tires loose on the wet road in 3rd this morning. Its not a DD as my wife and I commute to work together, I only drive it probably once a week, which is why I have been chasing this problem for so long. Below are some symptoms I diagnosed over the weekend:

- I can now hear a ticking sound under the hood. Not very loud at all and noticeable on both sides of the motor, but slightly louder on the drivers side. I park my truck beside my shed, and when I left it running with the hood up and went around inside the shed to get a light, you could really make it out inside the shed. I guess the tin wall was drowning out all the other noise. Its also not a constant tick. Its like this: tick, tick, tick, pause for 2 seconds, and repeat.

- I took some time with it last night and SLOWLY went up through the RPM's listening for any misses or changes in the running of the truck, and I found one. I don't have an RPM gauge, but I guessed it to be around 1800 RPM's the truck would stumble/miss. the motor never really moved much meaning it did not start shaking or anything in the miss, but it was more of an audible miss or stumble. I am horrible at describing sounds but it was like you could run slowly up to that RPM with the engine running what appeared to be smoothe, and then when you got to that point, it would kind of make a drone sound. I've always thought my truck never sounded the same as other 1st gens I've been around, but I've also always thought my truck run really smoothe.

 

When is the last time that you have adjusted your valves, sometimes they can make a tic, tic, tic sound?
If you have a manual trans it could be your release bearing.

Take a long screwdriver or metal rod about 2'-3' long and hold the handle against your ear and with the other end hold it against parts of the engine and see if you can locate where the tic is coming from, valve covers, vacuum pump be careful around the fan.

You can wear earplugs; the sound will be transmitted to your eardrums through conduction.

Pull the top of the AFC cover and check to see if there is a tear in the diaphragm, you might not be getting any fuel under boost.

Have you noticed any loss in boost pressure, check for leaks.

 

that almost sounds like a faulty fuel solonid or connection would be the tic tic and cause the gauge to flutter