Yeah with only 7 gallons in the tank and parked at an angle could certainly be enough for it to suck some air. Unless it happens again with a fuller tank, I would not worry about it.

I am off to split and stack wood as I woke up to a solid frost on the tin roof and all the Dodge trucks in the driveway this morning...Winter is coming.
I will be using the '89 W-350 dump truck as the firewood shuttle around the property.

 

Want out this am, turned the key, and as normal, it fired up before I had blinked my eye...

Runs perfect... As a 5.9 goenerally does

 

Oliver, I'm curious as to where the point of air infiltration would be, on a truck with minimal fuel in the tank, and parked at an angle. And if others have experienced this, at about how steep an angle. I ask, cause I've been at a slight angle with my gage showing empty, and have never experienced this. Maybe I wasn't at the correct angle?
I'll be honest, I've only dropped my tank once since I've owned it, and last year replaced that thick fill tank hose. I can see that hose and it's clamps being a point of air infiltration, and also the doughnut seal where the fill tube enters the tank. Other than those two items, where else should one check, around the tank area(not including fuel lines to and from the tank).
About the only problematic fault that I saw, was after an accident when my divers side rear tire tread peeled off at 70 mph. It wiped out the wheel well sheet metals and bent the fill tube into the tank cockeyed, and that tore a slit in that doughnut seal. For about a month I was wondering why my fuel gage would act sporadically, sometimes showing a level of fuel, sometimes showing empty on a full tank. After close inspection, I swapped in a new doughnut seal, and gage worked normal ever since.
Just want to know for personal knowledge

 

When my lift pump went out I had parked at a store with about a 5 degree up angle and about 8 gallons in the tank. After being towed home and parked in the driveway with about 5 degrees DOWN angle it started up after some cranking. I drove it to the station and refueled which is how I know how much fuel was left in the tank.

Soooo the VE won't pull much uphill at all even without a hole in the fuel lines. BTW my lines are all new rubber. Now I have a piston style pump and no more problems.

Edwin

 

Were any of yourall's fuel lights on?

 

Not WIF or Low Fuel. Nothing.

 

Nope

 

I learned a lot on this subject from my old '01 24V with an Air Dog fuel pump and a very quick to read electric fuel pressure gauge. I would see the pressure drop from 20 PSI to low single digits when coming down my steep hill and coming to a stop as it sucked air from the low tank. As soon as I was on flat ground and back on the throttle the fuel pressure would instantly come back. I could also get it to do the same coming up a steep hill on the throttle as well, but it was not as pronounced as downhill. This made me stay on top of keeping the tank on the fuller side.

 

Since this treads all about a ton of numerous different topics, is it same to say that a piston LP upgrade from the diaphragm factory style is about the best one can do for a lift pump? With all the electronically controlled lift pumps like the AirDog in my research it seemed that upgrades of that type on a first gen wasn't really an improvement? Am I correct in assuming this? This is totally off subject anymore on the sucking in of air, but more of a question on those fuel purifying type pumps. I never see these in the top ten mods for a first gen, but do occasionally see them on firstgens members rides. I believe 1stGenFarmboy runs one. Notice any differences in fuel mileage increases and idle quality?

 

I was not a fan of the Air Dog fuel pump system on my 24V. I bought it here at DTR 9 Years ago when Lary still carried them.
The pump was noisy [like a Chevy Gasser pump] and went south 4 times on me over 100,000 miles. VERY unreliable compared to mechanical lift pumps.
I needed the extra fuel pressure and flow to keep up with the Attitude with Juice Edge programmer I installed on it.

I would recommend a LPLP on any 1st gen 12V.

 

I remember wannadiesels ran a Walbro electrical lift pump. You have any experiences or knowledge on those? How do these work, anyway, as far as install? Do they replace the mechanical LP totally, or supplement it? Like a booster type of deal?

 

WHAT A PITA!

I figured I'd have to remove the instrument cluster since the switch wasn't visible from below but then I found this big steering wheel support directly in the way!




SO I figured out that the only way to get to the switch would be to drop the steering column. This is done bu removing the 2 x 7/16 nuts holding the column to the brace and the 3 nuts under the hood which holds the column to the firewall.




One of the nuts is almost behind the brake booster but all are accessible with a long extension and a 1/2 inch socket.




There are 2 x 5/16 screws holding the switch in. I unbolted the switch before I unplugged it from the wiring harness. It helps a lot to depress the clutch pedal to get it out of the way. Then you can get a 5/16 nutdriver on the screws. If you don't have a clutch then don't depress it as it won't help.

The shaft coming down from the keylock snaps into the switch so just pull it out. Then the switch and wiring can be brought out to where it is a lot easier to get at the plugs which there are 2 side by side.

Don't plug the new switch in and leave the locking pins in place which hold the switch in the off locked position.

Snap the shaft wire into the new switch in the slot near the end towards the steering wheel. Then with the key out and the lock in the Locked position put the 2 screws back in to locate the switch in the proper position.

Remove the locking pins and rotate the switch to see that in goes to all positions properly including ACC and START. Then turn it off and plug in the 2 plugs.

Raise the steering column back into position and screw the nuts and washers back on to take up the slack but don't tighten them down yet.

Put the 3 nuts and washers on the column bracket under the hood on the firewall and tighten them down. Then go back and tighten down the 2 column nuts.

This might could have been done without removing the instrument cluster but the 2 screws holding the switch would have been a real pain.

My old switch had gotten flaky after 28 years and the radio sometimes wouldn't work.

 

Edwin, that control on your last pic, to the right, is that to aid in warm up by increasing idle? Is that how it came from the factory, or aftermarket?

Another thing- is not it too freakin hot to be disassembling a dash right now? Your garage climate controlled?

 

It's cooled off today. It's a nice 75 degrees outside but the humidity is high. At my age it is affecting me more and more so I take lots of breaks. I'm still ruminating about wiring up the accessory plugs I installed 2 months ago.

The Fast Idle thing is factory AFAIK but it doesn't work. It might work if I adjusted it but since I've never had a need for it I probably won't do anything with it. It won't pull out at all and I thought it was rusted up or something but I took it apart and I discovered it's only supposed to move about 1/4 inch so I couldn't be used as a sort of cruise control for saaaaafty.

 

Those high idle unit have been discontinued, I would assume most due to liability from them being used a redneck cruise units.
I have one on my white crew cab to help warm it up in the morning or if I want it to charge the battery quicker - Like when I am using my winch that runs of the battery. They are aftermarket old school parts I believe.