If you have a way to store the fuel that's inside the tank now I'd pump the fuel into this external reservoir through your filters.

You will notice if the filters get clogged by listening to the pump and by watching the fuel flow, and you'll have reasonably clean diesel afterwards.

Just attach a rubber hose after the filter and "hotwire" the lift pump to a battery, put it on a charger while running.

If you can't store this much fuel, you can also put the hose into the filler neck and let the fuel circulate and get filtered. This will take longer because the dirty fuel gets diluted with the cleaned fuel.

The advantage of both methods is that you do not run your expensive VP44 with insufficient fuel pressure for a long time, and reduce the risk of destroying it.

 

Hey... good idea. I could empty the factory tank by use of the lift pump pull all the fuel through the filters to empty it into the saddle tank in the bed. Then in theory have "cleaner" fuel. Put new filters in and try again.

 

Well... changed the filters again and have run through over 100gal of fuel and even with new filters, fuel psi is low. Both filters were actually pretty clean. At idle it reads 10psi when driving it drops below 5psi.
Per reading details on the process of dropping the tank to look for any obstruction, I see there is a screen on the fuel sending unit and housing. I guess anything is possible but would that large screen clog that easily?
Or maybe there is something stuck in the in-tank pick up tube?
I guess only one way to find out is drop the fuel tank. Other ideas?

 

I dropped the fuel tank, fairly easy, 2-3hr process. 15mm bolts holding the frame cross member and 15mm nuts holding the tank straps up. Disconnected the fuel lines, electrical from the tank and then drained the little remaining fuel into my saddle tank. The tank was relatively clean, I saw no objects or debris in the tank. Disassembled the reservoir with the fuel tubes, float sending unit and cleaned the screen filter. The screen filter and the inside of the reservoir had some debris so I cleaned it all out. I swapped the in-tank plastic line with 12" of fuel hose, put it all back together and re-installed it in the tank. I noticed one of the plastic fuel lines had a kink in it. Not sure if this happened when I dropped the tank or it was like this and the problem causing the low fuel psi so I replaced the fuel line to the tank using the snap-lock factory tank fitting. Re-installed the tank and primed the fuel line.
Started it up and I still have the same low fuel psi; 10psi at idle and down to 2-3psi while driving. ^%&*$#@!
Not sure what else to check..... maybe remove the new fuel lift pump and check it for debris even though it has filtered fuel feed to it.....
Ideas????

 

I have been researching pumps and came across the Airtex E7153, can this be mounted in original position on engine or should it be mounted on frame closer to fuel tank?

 

The Amazon reviews aren't enthusiastic.

Just my 2c

 

Robert... that's the exact pump I had, ran great for years, 15psi at idle and 10+psi driving. Obviously when the filters begin to clog, psi begins to read lower.
With the current low fuel psi, I've installed/cleaned;
1. new lift pump- the second one and have had all the low fuel psi issues as noted prior
2. dropped the factory fuel tank, cleaned it and the fuel sender housing and fuel lines.
3. blew out the fuel line from the vp44 pump all the way back to the tank
4. changed the spin-on fuel filter 2x and changed the factory filter 2x.
Even with new filters installed again, it's only putting out 10psi at idle and quickly drops to 4-5psi when driving. I'm now thinking the Airtex lift pump installed was bad.
Is there a screen or other filter or something that I may be missing????

 

I think the only ones there are are the sock in the fuel tank and the factory one on engine. I have put a stock carter pump for now on engine block position. when plugged into factory harness i lose pressure down to about 2 lbs,when revved up, i wired pump direct to battery and pressure stays at around 10 on highway. I am going to start looking for bad grounds. Apparently,,I was told there is a ground on engine block behind the starter that grounds the ecm. I will check this weekend.

 

I usually put the fuel pump into the frame rail close to the tank because these pumps hate to pull and love to push.
I also use a solid state relay that is triggered by the ECM and wire the supply directly from the battery + and - , naturally including a fuse.
That way I keep the crash shutdown logic and the reduced fuel pressure while cranking, avoiding the hard start @ 15psi fuel pressure.

 

If you're going to stick with the OEM Carter lift pump (I did) relocating it to the frame is the best option. Carter says the pump should be located below the level of the tank and no more than 3' away. I'm surprised they hold up as well as they do being above the fuel level and some 6' away. It's sucking fuel instead of pushing. All pumps like a little head pressure which is why Carter wanted the pump located below the fuel tank. Keeping the tank on the full side also helps with that.
Anyway, my install was done back in '07 and runs about 13psi at idle and 8 to 10psi under load. Still going on the OEM LP but I do keep a spare on hand. Good luck.

 

COLD HARD START ISSUE;
Per other thread reply... adding the same details here.
UPDATE: I think I figured it out on the COLD HARD START PROBLEM
I used the blue 3/8 hose as supplied by FASS for the fuel line from the factor filter to the VP44. This hose was barely long enough. The factory banjo fittings were drilled out for improved flow and used.
When the VP44 bajo fitting/bolt is removed, the fuel will easily drain from it. In this case, If the banjo fitting/bolt is installed in a downward position, it will allow the fuel to drain back, if the fuel line is tight and straight back to the factory fuel filter housing, I think the fuel will then continue to drain out of the VP44 back to the filter housing, thus causing the cold hard start.

SOLUTION: I bought a new longer (16") 3/8 fuel hose line and installed it. The longer fuel hose loops up and down to the VP44 banjo bolt which is pointed upwards. So far after three cold starts, there has been no issues since I changed things.
Hopefully resolving the COLD HARD START PROBLEM. I'll provide updates if otherwise.
3 weeks later... still all going good.

 

This is interesting, but I think you may have also had a hole that did admit air into the fuel line.
Else the fuel would not have been able to drop back into the tank.

 

Agreed, all my banjos were replacing with AN fittings The line from the VP44 to the filter slopes downward back to the filter housing in a fairly straight path. The only time I've had an issue of draining back was when a bad o-ring at the top of the filter housing or a slightly loose fitting. In those cases, it allowed just enough air to get in to cause a problem.