Hi guys, hope you can help as I’m scratching my head. I own a 1998 E superduty shuttle bus. It has a 7.3l diesel. I bought the bus and have used it to tow my snowmobile trailer and it has run fine. Two days ago I started it up after sitting for a few weeks and the bus ran for 5 minutes and just all of a sudden started to die like it was running out of fuel. I could not get it to restart.
I’ve had 7.3’s and other diesels before so the first thing I checked was the fuel bowl. It was empty. I worked my way back to the fuel pump, and while the bowl was opened I cycled the pump and found it to fill the bowl but very slowly. Just to be sure, I put a new frame mounted fuel pump in it last night. Pressure was much better. I filled the bowl, bled the air out of the bowl for a minute and fired it back up. The bus started immediately and ran ok. It felt like it had a miss like an injector was stuck open.
It ran for about ten minutes and then the exact same thing happened. It felt like it ran out of fuel and just died.
I’m stumped.
The line going from the tank to the fuel pump
Is new. The fuel pump is now new.
I am not a van guy but I would guess that you have to drop the tank and you will find whatever type of fuel strainer you have in tank is will be clogged?
DENNY
Summer of 17, I had loss of power problem as you describe caused by lack of fuel. I was on vacation and prey to the whims of repair shops. I didn't realize it at the time but the problem only occurred when the tank was below ¼ full. Spent about $2K. Finally a mechanic dropped the tank and found a broken foot on the fuel tank pickup probe. He replaced that and I was good to go. The 2017 saga was reported last year on this forum.
Summer of 2018, 4000 miles later it happened again. This time I was at home and it happened when my tank was ¾ full. I had been on some rough roads and then back on the highway and about 8 miles later it lost power. I hobbled along for another mile and then my baby died about a mile from my house. Took me about 15 minutes to locate a wrecker. Just for the heck of it, as I was waiting, I tried to start it. Shazammm!!! it started right up. Plenty of power! I drove it home, parked in my carport, dropped the tank and found that the filters in the pickup probe were packed full of rust. I looked hard and couldn't see inside the tank far enough to see past the plastic baffle box. However, when reaching in with my hand, I could feel the rust on the floor of the OEM steel tank. My trip of 10 miles over rough roads had sloshed up enough rust to block filters in the pickup probe.
Could NOT find a poly tank to install. I bought a new steel tank from O'Reilly for $300. Bought a Baldwin external fuel filter base on eBay ($25). Had a custom manifold fabricated for the filter base ($65). Hooked it up pre fuel pump. Installed a Donaldson fuel filter ($15 for 2) and did a Hutch mod on the pickup probe ($10). I just used copper tubing with local hardware store fittings for the mod. jacked the tank back up into place, hooked everything up and filled it up with fuel. The new tank had a short fill pipe so I didn't need to mod that. If anyone is going to do what I've done, I would caution that one should be keeping everything that comes off the old tank because most of it will be needed when installing the new tank. Be really careful when you lower the old tank and don't break off at the fill hoses.
That was 5K miles ago. Runs like a champ. 21mpg on the highway if I keep it under 65. I run with K&N oil impregnated cotton air filters because diesel engines need to breathe. As an aside, if you're rollin coal when you tramp on your 7.3, you need to get more air into it. Anyone with a 2002 era van who wants to replace the tank, give me a shout and I can post a boat load of pictures of everything that I did. Yardbrew.
Could NOT find a poly tank to install. I bought a new steel tank from O'Reilly for $300. Bought a Baldwin external fuel filter base on eBay ($25). Had a custom manifold fabricated for the filter base ($65). Hooked it up pre fuel pump. Installed a Donaldson fuel filter ($15 for 2) and did a Hutch mod on the pickup probe ($10). I just used copper tubing with local hardware store fittings for the mod. jacked the tank back up into place, hooked everything up and filled it up with fuel. The new tank had a short fill pipe so I didn't need to mod that. If anyone is going to do what I've done, I would caution that one should be keeping everything that comes off the old tank because most of it will be needed when installing the new tank. Be really careful when you lower the old tank and don't break off at the fill hoses.
That was 5K miles ago. Runs like a champ. 21mpg on the highway if I keep it under 65. I run with K&N oil impregnated cotton air filters because diesel engines need to breathe. As an aside, if you're rollin coal when you tramp on your 7.3, you need to get more air into it. Anyone with a 2002 era van who wants to replace the tank, give me a shoutand I can post a boat load of pictures of everything that I did. Yardbrew.
Yes please, very interested in this and would love to (as I'm sure others would too) see pictures of this. I'm planning to do this myself and your info above is already very helpful. Already had the tank done once...
Would be great to see the process seems to be one of my next steps too!
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
The Diesel Stop
2.6M posts
210.8K members
Since 1999
A forum community dedicated to all Ford Diesel owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about PowerStrokes, performance, modifications, troubleshooting, towing capacity, maintenance, and more!