I had an old Bobcat skid steer with an air cooled Wisconsin engine. Lasted a long time, but I sold it because it other stuff was always breaking down. Engine still run well. Biggest problem with engine was the carb likes to stick and needed to be rebuilt fairly often.
It got lots of hard use.
Design. And they do not stand up all that well - many have a "published life span" of as little as 300 hours.
The heavy duty engines like the OLD Kohler and Wisconsin engines were heavy cast iron, and ran almost forever - but their horsepower per lb ratio was disgusting..
The horsepower per cu inch displacement of the small engines is also very conservative, to put it mildly. (except in the case of the high rpm super lightweight 2 strokes).
It does not help cool. It just makes it take longer to heat up. Thermal mass is king. With, let's say 5 times as much thermal mass, it takes 5 times as long to reach a given temperature (and to cool off afterwards)
Which is useless if it has also failed.
Actually it is EXTREMELY rare - I have NEVER heard of it (and I AM a mechanic - although not currently earning my living in the trade). In order for the tank to explode from a spark - or even a BLOW TORCH inside the tank, the tank would need to be vented to the atmosphere - and the mixture would need to be EXTREMELY diluted by air. With fuel vapour density at least 3 or 4 times that of air, the vapour naturally displaces the air in the tank -The flamability range of gasoline is from 1.2 to 7.1:1 by weight
Well, both of my old fuel injected Chryslers went over 240,000km on the original pump. My 1995 TransSport went over 300,000. My friend's Honda went over 700,000, and so did my neighbour's GMC pickup. Personally - and in my immediate family, I have NEVER had an electric fuel pump fail. The Pontiac used to draw air and stup if I hit washboard road below 1/4 tank - but that's all.
Extremely heavy lump of cast iron - and bullet-proof. Some had alloy heads - but most were cast - and compression ratios on the low side of 6:1
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Well, yes, I've been talking to you long enough.
Of course, twice a day. It's clear that you need real help though, Douggie. A very long-sleeved jacket would do it.
You either have good luck or you got better pumps. A local mechanic said 60% of his business is replacing in-tank pumps. My 91 GMC truck developed a leak in the lines on top of the pump outside of tank. I replaced that with a used part, but the same pump. Couple weeks later that pump died, I put in a new one. That lasted a couple months and died. That's when I sawed a hole in the box because I refused to drop the tank again. I got a used pump from the junkyard, put it in, and sold the truck. Main reason I sold it was the pump issues.
A friend has a small Chevy pickup, he's been thru 3 pumps in 2 years. The first replacement only lasted 2 months. Seems the ones sold at the parts stores are all crap. I will say that the guy always runs his truck on almost empty. Puts in 3 gallons at a time, so that may be part of his problem. But either way, it seems all I hear locally is fuel pump failures.
I had an 86 Olds compact car which is the one that stranded me on that very cold night cuz of the pump. The car had other problems too, so after the pump went, I junked the car.
I like my old carbureted Chevy Caprice with mech fuel pump. It just keeps going and going with no engine problems. Biggest problems on that car have been worn front end parts and the brakes seem to have a rather short lifespan, but I'll live with that.
My next truck is going to have a carb, no matter how old it is.
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Obvious you need more medicine or more doseage so you better get yourself checked out soon.
They were all original equipment pumps.
1985 Lebaron, 1988 New Yorker, 1995 TranSport. 92 Civic, and1996 GMC Pickup. All lasted over 12 years - the Chryslers 0ver 18.When I was actively working as a mechanic we had more problems with the wiring outside the tank, and rusted lines on the fuel guage unit than pumps themselves. Hardly had any actual failed pumps on Toyotas
- carbureted or injected - intank or frame mounted pumps.
A LOT of the replacement parts ARE junk. But the cheapassed driver who can't figure out that filling the top third costs the same as the bottom third deserves to change a lot of fuel pumps.
You can have it. Carburetor rebuilds - leaky floats, sticky and leaky needle valves, bad accellerator pumps, sticky and malfunctioning chokes, bad fuel mileage and high exhaust emissions, perculation when hot - all the problems that have been virtually eliminated by fuel injection
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You really are a dumbshit. ...and really proud of it.
Agreed! Fuel injection is much simpler and reliable... and with OBDII easier to troubleshoot
If your after a truck, get a for real truck... not one of those expensive 'truck like product' gimmicks that seem to be everywhere now... go for a Tundra or Tacoma.
Erik
Or a base F150 or GMC Sierra
Sorry... disagree with those two selections.
Erik
Your perrogative. The Tundra is a good truck - but pricey. The Tacoma is a decent truck too - but also pricey. Comparable to a Ranger but a higher snack bracket. A base F150 is a rock solid basic truck - better value than the Toyota in many ways - particularly if you are not worried about resale - drive the wheels off of it. The GM pickup likewize - a bit pricier than the f150.
Buy either one 3 years old and drive it till it drops - maintaining it properly that can be half a million miles on either of them - and the parts are readilly available everywhere - new or used.
I'm a great fan of Toyota - was a Toyota service manager for 10 years
- they make great stuff - but dollar for dollar a good 3 year old GM or Ford is better VALUE for a truck. If you want a fancy truck - the Tundra takes it.
The F-150 is what I have now, but this one has been a lemon and will soon be sold.
I had a GMC Sierra and it was a decent truck till it just started to wear out, but it had lots of miles on it. I tend to have better luck with GM than Ford vehicles. I've considered a Dodge, but I'm not sure...
My 89 Caprice has lots of miles and I've never had any carb problems, aside from the choke being a little touchy. I cant complain about the gas milage either.
When this car dont want to start (occasionally), it's because the engine is still warm, weather is cold, and if the choke is closed too much, the engine will flood. I pop the air cleaner cover, stick a tool in to hold the choke open and it starts right up. This takes me one minute to fix. (No starting problems at all in warm weather).
When my F.I. F-150 refuses to start in the same conditions, (partly warm engine, which was shut off for a few minutes), there is nothing I can do, other than sit there for 20 minutes or more, or start walking.
That's what I hate about F.I. if it dont start, or some other problem, there is nothing you can do. If a carb engine dont start, you can ususlly screw around with it and at least get home, if not fix the problem. I've taken the tops off carbs on the shoulder of the road because of a stuck float, and was driving again in no time.
On top of that, when a carb screws up, a $20 carb kit will fix it right up. When a F.I. engine screws up, it's off to a mechanic, a tow truck, and to the bank to get a loan for hundreds of dollars to get it running again.
I've never worked as a mechanic, but I've done almost all my own auto repairs since I started driving around 44 years ago. I rarely went to a mechanic with the old cars. I've spent more to have F.I vehicles repaired at a mechanic in the last 8 or 9 years (since I got my first F.I vehicle), than I spent on parts the first 35ish years of driving. And I've still done all the other repairs myself such as brakes, u-joints, hoses, radiators, belts, tires, etc.....
I'm not impressed by F.I in the least. It's complicated, costly to repair, leaves drivers stranded, less reliable, and most of the engine work can only be done by the pros. The backyard mechanic/owner is pretty much dead these days, at least for engine work.
I'm a farmer. I want a truck that can work, and the body can hold up to the abuse farm trucks get. And I want reliability. I dont want fancy, and I cant afford to buy new. I also want and need 4wd, and FULL 4wd, not what they call 4wd on those "city trucks", where only half of tires grip (something about the differentials). I have not had very good luck with the F-150s. They all seem to break down way too often, compared to GM. And I've had two of them, 88 and a 90, both had the rearend bearings go to hell. One actually started on fire inside the brake drum. I wont buy another Ford truck. GM is my preference, but I have been looking at the Dodge Ram too.
At the same time, the most depenable truck I ever had was a 78 F-150 with 400 engine 4wd automatic. That thing was built like an army tank. WhenI finally quit driving it, the tranny was dying, the lockouts were screwed up, the box had literally fallen off the frame on one side, crushing the gas filler hose so I could not get gas in it. Yet, that rear end never had bearing problems, and when I quit driving it, that
400 engine ran like the day it was new. However, that engine drank gas faster than a drunk can drink a beer. 7mpg normal, down to 3mpg when it was hauling a load of hay. A friend of mine still has the engine from it in his garage.
The Dodge isn't a bad truck either - and cheaper than the rest.
Ever try holding your foot to the floor??? Shuts off the fuel and opens the air - without having to open the hood, remove the air cleaner and find the screwdriver.
WHEN they fail - which is not very often.
I'll have to dissagree with you on the reliability. I have put MANY vehicles over the 250,000km without a fuel injection problem. And when you add electronic ignition into the mix, I have had less trouble even there than with standard ignition. I've had a couple coil packs fail - but not as many as coils on the old point ignition vehicles. Some cars had issues with the ignitors - but more cars had points burn out - or ballast resistors - and bad capacitors. Add bad vac advance units, sticking advance weights, and worn dist shafts and they were DEFINITELY more troublesom than today's electronic controls.
The emission controls are the most problematic - things like O2 sensors and catalytic converters going bad - but then they still run - and if you'd ever had to sort out the emission controls on carbureted engines from the seventies on up - the new stuff, in my experience, is a piece of cake. They even diagnose themselves.
Driveability problems caused by gremlins in the emission control valving, hoses, and other trash don't exist any more. If the light comes on, you put the scanner on, read the code, and if you have any understanding how things work, the unit tells you what is wrong. Not necessarily what part to change - but what is wrong and where to start looking.
And would be the same if you had carbs instead of EFI.
Getting parts for anything old enough to have a carb is getting more difficult by the day - unless you get into collector stuff where reproduction replacement parts are available - and then the price is as high or higher than for current "high tech" vehicles.
And whst is going to give you better service for the money??
You need an F250 or 350 for the work you want to do. Or a "super duty". The GMC is built a bit heavier (as well as the Chevy - which is genereally a bit cheaper) You should have the 3/4 ton GMC too - not the half ton.
The big Toyota is a good choice too, but buying them used is more difficult - and more expensive - and when something DOES go wrong - it will cost you more.
A 3500 Dodge Diesel dually will do the job too - but too much torque for the rest of the truck if you get "RAMMY" with it.
For heavy farm use I wouldn't have a gasoline engine. The early powerstrokes were a bit fragile for my tastes - and the Duramax had reliability problems too. Nothing is perfect, but you'd likely have better luch engine-wize with a Cummins Ram.
Let me just throw out here, that just because a car repair shop owner says that 50% or whatever of his business is replacing in-tank fuel pumps, that does not necessarily mean that 100% of those pumps actually needed to be replaced...
:wq
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