My 89 F150 will no longer draw gas from the main tank. Not a biggee as the truck is my beat to crap 'wooding' rig and hasn't been more than 30 miles fromthe house in over 20 years.
I want to recover the gas that is in the tank (full) somehow. Is there a way to beat the anti-siphon baffle? Or is there some other way to drain that tank?
Harry K
if you will never use it again punch a hole in the bottom of the tank and have a pan at the ready to catch the leaking gasoline.
if the gasoline is very old in the tank it might be best to just forget about it, gasoline spoils after sitting too long, so you could put the gasoline in another vehicle and muck it up.....
so you were warned
Gas in that tank is fresh. I last used out of it about 2 weeks ago when I filled it. I discovered the problem yesterday when I was on the way home with a load of wood. Reserve near empty, switch to full main and nothing. Tried it twice. Will be trying it again tomorrow hoping it is just a sticking switch.
Harry K
rote:
I rather suspect the pump is in the tank, probably best to drop tank remove pump and then pump the tank dry.
electric pumps in tanks frequently fail suddenly, sometimes smacking the tank with a hammer will shock the pump into running.
I have done the same thing on vehicle starters
I think the pump runs until you switch off the iginition. In normal operation, gas not used is returned to the tank.
right...
whack it with a 2x4 and you may get the pump to start..
Mark
Thanks all. Sounds like a trip to the local mechanic. I'm waaayyy to old to crawl around under a rig anymore. Ford shop says "dunno what will be found, I don't know what type of system is in the truck, couild be switch, pump, or something else". They didn't even know if there was a pump in both tanks or a common pump. Real helpful guys, how about looking in the freakin manual to see what system is there? Of course I _could_ visit the library but it still comes back to someone else will have to get the gas out if I can't siphon it.
Harry K
That tank is held in place by 2 metal straps on each end of the tank. It's pretty simple to loosen/disconnect the straps, lower the tank and you have easy access to the gas, via the hole after removing the pump assembly on the top of the tank.
You can disconnect the fill pipe/access, about 15" past the cap (half way between the cap and tank), behind the fender/wheel well. There is a rubber hose, inside the pipe, that needs to be removed, then the tank can be syphoned (after reassembling the pipe, if you want to). If you try to replace the rubber hose, it will kink, and subsequent filling of the tank will take forever, as the gasoline tries to flow past the kink. Those rubber hoses are inserted into that pipe in a special way.
I would think the switch, for transferring from one tank to the other, is bad, not the pump.
Sonny
Senior citizen, fixed income, never used but for short trips. Do _you_ want to contribute to the bill for getting it fixed? The truck is so trashed (damn good motor drive line though) that no-one will ever buy it anyhow.
Harry K
"Harry K" wrote
You may be surprised. About 10 years ago we bought a new pickup at work and wanted to sell the F-150 that was a physical mess, loaded with rust after 14 years. We figured it may bring $500 if we got luck, but we put an ad in the local paper for $1200. First caller was a farmer. He drove it around the parking lot and pulled out $1200 cash. The truck would never see the road again, but he figured it would be on the farm for years to come.
If the tank is of no use now or in the future, punch a hole in the bottom.
I've debated doing just that :)
Harry K
Being an 89, I dont know if you have fuel injection or carburetor. If you have FI then the fuel pump is in the tank. If so, the pump may have died. But first check the wiring. Put a meter on the line near the tank. Flip switch to that tank and see if there is power.
One way to empty it if there is not a simple wiring problem, would be to put two small floor jacks under the tank with a wide plank between them. Jack it tight, but not enough to crush the tank. Remove the tank straps, and lower the jacks slowly. Yea, disconnect all hoses and wires as you go down. Since the tank is full, it will be heavy, so I'd have someone down there to make sure it stays on the plank. Or just put a bunch of old couch cushions or an old foam pad there. so if it tips it wont wreck the tank. When it's all the way down, remove the ring holding the fuel pump or float "thingie" ( i cant think of the correct word), then pull that out, and have someone help pour the gas in a clean 5 gallon pail (or several of them). Then you'll need a funnel to put the gas in proper containers. Of course, NO SMOKING when doing this.
OR, if it's under the truck bed and accessible, you can do as I did to a GMC pickup. I got tired of lowering the tank because of those crappy intank fuel pumps. I just cut a hole in the truck bed right above the fuel pump. Then I made a panel to screw over the hole. Now, if I want to work on the fuel pump I can just remove about 10 screws and pull the pump.
Those damn in the tank fuel pumps are the biggest mistake the auto makers ever did. The mechanics love them though, because they are getting rich on this mistake. A local mechanic told me replacing in the tank pumps accounts for 1/3 of his business, and a typical job is $600 to $800. Deduct $60 to $130 for the pump itself, and he is making a big profit on every job, which he said averages 3 hours of work, depending on how rusted things are.
Shit, I remember changing the old (on the engine) fuel pumps on the shoulder of the road which took 20 minutes and cost $20 to $30 for a new pump, gasket, and sealer, and they would last another 10 years.
Fuel injection in and of itself seems to be a good thing, but they really need to devise a better pump system. I dont know why they cant put them under the hood or at least NEXT TO the tank, nto IN it.
----------
It's simple to know what you have. DO YOU HAVE FUEL INJECTION? If yes, the pump is in the tank. If you have a CARBURETOR, the pump is on the engine. You may be too old to crawl under the car, but come on, I'm sure you can determine if you have a carb or F.I.
The '89 F-150 I had was fuel injection, long wheel base. The tank was easy to lower and the straps were not rusted to any degree. You didn't need to be a mechanic, just have common sense, to do a detailed inpsection or a fix, relative to the poster's described problem, which was similar to what I had to do when I removed my gas tank.
Sonny
It's FI. I will probably take it to the local mechanic and have him run electrical tests. Pump will most definitely _not_ be replaced if it is bad. Switch maybe.
Harry K
FYI I've successfully fixed pinholes in the bottom of at lease 3 fuel tanks with a sheet metal screw and a dollop of epoxy. and never had one fail.
If yard is level, how is siding buried on only 2 sides? Fixing yard is proper solution, but you need more than a trench. I passed up one otherwise interesting house while house-shopping because of buried siding. Drove by a few months later, and they had about a 3-foot gravel path around house where they had dug it out, with a railroad-tie retaining wall about a foot tall on the other side. To my eye, it looked like there would still be water problems in heavy rain, and with spring snowmelt.
Any water problem is fixable, if you throw enough money at it. Trouble is, the required amount of money can quickly approach what the house is worth. Need to find these problems before you buy, if at all possible.
-- aem sends...
Sorry- My Tbird newsreader went brain-dead, and posted this to wrong message. I was aiming at the buried-siding thread. Time to reboot, I guess.
aem sends...
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.