How to: Install inline/high pressure fuel pump (86 ranger 2.3 gas)

Hi there
Truck: 1986 Ford Ranger, 2.3L 4cyl gas, 2WD (Her names Eileen)

She spits and sputters and idles rough when it is warm out. Runs slightly better in milder temperatures. Also smells like gas all the time. My first suspect was the fuel pump, as I have changed the pressure regulator and EGR valve in the past.

BUT I discovered that The Haynes Manual shows that this year of Ranger is supposed to have an inline/high pressure fuel pump, but Eileen does not have one.

There is an unattached pigtail near the fuel filter, the wires are Pink and Black, as indicated in the manual. There is also an unattached green fuel line (or vapor line maybe???) coming from the tank... but I cannot find a good diagram to compare what mine looks like to.

But, I am assuming that the unattached pigtail is for the inline fuel pump.

My overall "question" is where/how do I hook up the inline fuel pump, as I do not have an old one there to take off and then reassemble with the new part. Does anyone know where that green fuel line/vapor line goes? Does the inline fuel pump go before or after the fuel filter?

Thanks
Ray

First and most important question: Is your engine carbureted or fuel-injected? Carbureted engines did not have the high-pressure pump.

Ok going to assume at first you are FI and have only one tank - if you have a dual tank pipe up and we'll cover it but it will add more stuff and complicate the explanation.
So single tank ranger system vintage 86-88 will have a (fuel) lift pump (low pressure in the tank. Looking at the inside of the driver's side frame rail you will see something like this:

(actually it will be hidden behind a cover you have to take out one of the top cover bolts and swing the cover inward, out of the way to see this).
if this is shallow, it contains a cartridge filter. If it is twice as deep, DO NOT OPEN IT - its a surge reservoir, and can be hard as H**l to get to seal up again once opened. Even if it's a filter, be careful to get the O-ring sitting right before assembling. This is the first (lo-pressure) filter. In later years (88?), this filter was dispensed with and the chamber was deepened as an accumulator/reservoir for the high-pressure pump.
at this point I refer you to this thread:

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108976

The high pressure pump is further up the lines (forward on rail), and the inline filter is further forward still on the rail, kinda beside the driver's foot pedals (underneath the floor, of course.)

Yes, it is fuel injected... sorry about that

Yes, I have that black inline reservoir which was changed a few months ago as I thought the filter may have been clogged and causing me to smell gas all the time around the driver's door. (First Pic below)


There is no inline fuel pump on the truck right now. I'm surprised the in tank pump didn't burn out yet.

I was wonder where the inline pump is supposed to get hooked up. And looking in your picture it looks like its before the inline fuel filter.

Also, in the first picture I am pointing to a green fuel line/vapor line coming from the tank. Is this what goes into the inline fuel pump?

Also, in the second picture is the inline fuel filter where their is also a wire connector/pigtail that isn't connected to anything... is that for the inline pump?


The wire to that connector are pink and black (Third Pic)

I wonder if someone has used an in tank high pressure pump.

Sent from my XT1032

you think I should check the intake pump to see if it was changed to a high pressure pump?

Yes, good idea. You should do a fuel pressure test and see where you are now.

where can I attach the fuel pressure gauge?

I do not have a Schrader valve on the fuel rail

Ok,

I actually did find the Schrader valve hidden on the back of the fuel rail

Tested the fuel pressure with the rental kit from Autozone

It read only about 5psi

So I'm pretty sure it needs that high pressure fuel pump.

So my question again is does anyone know if it goes before or after the inline fuel filter?

The gas flows to the side with the terminals on the fuel pump correct? and the other end says its supposed to go into the filter. So I am assuming the fuel pump should be hooked up to the frame after the fuel filter.. thoughts? corrections? diagram?

It's been a long time since I've been under my 86. It had a 2.9. IIRC the pump is on the tank side of the filter.
PS; Saskbill has a good explanation in post #3.

If you have a low pressure lift pump feeding a frame mount filter--> then the filter out goes to pump in, outlet of pump to engine fuel rail.

While not very scientific, the one high pressure pump on my bench has electric fittings on the out side. Simple test squirt both ends with wd-40ish oil, bump pump w/12 volts and watch (1 sec or should be long enough) the squirt. Alternative method is figure out which way the check valve works (probably a bit safer) and lung pressure is enough.

The high pressure pump should be between the low pressure filter/reservoir and the high pressure inline filter. Pretty sure your pigtail is supposed to power the inline pump. As to which end is which, I'll try to get around to crawling under the '87 tomoroow to check it out if no-one has settled this by then.

The 2nd line up by the inline filter is your fuel return line! No wonder you have a fuel odor under your door. Gotta sneak another peak at your reservoir, but I thought both delivery and return lines hooked up to it (2 lines in each direction)

At least on the dual pump v6 there is no high pressure filter.

Die.Fledermaus said:

At least on the dual pump v6 there is no high pressure filter.

Click to expand...

Little curious about what you are saying, die F?

Disclaimer: My hands-on experience has been limited to my 87 and 88 Rangers, and whatever trucks in the junkyard I scrounged parts for them from (cannot swear I have touched the factory setup on an 86, but assume it is similar).

My trucks are (actually just scrapped the 88 and stole the fuel line components for spares) 2.9 V6 setups, with dual fuel tank setups - each tank has its own in-tank lo-pressure pump, which feed fuel through to a selector valve electrically switched from the cab, so only one in-tank pump is 'live' at a time, and the fuel return feeds back to the tank which is being pumped (if everything is working OK, which is why I grabbed spare parts!)

From then on, the system is (as far as I know) the same as for single-tank systems. The fuel line and return line hook to the low pressure (cartridge) filter, which in some cases is just an empty accumulator /reservoir. (I think they dropped the cartridge filter assemblies and started using the reservoirs in late 87 - pretty sure the 88s were all like this factory. After years of part swapping, who knows what a given truck could end up with?)

The cartridge filter/accumulator feeds out fuel and return lines down the driver's side frame rail in the direction of the engine. The fuel line connects through the high-pressure pump and hi-pressure (in-line) filter (which are quite similar in appearance and location to those used in the later (89-92 and up, I think) trucks, and the fuel line goes up to the fuel rail and the return line comes back.

2nd disclaimer: I do not claim to know the setupfor all trucks of all years. I grew intimately familiar with that of my 88 since, when I got it, the high-pressure pump and forward in-tank pumps were bad (and the in-cab selector switch had been jammed with a screw to only draw from the rear tank! I replaced the high pressure pump and got things going, and later replaced the forward tank in-tank pump, only to discover the forward tank was rusty as H*** and rust kept plugging my filters when I ran from that tank (replaced the accumulator with a junkyard cartridge filter setup) as you have a chance of changing the cartridge filter with wheels on the ground, while changing the inline filter is a jack-up the front of the truck, get fuel running down your arm adventure each and every time! Stopped using the foirward tank, and it all ran good til the transmission packed it in!

There is a beautiful clear picture of a reservoir feeding an inline pump about post#4 of this thread:

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162274

Though I think the components have been moved from their natural nesting spot!