What should i do?

[RonD]

Class brown? Isn't that a Navy term for when a ships toilet overflows?

No, Navy doesn't have toilets on ships, they have heads
Although the "class B brown" is intriguing

 

[Rick W]

You guys know me, I always think of some smart ass comment, but I couldn’t come up with anything for this one. So I thought I’d try to provide something that might be helpful instead. I hope I didn’t break any rules.

Not too long ago I lent my 96 F250 7.3 diesel to a good friend for a short errand. To thank me, he topped off both tanks with gasoline. I bought it new, the truck is a garage queen country club truck (carries an occasional antique and pulls the jet skis to the lake) in excellent condition. But after 25 years, the rear fuel gauge would read full over full when I filled it up, and after about a third of a tank was gone, the gauge would drop to zero. The front tank gauge worked OK, so I always fill both tanks, run the rear, and swap from the rear to the front after about 200 to 250 miles. I suspected the rear gauge was corroded from condensate from when I didn’t drive the truck for about three years because of leg injuries.

On my truck, the mechanical fuel pump is on the engine, and the fuel pick up and sending unit are two different pieces, with a third item, a plastic pick-up screen, on the bottom. I had heard stories of these pick up screens falling off, which explained why both tanks were only good for about 14 or 15 gallons while they were supposed to be 19 gallonF and 18 gallonR tanks respectively.

Since the truck is 26 years old, I decided to pull both tanks and clean and check everything since I know it’ll be going to my son when I’m done with it. As I suspected, the rear gas gauge was corroded, actually both.

Here’s the reason for the story: the plastic cover over the resistance coil operated by the float can be popped off with a tiny screwdriver without damaging it. I put a zip tie around them anyway when I was done. Once you get it open, there is a little lever, like a tiny seesaw, where one end slides over the resistance coil, and the other end is like a little Y fork, so two points of grounding against the metal side plate of this unit. That metal side plate was corroded and actually had a couple of small pits in it.

I took a Dremel Moto tool and a tiny brush, maybe a half inch in diameter, and cleaned all the corrosion off that plate. I then used a tiny sanding disc to smooth out the couple of pits. It doesn’t have to be exactly flat, as long as there’s a smooth transition as it goes back-and-forth. I very carefully bent the two ends of the seesaw that contacted it, I mean I moved them maybe the width of a paper clip wire if even that much. I checked the resistance with a meter over the range after I reassembled it, and it had a constant rate of variation so I assumed it was fixed. I did the same thing to the front gas gauge, but it was in much better shape.

On these diesel trucks, the screen did drop off, it was defective material and it literally disintegrated in the diesel fuel. I dropped the tanks, completely cleaned them out, put new screens on and reinstalled the used buffed-out sending units. I took all the lines loose, and blew out the gasoline with low pressure compressed air. I drained the fuel filter bowl and filled it with 100% sea breeze. I also added a can of Seabreeze to both tanks.

I almost burned up the original $100 starter repeatedly running the start up sequence to flush the gasoline out of the engine lines and injectors. It eventually started, ran like crap for about 10 miles after I let it idle for over an hour, but after that, the truck has been running as good as new for a few hundred miles now. I ordered a replacement starter and I’ll change that when it comes in. I also changed out the glow plug relay which looked like it was getting hot.

I guess my real point is that a lot of this “electrical stuff“ can be opened up and it’s pretty simple to clean it up. The electronic part of the sending unit on my truck are like $230 each, so that saved me almost $500.

The screens were about or $10 each. On those screens, after I slid them on the pipe, I drilled a hole right through the female part of the screen and the male part of the tube. I then slid a stainless wire, like a piece of bailing wire, through that hole and simply crimped it over so it wouldn’t fall out. The annular hole between the wire and the tubing is smaller than the openings in the screen, so no worries about sucking in a piece of trash.

The truck has spent its whole life in Atlanta, so there were only a couple of surface rust spots on the outside of the tanks. I brushed them down and put on a heavy coating of restoleum. When I have had tiny leaks on motorcycle tanks, I bought the epoxy kits, poured them in with a few marbles and shook them around, and then made sure I got the same number of marbles out that I put in. I would imagine you could epoxy or braise or glue patches on your rust holes (for mechanical strength), and then use this epoxy treatment inside, and maybe end up with a better tank than originally came on the truck.

on the fuel pump, I know you can buy aftermarket rail mounted fuel pumps, we used them on company trucks all the time when the original units went out. We didn’t have an issue with them overheating since they were designed to be outside the tanks. I know we did it because they were cheaper than the OEM pumps, but they may have been cheaper because of labor And not the cost of the pump itself. I’m also not sure if these new pumps would simply draw fuel through the old pumps still in place, or if they swapped out those pumps with an open tubing. I know this paragraph doesn’t make sense, but you can see what I’m driving at.

When I was all done, including the $100 starter, I had spent less than $250 in cash.

& maybe he’s not my best best friend anymore....

hope it helps, I’ll come up with a couple of smart ass comments after I get a good nights sleep

 

[Dirtman]

Not too long ago I lent my 96 F250 7.3 diesel to a good friend for a short errand. To thank me, he topped off both tanks with gasoline. I bought it new, the truck is a garage queen country club truck (carries an occasional antique and pulls the jet skis to the lake) in excellent condition. But after 25 years, the rear fuel gauge would read full over full when I filled it up, and after about a third of a tank was gone, the gauge would drop to zero. The front tank gauge worked OK, so I always fill both tanks, run the rear, and swapped from the rear to the front after about 200 to 250 miles. I suspected the rear gauge was corroded from condensate from when I didn’t drive the truck for about three years because of leg injuries.

On my truck, the mechanical fuel pump is on the engine, and the fuel pick up and sending unit are two different pieces, with a third item, a plastic pick-up screen, on the bottom. I had heard stories of these pick up screens falling off, which explained why both tanks were only good for about 14 or 15 gallons while they were supposed to be 19 gallonF and 18 gallonR tanks respectively.

Since the truck is 26 years old, I decided to pull both tanks and clean and check everything since I know it’ll be going to my son when I’m done with it. As I suspected, the rear gas gauge was corroded, actually both.

Here’s the reason for the story: the plastic cover over the resistance coil operated by the float can be popped off with a tiny screwdriver without damaging it. Once you get it open, there is a little lever, like a tiny seesaw, we are one and slides over the resistance coil, and the other end is like a little Y fork, so two points of grounding against the metal side plate of this unit. that metal side plate was corroded and actually had a couple of small pits in it.

I took a Dremel Moto tool and a tiny brush, maybe a half inch in diameter, and cleaned all the corrosion off that plate. I then used a tiny sanding disc to smooth out the couple of pits. I very carefully bent the two ends of the seesaw that contacted it, I mean I moved them maybe the width of a paper clip wire if even that much. I checked the resistance with a meter over the range after I reassembled it, and it had a constant rate of variation so I assumed it was fixed. I did the same thing to the front gas gauge, but it was in much better shape

Can you summarize this using only the word cantaloupe?

 

[Curious Hound]

Can you summarize this using only the word cantaloupe?

Pantoacule

 

[Rick W]

Can you summarize this using only the word cantaloupe?

Sort of: Don’t lend your stuff out to “book smart” wiz kids....

 

[rusty ol ranger]

You guys know me, I always think of some smart ass comment, but I couldn’t come up with anything for this one. So I thought I’d try to provide something that might be helpful instead. I hope I didn’t break any rules.

Not too long ago I lent my 96 F250 7.3 diesel to a good friend for a short errand. To thank me, he topped off both tanks with gasoline. I bought it new, the truck is a garage queen country club truck (carries an occasional antique and pulls the jet skis to the lake) in excellent condition. But after 25 years, the rear fuel gauge would read full over full when I filled it up, and after about a third of a tank was gone, the gauge would drop to zero. The front tank gauge worked OK, so I always fill both tanks, run the rear, and swap from the rear to the front after about 200 to 250 miles. I suspected the rear gauge was corroded from condensate from when I didn’t drive the truck for about three years because of leg injuries.

On my truck, the mechanical fuel pump is on the engine, and the fuel pick up and sending unit are two different pieces, with a third item, a plastic pick-up screen, on the bottom. I had heard stories of these pick up screens falling off, which explained why both tanks were only good for about 14 or 15 gallons while they were supposed to be 19 gallonF and 18 gallonR tanks respectively.

Since the truck is 26 years old, I decided to pull both tanks and clean and check everything since I know it’ll be going to my son when I’m done with it. As I suspected, the rear gas gauge was corroded, actually both.

Here’s the reason for the story: the plastic cover over the resistance coil operated by the float can be popped off with a tiny screwdriver without damaging it. I put a zip tie around them anyway when I was done. Once you get it open, there is a little lever, like a tiny seesaw, where one end slides over the resistance coil, and the other end is like a little Y fork, so two points of grounding against the metal side plate of this unit. That metal side plate was corroded and actually had a couple of small pits in it.

I took a Dremel Moto tool and a tiny brush, maybe a half inch in diameter, and cleaned all the corrosion off that plate. I then used a tiny sanding disc to smooth out the couple of pits. It doesn’t have to be exactly flat, as long as there’s a smooth transition as it goes back-and-forth. I very carefully bent the two ends of the seesaw that contacted it, I mean I moved them maybe the width of a paper clip wire if even that much. I checked the resistance with a meter over the range after I reassembled it, and it had a constant rate of variation so I assumed it was fixed. I did the same thing to the front gas gauge, but it was in much better shape.

On these diesel trucks, the screen did drop off, it was defective material and it literally disintegrated in the diesel fuel. I dropped the tanks, completely cleaned them out, put new screens on and reinstalled the used buffed-out sending units. I took all the lines loose, and blew out the gasoline with low pressure compressed air. I drained the fuel filter bowl and filled it with 100% sea breeze. I also added a can of Seabreeze to both tanks.

I almost burned up the original $100 starter repeatedly running the start up sequence to flush the gasoline out of the engine lines and injectors. It eventually started, ran like crap for about 10 miles after I let it idle for over an hour, but after that, the truck has been running as good as new for a few hundred miles now. I ordered a replacement starter and I’ll change that when it comes in. I also changed out the glow plug relay which looked like it was getting hot.

I guess my real point is that a lot of this “electrical stuff“ can be opened up and it’s pretty simple to clean it up. The electronic part of the sending unit on my truck are like $230 each, so that saved me almost $500.

The screens were about or $10 each. On those screens, after I slid them on the pipe, I drilled a hole right through the female part of the screen and the male part of the tube. I then slid a stainless wire, like a piece of bailing wire, through that hole and simply crimped it over so it wouldn’t fall out. The annular hole between the wire and the tubing is smaller than the openings in the screen, so no worries about sucking in a piece of trash.

The truck has spent its whole life in Atlanta, so there were only a couple of surface rust spots on the outside of the tanks. I brushed them down and put on a heavy coating of restoleum. When I have had tiny leaks on motorcycle tanks, I bought the epoxy kits, poured them in with a few marbles and shook them around, and then made sure I got the same number of marbles out that I put in. I would imagine you could epoxy or braise or glue patches on your rust holes (for mechanical strength), and then use this epoxy treatment inside, and maybe end up with a better tank than originally came on the truck.

on the fuel pump, I know you can buy aftermarket rail mounted fuel pumps, we used them on company trucks all the time when the original units went out. We didn’t have an issue with them overheating since they were designed to be outside the tanks. I know we did it because they were cheaper than the OEM pumps, but they may have been cheaper because of labor And not the cost of the pump itself. I’m also not sure if these new pumps would simply draw fuel through the old pumps still in place, or if they swapped out those pumps with an open tubing. I know this paragraph doesn’t make sense, but you can see what I’m driving at.

When I was all done, including the $100 starter, I had spent less than $250 in cash.

& maybe he’s not my best best friend anymore....

hope it helps, I’ll come up with a couple of smart ass comments after I get a good nights sleep

Mines got a 460 though....

Im just gonna replace both tanks and sending units/pumps. Trucks only got 110k on it and i plan on keeping for 4 or 5 years probably yet

 

[rumblecloud]

Your former friend is why they put yellow stickers on lawn mowers.

 

[Rick W]

Your former friend is why they put yellow stickers on lawn mowers.

You have a diesel lawn mower? Awesome...

 

[Rick W]

Mines got a 460 though....

So the Ford blogger gods crapped on me today for being so sarcastic and nasty on these forums. I was profilin’ down the road in my ‘78 Mark V when the vacuum modulator went out. So I couldn’t shift out of first, it was running on three cylinders, and smoking like a chimney because of all the transmission fluid dumping down the 460’s 4-barrel, etc.

I’ll never make fun of a three-cylinder Fiesta ever again....