Why two fuel pumps?

[JTH1972]

So what's the point behind having two fuel pumps on this vehicle? I've never come across a vehicle like thas that had two fuel pumps and two fuel filters.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

usually, the rearward filter bowl doesnt actually have an element in it...so you should only have one filter.

the in-tank pump is a low pressure lift pump. the pump on the frame rail is the high pressure pump that supplies the required pressure for fuel injection to work. why they used two might have to do with switching from carb to fuel injection, i dont know for sure.

 

[JTH1972]

Since I purchased the truck recently, should I check the rear bowl to be sure? If not, should I install the cannister filter or just leave it?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

you can check if you'd like. IIRC, if its not equipped with a filter then it got a shorter bowl, making adding a filter impossible unless you replaced your bowl with a taller one from a truck that had a filter. i dont remember the criteria on getting a filter in that location (only certain trucks did...i think earlier years).

either way, i wouldnt add one if it doesnt already have one.

 

[JTH1972]

OK, I was just wondering if it would be handy to have the second one. Fuel in my area is notorious for being dirty and killing fuel pumps, but that's what happens when they pump crude down the pipe, and send the refined fuel through the same pipe!

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

there is a sock on the pickup tube inside the fuel tank that blocks large particles and water from entering the fuel system. that is sufficient for protecting your fuel pumps. if your fuel is notoriously dirty, i would just be sure to change the forward fuel filter more often (i was changing mine once a month in the winter at one place i lived due to the terrible fuel quality).

 

[901wd]

86 is the only year I've come across with the filter in the canister and it was a short canister. I've messed with 2 87s and they both had the inline filter and a deep canister.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

ahh, maybe i had them mixed up and backwards then. short canister=filter, long canister=no filter.

 

[Flat Toy]

This might help you. Its an 86 BII.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i want your chrome bumpers off your flareside

 

[Mutant Pony]

I'm not sure of the whole story on the two pump thing.

The early fuel injected vehicles were throttle body which run a lower pressure. The primer pump in a Ranger is the same pump as a tbi Escort or Tempo. Ford may have intended to put TBI systems in Rangers. They probably Ordered a large stock of pumps and senders designed for TBI. The fullsize trucks had them too.

I'm just speculating. I could be way off.

 

[KCBFord1]

how do you check fuel quality, just visual? glass drinking glass full gas and look for impureities? <---spelling prob wrong?

there is a sock on the pickup tube inside the fuel tank that blocks large particles and water from entering the fuel system. that is sufficient for protecting your fuel pumps. if your fuel is notoriously dirty, i would just be sure to change the forward fuel filter more often (i was changing mine once a month in the winter at one place i lived due to the terrible fuel quality).

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

you should put it in something with a lid on it so it doesnt evaporate. then let it sit for a few days. water and dirt will settle to the bottom of the glass.

 

[2ranger87]

Both of my '87's had a filter in the cannister as well as the in line filter up stream of the high pressure pump. I personally prefer having that cartridge there to protect the hi-pressure pump (our gas here really does suck....)

As for the strainer/sock in the tank, it doesn't "filter" anywhere near as well as an actual fuel filter......

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

the sock isnt a filter, its a strainer. nothing that makes it through the sock is going to cause any kind of damage to the fuel pumps.