Fixing the Truck to Death – time to cut my losses?

[scott2093]

Hazzard Fraught

 

[PlatonicSolid]

Bad gas is one of the items that the repair manual doesn't cover as you drill down the step by step procedures, yet in these old vehicles should probably be the first thing to check.

 

[Russ B]

You mentioned that your temp gage never gave an indication of a problem (over heating). Been there as well. Fatal flaw with temp gages is that they require coolant at the sensor to give you a reading. If the coolant is low, the sensor has nothing to activate it. In otherwords, no/low coolant renders the gage worthless. Burned up a engine that way. Only way I knew I had a problem was the gage kept reading cold. So I stopped and checked the radiator (low). I had forgotten to reinstall the cap. I then screwed up by putting cold water into the engine. Heard massive crack. Do not put cold water into hot engine. By the way it was a old Mercedes Benz diesel, which gets really hot. It had the dignity to allow me to drive several more miles to the local junkyard where I said goodbye.

 

[Jackaru]

What did the spark plugs look like?

 

[1madmouse]

I would be leaning toward the separated fuel, water in the gas.

 

[PlatonicSolid]

What did the spark plugs look like?

Dirtier than I expected for only have 2 hours on them.

 

[PlatonicSolid]

I would be leaning toward the separated fuel, water in the gas.

I'll be dropping and siphoning the tank on Thursday. I even ordered new fuel lines = the worlds most expensive fuel lines from Linestogo. Full set from TB to tank = $464

 

[Scooterwrench]

I'll be dropping and siphoning the tank on Thursday. I even ordered new fuel lines = the worlds most expensive fuel lines from Linestogo. Full set from TB to tank = $464

What is wrong with the lines,leaking?

 

[Drunkcanuk]

I'll be dropping and siphoning the tank on Thursday. I even ordered new fuel lines = the worlds most expensive fuel lines from Linestogo. Full set from TB to tank = $464

You don't need to siphon the tank. You can jump 12v to the OBD1 port and run the pump. Just disconnect at the fuel filter, section of hose and pump into whatever you wanna store the fuel in.

 

[PlatonicSolid]

What is wrong with the lines,leaking?

The flex line connections under the vehicle have rusty nuts = can't spin the nuts and the rigid return line is rusty that someone repaired with rubber fuel line at some point. That rubber repair is hard as a rock and cracking. The feed tank to filter line (the only piece that's available from RockAuto) must have been replaced at some point as that looks pretty good. Linestogo fuel lines order yesterday from Canada at 9:30 am, arrived today in CT at 12:30 pm.

You don't need to siphon the tank. You can jump 12v to the OBD1 port and run the pump. Just disconnect at the fuel filter, section of hose and pump into whatever you wanna store the fuel in.

Siphon is much faster and I want to replace the fuel lines anyway. I've gotten pretty good at dropping the tank at this point = Replaced old 34 gallon with 25 gallon (size was my mistake, but I'm good with it - less gas to go bad), dropped the new tank later to fix the filler neck hose that I rotated the wrong way causing a huge kink. Hardest part of installing the new tank was using the new included mounting straps (basically just 2 flat strips of steel) - Getting those straps formed right so the 3.25" long bolts could reach the clip nuts was a major PIA. Had to use a second jack and a length of angle iron to force the new straps up. Now that they're formed to shape, it's no big deal.

FYI: The Dorman strap bolts I purchased "just in case" would have been useless if I needed them (fortunately I didn't). They're only 2" long, which would be impossible since when tank is fully installed there's a 2" space between the strap mounting angle and the clip nut.