Realistic budget of a 2wd -4wd and goodies build

[LCAM-01XA]

Above refers to the fitting on the right side in pic, that is actually for air bleeding by pushing in on the button.

What's on the right side is just the vacuum switch that turns on the "fuel filter" light on the dash - never ever heard of one going bad really, and I like warning lights when they actually serve a purpose. And its purpose certainly isn't got air bleeding by pushing in a button. When it's in one piece at least, this one is clearly busted apart.

The valve on the left is the one for bleeding air. I'd say that's a very useful thing when changing filters. And there's a very simple way to ensure it's not an air leak source when there's no fuel pressure on it (even tho it's spring-loaded internally so it shouldn't leak to begin with) - get any metal cap for a regular tire valve, make sure it has an o-ring inside it, and threat it onto the valve and tighten it. Also the thread for this valve is not always 1/8" NPT, some are 1/16" NPT (so like the air line fittings on the bottom of a RoadRanger shift valve).

The barb hose fitting in the middle is the one I dislike - it's to bleed air off while the engine is running, but there really should be no air to bleed in the firs place. It is however a great way to drain the filter head, naturally that require another location for air to enter thru (typically the fuel heater connector) or else the filter head remains under vacuum and nothing leaks down, but if you have that air ingress source the barb fitting will be more than happy to provide fuel with a fairly direct path down to the tank. Later production IDIs have a check valve built into the fitting to prevent just this issue, but the early (IIRC '91-down) 7.3 engines don't have that and their fitting is just a fitting with a straight-thru passage. Now this fitting is 1/8" NPT thread and thus can be easily removed and plugged if so desired.

 

[79jasper]

Every one of the filter restriction sensors I've seen have leaked fuel.
If fuel can get out, I bet air can get in.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Every one of the filter restriction sensors I've seen have leaked fuel.
If fuel can get out, I bet air can get in.

Oh yah, if fuel goes out air is about guaranteed to be able to find its way in. But like I said, never actually seen one that was leaking. And I know several peeps driving them things daily, and one of the northerners runs his way more than it's probably good for it when the epic cold sets in (poor thing only gets shut off for a few hours a night while he's home, rest of the day it's high idle or faster)... Sounds like your typical hit or miss affair tho. But ours never leaked. And neither did anyone's we know. The heater connectors on top of the head, whole different story - every single one of them leaked, no exceptions, some more than once. They now get TIG-welded one at a time as they fail again. Ours is still holding, knocking on wood!

In any case, if they are a know problem, then yes I would agree that Greg should pull his and drop a pipe plug in its place and check if that solves the problem. Hopefully it does, as it's a dirt cheap fix.

 

[Greg5OH]

Well i replaced both olives on the supply line and put a plug in the restrictor sensor, purged the air out of the injectors, lit off. Ok cant celebrate yet, cranked a bunch,let it sit till after work, came home, glowed for 10seconds, lit right off as though it was plugged in! Whoo! i dont get it, but whatever works.
Well see if it will be thesame tomorrow morning when its much colder.
Thanks for the help everyone

 

[LCAM-01XA]

About time!

If the problem is cured I'd be very tempted to put the sensor back in - if the problem reappears then it's obviously the sensor causing it, but if it's still fixed then at least you get your warning light back. And those can actually be handy, I had ours come on one time when I forgot to dump the anti-gel stuff in the tank, it was nice to know it's not anything actually serious causing the lack of power I was experiencing on that trip. Heck I like warning lights so much we even have a pair of indicators for the rear turn/brake lights

 

[Greg5OH]

ah..the saga continues, still air intrustion somewhere and the E pump cant push it out.

So i turn the pump on, but I dont hear it catch. usually it stops clacking liud and has a deeper damped sound. this happened when i purged air out of the shrader I immediatly knw after running it for 30 seconds it will start hard. Yup, cranked for 4 seconds and then it roared to life.

so, WHY wont the e pump push fuel through the rest of the system?? That would purge the air but it just wont move the fuel thrrough it seems untill i start cranking..
and, clearly still air intrusion somewhere..

 

[Greg5OH]

went out in the parking lot just now to check it out. turn on teh e pump its clacking away, i watch its fuel bowl. Looks like the inside of the mesh (filtered) is full, i see and feel the outlet line pulsating. THe outside of the filter/fuel bowl i see the level is down about 1/2" from the top. about 30 seconds after running the pump i see it rise slowly and finally l it gulps fuel , and the clacking sound is damped. I dindt pay attention to the fuel line though. It started quick, but thats probably because it was warm.

Strange huh. Oh and when i wen tto push the shrader valve before turning the pump on, just got a hiss of air again..no fuel.

 

[IDIoit]

most likely the intrusion is down low on the system. and when the pump primes, it cant push the rest of the air out until the injectors pop...

always somthin with em' hua?

 

[Greg5OH]

your thinking before the lift pump? like by the tank?

 

[Greg5OH]

Can i just unscrew the filter heater out of the head or do I need to take it apart from the bottom? Id like to just plug it, its not hooked up anyhow

 

[IDIoit]

if you have fuel, and the pump does not prime right away, with an e-pump, id bet on it...

youre going to have to take the filter head apart.
unless you like shards of aluminum going into your fuel filter.

 

[Greg5OH]

alrigth will try. got a spare head here to practice on. i mean..it looks dry up there..but im ging thru every piece, one by one untill it is solved. I ordered the wix filter with no sensor port as well.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

The WIF sensor is a good thing, you never know what some ******* fuel station owner will try to pull. If you like flying blind that's you call tho, I like knowing *** is going on with our engine that the gauges won't show...

The fuel heater is a press-fit in the head, the hollow steel stud the filter threads onto is what's holding it on. Unthread the stuf (it's a quite large size hex), then you can push/pry the heater down and out of the head. You gonna try tapping the port for its power connection for NPT plug? I'd say just go TIG if you got access to one or know someone who can do it for ya.

I'm thinking what's happening is the Carrier pump is actually pushing air into parts of the IP that don't need it inside. Say your IP is half full and loses prime, ideally this will happen in the chamber before the FSS so as long as the FSS stays closed while the Carrier is re-priming the system the air should just get purged out the top. However unless you put your FSS on a stand-alone circuit (guess how ours is ), when you turn the ignition on and the Carrier comes alive the FSS also opens - thus allowing some fuel to leak out of the sections of the IP that were primed from last time she ran, and some air from the main chamber to enter. Hello hard start. I could be way off with this of course, don't assume that's indeed what's actually going on. But I can tell ya with an e-pump I sure as heck would put it on a separate circuit from the FSS. For example: ignition feeds the pump switch, pump switch both triggers pump relay AND feeds FSS switch, which finally powers the FSS. Or you can run the e-pump trigger right off the ignition in auto-run mode, but still install a separate switch for the FSS - that will also work. Basically the important thing is to be able to run the e-pump while the FSS remains shut, that should keep any air from going where it wasn't before while you try to start the beast.

 

[Greg5OH]

ok i shall try unplugging the fss before starting, run the e pump, observe, then observe start after i plug in fss again

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Yeah, worth a shot, and it doesn't cost you a dime. May not be a fix for the actual air intrusion, but if it prevents your hard start situation then it's a step in the right direction.