Fuel Filter Light

[Coyote_Red]

I have been driving my dad's truck this week and changed the fuel filter out because if was old. I put the new filter on and drove about 60 miles with out issue. I shut the truck down and had a hard time starting it after a few hours. Once it fired I opened the hood and saw fuel dripping from the water drain. I would be driving on the express way and the truck would seems to surge with power and the RPMs would pick up when the light would come on.

I got a new filter from Car Quest that removed the bottom aluminum bowl to fix the fuel leak. I drove around town with out issues through out the RPM range. When I hooked the trailer on and hit the express way the light would come on but the RPM and power surge was not evident this time.

Is the lift pump going bad? Do I have symptoms of an air intrusion?

The truck is a 1990 7.3L with a ZF-5 and 117000 miles and probably everything original.

 

[Exekiel69]

Something is blocking Your fuel flow, it could be the lift pump but it could also be something else down the fuel line. You can disconnect the suction side of the lift pump and put it on a jug with diesel on it and see it the light comes ON again or just replace the old pump with a new one if You want to avoid this step then if the problem persists check the tank selector or drop the fuel tanks and see if all the parts in them are in good condition and not clogged with some debris.

 

[onus]

I had this happen awhile back when i put a new filter in. Light went away after awhile, not sure if the filter has to break in or something.

Light comes on due to suction on the ip to the fuel filter. The ip can pump its own fuel.

Then again i am now having problem with fuel supply at higher rpm which i am in the process of working on. Something is probably logged in the fsv from the shower head.

But, if your truck is running fine i wouldn't worry about it. Just keep an eye on it.

 

[icanfixall]

The injection pump does have a smallish pump in it to draw fuel but... Its just to get you off the road.. Not hook up a trailer and haul it. Remember these pumps need fuel to cool them... Trying to suck fuel and see the vacuum lite on telling you there is not enough fuel to make the pump run right... Thats gonna hurt the pump...

 

[Coyote_Red]

Once the light would come on I would throttle back until it turned off again. Once throttling back on the expressway wasn't enough to stay above the minimum speed I exited the expressway and took secondary roads and never saw the light again.

Sounds like I need to blow the fuel lines out, check the shower heads (replace them with a hose), clean out the FSV, and try to replicate the symptoms again to see if I fixed the problem.

 

[icanfixall]

The fuel lite coming on is telling you the injection pump is not getting enough fuel supply. Its making a vacuum in the fuel supply line from the filter. Now finding out the whys is what you need to do. these filters do not need or have to "break in". They just get installed and go to work doing their job. Some combunation of things have happened to cause this fuel problem. Finding what it is will be an issue. Could be the lift pump is dieing.. there is a way to check for that...

 

[onus]

The fuel lite coming on is telling you the injection pump is not getting enough fuel supply. Its making a vacuum in the fuel supply line from the filter. Now finding out the whys is what you need to do. these filters do not need or have to "break in". They just get installed and go to work doing their job. Some combunation of things have happened to cause this fuel problem. Finding what it is will be an issue. Could be the lift pump is dieing.. there is a way to check for that...

Good to know for the future. At that time the light would come on for maybe a second go away for quite a few miles come on a little. Then it never came on again again so i though nothing of it.

I would check the lines since i'm having the same problem now and all signs point to the lines / fsv.