Gasser vs. diesel fuel tank senders

[IDIoit]

Starting to strip a 89 f350 today.
Anyone know if these senders are the same?
Can they be interchangeable?
Don't wanna rip the bed off if there useless.
Thanks for any insight!

 

[franklin2]

It depends on what engine it has. I am not sure what was fuel injected and what was carbed that year, or maybe everything was fuel injected.

There was a big change in 87 or 88, that's when they changed the gauges in the cluster, and the resistance in all the sending units is backwards and a different value compared to the earlier units.

Somewhere around 86 they changed everything to the large hole type tanks, so that is a difference.

During all this, the diesels were their own units. They have no in tank fuel pump, but they have a extra fitting for a return line.

The carbed 460's had a in tank electric pump, and a return line.

All the fuel injected sending units had a in tank pump and a return line, some were low pressure pumps like the 460 carbed, and the later ones were high pressure in tank pumps.

All the early units with carbed gas engines(except the 460's) had a sending unit with no pump and no extra return line fitting.

And going along with all this, the wiring plugs can be different, and the type of fuel lines they used can be different, with different types of fittings on the sending unit.

 

[dunk]

My diesel 86 has the large hole in the tank pickups with return. All my '83-'86 Gas trucks have had small hole pickups. I want to say 86 had return fitting the the pickups where the earlier trucks I've had did not. That was a 351w truck so that's what the pickups are but the engine is a 460 now and the factory 460 pump had a return on it. I just ran a Carter and capped the returns.

I see no reason why a gas pickup/sender wouldn't work so long as it has the same size hole and a return. Fuel infected gas senders won't work, they have an in tank pump. You could always remove the pump and extend the pickup line yourself in a pinch though. Only other consideration would be pickup size but I'd wager they're the same size as 460 and the IDIs are similar displacement and burn similar GPH.

 

[nj_m715]

I put 2 new tanks in my 89. I found gas sending units for about 60$-70$, Diesel senders were much more if you can find them. They fit the hole, but the pick up tube was short because it was designed to hold a pump. I just had to extend the pick up tube and it was good to go.
IMO, if they are working then it's probably worth the time to pull the bed. Or just cut an access hole above the sender. That's what I do when I need to get to one. Some old jeeps came with an access hatch. That's where I got the idea.

 

[franklin2]

If my sending units ever go bad, I was thinking of trying a 460 unit. I believe it would be the one with the best fit, putting a hose in place of the missing pump like was mentioned.

 

[IDIoit]

This truck is equipped with with a 460/C6.
Didnt get to the tanks today, mabe tomorrow.
This truck has an electric inline pump after the selector valve.
It being fuel injected, I'm sure there's one in the tank also.
Maybe???
This selector valve is a lot different than the diesel one.
No wires to it tho. No clue how it switches.

 

[The Warden]

It being fuel injected, I'm sure there's one in the tank also.
Maybe???
This selector valve is a lot different than the diesel one.
No wires to it tho. No clue how it switches.

I leanred this while reading through my '84 factory shop manual. On 460 trucks with tank-mounted fuel pumps, the tank selector switch determines whuch pump receives power. Once one of the pumps is energized, the pressure in that line switches the tank selector valve to return to the same tank the pump's pushing fuel out of. That's why the selector valve doesn't have any wires...it's purely mechanical, operating off fuel line pressure supplied by the in-tank fuel pump. Actually, a pretty ingenious idea IMHO...

BTW, I was lookinga t this because I was wondering if running a 460 sender with an in-tank pump would work with the IDI; IIRC it puts out far too much pressure to work with an IDI fuel system...

 

[IDIoit]

Couldn't it be regulated and delete the lift pump?

 

[BDCarrillo]

Pumping diesel is a different ballgame than gas, especially on a cold day. A diesel rated electric pump (typically) uses different materials in the seals/rotor. It sure wouldn't hurt to toss a few gallons of diesel in the tank and see how the pump handles pushing it out into a jerry can.

 

[typ4]

Got about 20k on the dually with the in tank pumps, they dead head at 3-4 psi, deleted the frame pump which can makle 100 psi. Also the new EFI trucks used a higher pressure intank pump and no frame pump.

 

[ironworker40]

http://www.gastanksusa.com They have the sending units for some of our trucks.