No fuel at half tank

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Ok so Mater aka Christine strikes again.
Plowing snow at my neighbors last night Mater decided to start running sluggish and blowing copious amounts of white/blue smoke. I started making tracks back to the house and he died just before I hit the driveway.
Neighbor tugged me into the drive up towards the barn where Mater now sits.

Fuel gauge was reading 1/8 tank. OK figgered the fuel pickup screen rotted off. Got enough fuel in the tank to get a bit over 1/2 tank. Cranked long enough to get fuel up to the head. No luck.

Ok figgered bad lift pump. Plumbed in an electric pump and hit the switch. No fuel.

Pulled the line off the top of the tank expecting gelled fuel at this point. Nope, nothing. Line empty.

Now I know y'all have had the 1/4 tank syndrom but 1/2 tank?

Since the truck is setting outside, 2 hours working on it last night in 14 degree Farenheit weather was all but I could handle laying on the snow.

Next step is dropping the tank but not looking forward to it with over 10 gallons of fuel.

Any ideas what else might be happening?

The only thing I didn't get into to bypass last night was the transfer switch.
Only got the front tank plumbed up for the 86 wiring but the fuel does go thru the switch.

 

[Andrew M. Frankli]

What is 1/4 tank syndrome?

I think I got it! Truck stops running when tank reads 1/4. Takes 13 gallons to fill it up again, so that means there is still 5 or 6 gallons in there. What's the problem??

 

[Timthetoolman]

Mine did the same thing Monday morning here in Tennessee, it got down to 13 degrees, I drove about two miles including a 10 minute warn-up at the house. Electric pump was pushing nothing, I had 3/4 a tank of fuel. She just died, after I hitched a ride back to the house my wife stopped me back at the truck and I switched to the rear tank, the elec pump made a few crawling noises and started getting fuel to the filter, cranked for 20 seconds and she came back to life.

Think mine was full of water in the front tank, or at least a bunch of water.

 

[Agnem]

A pin hole in the pickup tube anywhere along it's lenght will kill fuel delivery when that level of fuel is reached. I would have just filled it up before laying in the snow.

 

[Russ]

I'm with Mel on this one.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Cold weather will open up air-leaks that don't show themselves when less frigid and that could very well be you guys problem.




BUT, my first suspicion would be the electric-controlled tank-switch-valve.

The electric-valve defaults to OFF when no current is available.

The near-thirty-year-old electrical plug contracts when in freezing temperatures, thus opening it's corroded circuit.

To trouble-shoot this, bypass the valve and see if fuel will then flow.


I gave up on the electric valves after several different ones quit and ran me out of fuel.

I have used strictly manual for nearly twenty years with absolutely no problems.



If one intends to retain the electric valve, one tank should be chosen to always be the "FULL" tank, and a valve by-pass line should be plumbed, with a manual ball-valve, such that simply opening the ball-valve will open a line that by-passes the electric valve, supplying fuel from the tank that is never empty.

 

[RLDSL]

I'd be looking hard at that fuel selector valve. Mine decided to have a hissy a while back and I ran out of fuel with a half tank, turn out when I switched over it was still drawing out of the other tank that was near empty but giving the gauge reading off the half full one

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I'd be looking hard at that fuel selector valve. Mine decided to have a hissy a while back and I ran out of fuel with a half tank, turn out when I switched over it was still drawing out of the other tank that was near empty but giving the gauge reading off the half full one

They always seem to decide to do this right in the busiest intersection.

Don't you just hate that sinking feeling in the guts when a near-10,000 pound truck just wilts from under itself and dies right in the way.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Well those who guesses the selector switch were the winners.
I ran some low pressure air thru each section of hose and still nothing. Could hear the air bubbling in the tank so that ruled out the pickup tube and of course blessed by the diesel gods with a diesel bath in this weather.

Ran some more low pressure air thru the selector switch and it blew out the congealed fuel and all was good.

Reprimed the system and Mater was a happy tater tot.

So back to pushing snow he goes tonight and I'm done crawlin round under that truck in 14 degree weather.

 

[Agnem]

Doesn't sound like the switch was bad, just plugged. As for the selector valve defaulting to off with no power - not true on the factory unit. That valve is a motor, which moves like a power door lock motor, with limit switches and diodes at each end. It CAN get stuck "half way" as happened to me last summer on the way to the rally, but that is only going to happen when you actually throw the switch to change tanks.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Doesn't sound like the switch was bad, just plugged. As for the selector valve defaulting to off with no power - not true on the factory unit. That valve is a motor, which moves like a power door lock motor, with limit switches and diodes at each end. It CAN get stuck "half way" as happened to me last summer on the way to the rally, but that is only going to happen when you actually throw the switch to change tanks.

Yeppers, got the same diesel fuel bath and I could hear it working when I changed tanks but was definitly plugged up.

 

[Timthetoolman]

I know mine was plugged, but it was slugged or frozen water, when I switched to the rear it worked. I haven't switched back to the front since and won't until I pull the tank and see what all is in there. Mine has been running funny on the front tank for a month now, must be full of crap and water.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Well the dang truck did it again died on the road AGAIN tonight.
If my son Nick would not have been with me tonight I would have grabbed the batteries out of it and left it there along side the road. No joke!

I've never had this much problem with a truck all in one spell. It's like it needs to be constantly worked on every day. OK so I built this one up from the ground and made it a diesel convert but still it should not be that difficult.

To top it off the plow controls froze up as well while I was trying to plow one of my customers driveway. Had to have Nick operate the plow controls while I lifted the blade up enough to get it back home.

Well didn't make it and had to have my neighbor come out again and pull me back home.


The thing that really ****** me off is the fact that I've got enough anti gel additives to treat 100 gallons.

Not sure what I'm gonna do at this point other that bypass the transfer switch all together and see if that helps. If not I may have to just cut my losses and either drop a gasser back in there or unload the truck.


I'm done ranting.



Thanks Darrin.

 

[RLDSL]

Sounds like you pulled a batch of really crappy fuel . About the only way to deal with that in winter is to drain the tanks, or be changing filters everytime you turn around, along with the jammed up valve fun. All the additive on earth isn't going to help with a batch that crappy.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Not knowing the truck, it's history, or your frequency of use and maintenance habits, anything I say is merely speculation.

If the truck has sat for more days than used, it is altogether possible that algae has formed in the fuel and the additive is doing it's job in sucking it up and sending it up the fuel-lines, where the super-cold air consequently freezes/gells it.

It is also possible that an accumulation of water has finally gotten high enough to be picked up into the lines.


Many times, so called "bad" fuel is not the fault of the last place of purchase, but simply the fact that the act of pumping the fuel into the tank has stirred up a bunch of water/trash that was in there all along, with the result being that a fuel dealer loses a customer, through no fault of his own, and the person experiencing problems subsequently tells everyone that will listen not to buy fuel there; news like that travels fast and is a long time being forgotten, often a couple decades.


On the other side of the nickel, under-ground fuel lines, especially if they are in concrete, will sometimes rupture and the pump will suck water from the surrounding ground, while sucking fuel from the tank.


This can happen at the initial point of purchase, with the water being hauled in with the fuel and dumped into the tanks, or it can happen at the place of business that is selling the fuel.


A good water-removing fuel additive should be used in EVERY tank of fuel, year round, with anti-gel additive being added from about mid-October until mid-April.


Often times, tanks that have been un-treated since last winter will have an accumulation of water from condensation inside the tanks and the water-removing properties of the anti-gel fuel-conditioner will overwhelm the cold lines with excess moisture.

To get an idea just how much water can come from condensation, look at the inside/under-side of an un-insulated metal-roofed building about mid-morning after a cool/cold night; so much water will be dripping that it will almost rain inside.

Any vehicle, gas or diesel, that is gonna sit un-used for more than a week, should have a completely FULL tank to prevent condensation.


None of this may concern you, as you may have squeeky-clean tanks, no water or algae, and drive the truck every day.

There is a product that comes in a little tin shoe-polish container that you smear on a dip-stick, slide it to the bottom of the tank, wait a second, pull it back out, and read the color of the paste.

It has been a while since I used any; but, we used it regularly when we owned a fuel-station.

It is either blue or red in it's natural state, and changes to the other color, if water is present.

Most any decent parts store will have it.

It would be worth a try to see what is going on in your tanks.