Truck suddenly dies

[Ceejmo]

Over the last few months the wife has called me several time to tell me that she was driving along and the truck would suddenly die. But,she always managed to get it started again. I have on several occasions driven the truck for the weekend and could not get the truck to duplicate the problem. Well last night I decided to take the truck out for about a drive. The trip was about 8 miles and the truck died on me 3 times. It seems as if the fuel supply was suddenly shut off.
The wife says that when it first started doing this it would be running on the front tank and about 1/4 full. It seemed to always happen under those conditions. Then it started doing it while on the rear tank at 1/4 full. Last night while I was driving it I was on the rear tank at 1/4 full. It died 3 times and then I stopped and filled the rear tank with diesel. It did not die on the rest of the trip. It seems odd to me that I could have the same problem with both tanks and I am wondering if anyone has any ideas what the problem may be. What should I check?

 

[f-two-fiddy]

I'd bet that you're experiancing the dreaded fuel pick up problem.

There's a small plastic piece on the end of the fuel pick up (in the tanks) They have a tendency to fall off. Then they cannot pick up fuel below a 1/4 tank or so.

Gonna have to pull the fuel tanks and remove the sending units/pickups.
I've seen a write up on someones site, I jsut can't remember where.

 

[Ceejmo]

There's a small plastic piece on the end of the fuel pick up (in the tanks) They have a tendency to fall off. Then they cannot pick up fuel below a 1/4 tank or so.

Thanks for your reply,
If this were the problem would we be able to get the truck running again and finish off the tank?
The wife says that after it dies and she gets it re started it will run until the tank is empty. I've got a feeling that the 1/4 tank condition is coincidental but we have not had the occurrence under any other fuel level condition. The "reserve pick-up" would seem like the problem but she can get it started and finish off the tank with no more problems. Last night was the first time that it had died three times in a row. The wife says that it will die and after she gets it re started it runs fine on the same tank.

 

[John Haggerty]

I had similar, without any fuel tank level issues. I ended up being the fuel pump. Check around the fuel pump for leaks (weep hole). Easy fix if that's it.

 

[Russ]

Fuel pump of fuel filter. I let my filter get too dirty and after runnng at a higher rpm the engine would basicly run the filter out of fuel. Cheep thing to try.

 

[stever8761]

Had the same problem and random hard starts. On a tip, added fuel additive and changed the filter and problem was gone!