and i trusted the fuel gauge for WHAT reason?!?

[mikeoverland]

Hi everyone!!!!!!! It's been a minute since I've posted anything and that is because it has been too hot to do anything outside. Since it has started to cool down in South Texas I decided to figure out why I'm not getting any fuel out of the tank. Everyone I know said to drop the supply line and pressurize the tank to see if anything is blocking the lines....... Ok, I have a compressor that is good for airing up tires but not much else. Hmmmmmmm....... enter plan "B". Before my health took a nose dive I was an avid scuba diver and I still have my equipment. With that said, I dropped the high pressure line off of the spg and stuck it into the gas tank and the plugged the rest of the fuel neck with a rag. I pressurized the fuel tank with 2800# of compressed air and took a look at the fuel line that i removed from the pump. About an eighth of a gallon of stale gas cam out before the line was blowing a steady stream of air........ 1/8 of a gallon?!? the gauge says 1/2 a tank......... Well I now know WHY i wasn't drawing fuel from the tank.... there was NOTHING to draw! I post this rather embarrassing story because i found it funny and I figured that everyone here could use a good laugh as well. I filled the truck up about 9 months ago but have been running the truck for timing and tuning issues. Apparently I ran it more than I thought. OOPS!

I hope everyone has a good laugh on this one and I'll be posting more as the temperature goes down.

Have a great week!

Mike from Leon Springs Tx
owner of the 1981 C10 known as the basket case

 

[Hunter79764]

I had a cavalier back in college that stalled out but was able to roll it home, no fuel pressure, changed filter, no start, couldn't hear the pump run, so diagnosed it as bad fuel pump. It had over 250k, so not surprising, and about $100. Dad made plans to come up for the weekend to help me out, a 5 hour drive each way, and I bummed rides the rest of the week.
Thankfully I was due for a fill-up based on miles (sending unit failed before I bought it), so we didn't feel the need to drain the tank. Get under it, unbolt it all, drop the tank, unhook everything, pull the pump assembly out, and the tank was... Almost empty. Might have been my problem?

We put in the new assembly and went to reinstall the tank. When I was reaching up to connect the lines that were way too short, of course, I saw a funny looking area on the floor pan, right above the sending unit. It was an access panel, just had to lift the rear seat cushion. Perfect...

New pump in and plumbed up, key on, and could hear the pump run faintly, but feeling of it (through the handy dandy, recently discovered access panel) you could definitely tell it was running. Tried to start, no dice, and fuel pressure still low. Dad went to the gas station, got a gallon, put it in the car, and lo and behold it worked now... On the bright side, the sending unit was part of the pump assembly, so now I could make sure I didn't run out of gas again.

I went to school for mechanical engineering. My dad was very proud that day. He told me next time I just needed to use his card for gas, since it was much cheaper than him driving all that way.

 

[Milo]

<snip>

I went to school for mechanical engineering. My dad was very proud that day. He told me next time I just needed to use his card for gas, since it was much cheaper than him driving all that way.

Classic Dad line!! I can hear the tone of his voice as I read that. Sounds EXACTLY like something I would have said.