Weird Fuel tank problem
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 14
Likes: 2
From: Cochise County, AZ
Weird Fuel tank problem
Howdy all!
I have a 89 F150 with the dual tanks ... I bought it about a year and a half ago ... I just recently started driving it.
When I first bought it, it was on the front tank, as I was driving to the MVD to get the plates transferred from the previous owner to me, it acted like it was running out of gas, but had a 1/4 tank showing on the gauge, I switched it to the back tank, and it ran fine ... I only drove it about 200 miles in the next 15 months, 100 of which was its original drive home from where I purchased it!
I recently sold my 123 Diesel Benz, and now only have this to drive (which is what I wanted anyways!) I had been running off the back tank ...
I am a long distance truck driver, and my terminal is just over 100 miles away, I drive there, and leave my truck, then go on the road for 2-4 weeks, then drive back home ...
Last month I made sure both tanks were filled, and I took off for work, I drove to work, then back in a few weeks off the rear tank ... I filled it, and got a bit over 13 mpg with the 31" tire and stock speedo/odo gears ... I filled the tank, and decided the next trip I would run off the front tank, and burn off that old fuel (treated with PRI-G) I did not get far, and it stuttered like it was out of gas ... I switched to the rear ... then after a mile, switched back to the front tank, drove about 40 miles on that, then it stuttered again, and I switched to the rear for a mile or so. then I switched to the front tank again, I only went about 10 miles, and same thing again! This time when I switched to the rear tank I noticed the rear tank was down to 3/4's or so, I switched back to the front, and it was up past full (like when I started!) I did this on and off for 215 miles ... I then got back home, and the front tank was still showing past full on the gauge, and when I tried to put fuel in it was FULL (ready to spill out!) I put in 14.566 gallons in the rear tank ...
Why is it only sucking fuel out of the rear tank?
Even when the front tank is selected?
I have a 89 F150 with the dual tanks ... I bought it about a year and a half ago ... I just recently started driving it.
When I first bought it, it was on the front tank, as I was driving to the MVD to get the plates transferred from the previous owner to me, it acted like it was running out of gas, but had a 1/4 tank showing on the gauge, I switched it to the back tank, and it ran fine ... I only drove it about 200 miles in the next 15 months, 100 of which was its original drive home from where I purchased it!
I recently sold my 123 Diesel Benz, and now only have this to drive (which is what I wanted anyways!) I had been running off the back tank ...
I am a long distance truck driver, and my terminal is just over 100 miles away, I drive there, and leave my truck, then go on the road for 2-4 weeks, then drive back home ...
Last month I made sure both tanks were filled, and I took off for work, I drove to work, then back in a few weeks off the rear tank ... I filled it, and got a bit over 13 mpg with the 31" tire and stock speedo/odo gears ... I filled the tank, and decided the next trip I would run off the front tank, and burn off that old fuel (treated with PRI-G) I did not get far, and it stuttered like it was out of gas ... I switched to the rear ... then after a mile, switched back to the front tank, drove about 40 miles on that, then it stuttered again, and I switched to the rear for a mile or so. then I switched to the front tank again, I only went about 10 miles, and same thing again! This time when I switched to the rear tank I noticed the rear tank was down to 3/4's or so, I switched back to the front, and it was up past full (like when I started!) I did this on and off for 215 miles ... I then got back home, and the front tank was still showing past full on the gauge, and when I tried to put fuel in it was FULL (ready to spill out!) I put in 14.566 gallons in the rear tank ...
Why is it only sucking fuel out of the rear tank?
Even when the front tank is selected?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 14
Likes: 2
From: Cochise County, AZ
But ... if the pump was bad, wouldn't it just act like it was out of gas all of the time it was switched to the front tank?
Why would it run for 40 miles while switched to the front tank?
Why would it run for 40 miles while switched to the front tank?
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,092
Likes: 147
i had a similar issue with a 250 diesel with 2 tanks... did the same thing you were describing. i loosened the gas cap on the front tank and it didn't do it any more. i tired switching the caps and buying a new cap and it was still like that with the front tank. so for some reason there must have been some issue venting... never found the actual problem but honestly it didn't bother me to drive with the cap loose because it was just a farm truck.
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Iowa
Gas tank
I had the same issue, along mine was with the back tank, mine turned out to be, the owner before hand had messed up the connections from the pump to the fuel lines, so every so often i would suck in air and it would nearly die and wouldn't recover, but switch to the front tank and be totally fine, once i would go back, i could drive 20-40 miles and it would nearly die again
I made sure my pump was good, took it out, tested it on the stand, made sure power was getting to it, and decided i would just block off the tank with a piece of metal in the connect so i just use one tank now
I made sure my pump was good, took it out, tested it on the stand, made sure power was getting to it, and decided i would just block off the tank with a piece of metal in the connect so i just use one tank now
