elequin

Hi all!

I recently inherited a 1986 Ford F-150 XLT Lariat with a 302 EFI engine. It was running about 5 years ago when it was purchased, and driven from San Antonio TX to Dallas TX. It's sat still since then, and I've just now acquired it.

It had a dead battery, which I've replaced, and it does crank. I didn't want to crank it much due to the fuel probably being very bad. I had it towed to my house, and when moving it, old fuel leaked all over the place from under the rear of the truck. I imagine one or both of the fuel tanks is leaking, although I don't know where from. I plan on taking a look today.

I think the other two things I probably need to do ASAP are change the oil and flush the radiator fluid (?).

Any ideas on where and what to look for, for the fuel leak? What would be the best way of getting the old fuel out, or do I have other options (stabilizer, just add a lot more good fuel....)? If the leak is something easy to repair, I'd prefer to not remove the tanks, so perhaps a siphon?

I have very little experience doing automotive work, and don't have much in the way of tools either. Thankfully I have a Harbour Freight just down the street.

Other things to take care of relatively soon are new carpet (drive door requires you to lift it while closing, and it leaked rain into the cab, so now it's growing mold on the carpet), adjust driver door (heh), and once I've got it running reliably and inspected, etc., perhaps start looking at doing a true dual exhaust, an electric fan, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice, and sorry for the long post!

(oh, and can someone tell me what the deal is with the dual tanks? I know there's a switch somewhere to switch between them, but I don't know where that is, which tank would be which, or even how the dual tank system works at all!)

- Eric

elequin

Oh, couple more details, and couple more questions.

The truck is 2WD, automatic transmission, and from the sticker in the engine bay, has already had the A/C system converted.

*edit* I got the Haynes manual. What have I gotten myself into? heh

It doesn't look like I can siphon out the old fuel easily. The siphon hose I got gets stuck on something when I try to push it down through the filler tube into the tank. grr.

- Eric

elequin

One last post today. I'm pretty sure I found the fuel leak - it's on the rear tank, which I seem to remember someone saying "didn't work" anyway.

It took me a while to find the DLC, but I did, and I grounded the fuel pump test connector. I can't hear any pumps running - neither the high pressure pump up by the front driver-side wheel, nor either low pressure pump in the tanks (really only checked the forward tank setting though - finally found that switch too - I feel stupid). I do hear something under the hood, near the firewall on the driver side, just a clicking. I also found the inertia switch and pressed the white button just in case. No change.

Haynes manual now says to check for voltage to the pumps, but I've had enough for the day. I'm kinda hoping it's a bad fuel pump, because the alternatives look a lot more difficult to deal with. If I had a lift, it looks like it wouldn't really be that hard to remove the gas tank, etc.

I dunno, thanks for reading.. I'm done for the day.

- Eric

Good old Bill

How are you doing with your project? Just read your threads, sounds like a bag of worms. Dual tanks? Memory says switch is near steering column on dash. Keep in mind the selector valve does mess up at times. (Won't switch the feed and return). Keep us posted as to your progress.