"Crawl, Crawl, Stagger, Stagger" Truck is limping

[Will L.]

Pressure gauge yet?

 

[Turbine Doc]

Update after being overcome by other tasks; who said when you are retired you will have all the time you want to work projects you have...yeah everybody else's as well it seems.

At least in my consulting work I'm getting paid better than I was when I was working full time. So the root cause was IP related I suspect optic sensor, I found that I had/have (7) "used but supposed to be good" ones in my 6.5 spares kit, but I opted for the fresh reman, that fixed me right up so back in business , clear tubing on IP feed & returns.

Lift pressure at IP inlet holding a steady 10 psi, dipping to just 5psi on hard accelerations, I have not towed with it, or pulled long grades with the new IP but I do not expect it will have issues in doing it. My Amazon TOPDON 900 scanner took some time to get my timing & TDCO correct to where I wanted them, but running great with -1.54 TDCO; good thing as I think my old Snap On "brick" MT2500 has given it up, and will not stay active when running through the time set functions.

In my initial trouble shooting I swapped installed fuel filters for new ones, I got around to cutting them open last week, my setup is Racor 30 micron on frame rail, then the factory 6 micron nominal FFM element relocated to driver side fender well in engine bay supported by (2) 1/2"-13 all-thread studs/washers/nuts under housing mounting "ear".

My filters captured to their micron rating but I suspect some finer particulate got past the element to the IP/optic sensor disc, this random "out of the blue" failure came within 150 miles of my last fuel fill up, so I have to suspect the captured "mud" in the filter came from last tank fill as the filter swap I did last fall, I did not have this "crud in the Racor or the factory FFM filter or bowls.

Now I'm considering adding a 2 micron final filter after the FFM 6 micron. The "big stuff" in the pre lift pump Racor is what "eats" the "innards" of the lift pump on the frame rail and what causes early clogging of the on engine FFM if you do not have any pre filtration, I thought my 3 tier 70 micron "sock" in tank, to the 30 Micron Racor on frame, to 6 mic FFM element was "good enough" with each "finer" element "polishing" the fuel well maybe not.

 

[Turbine Doc]

More images

 

[Will L.]

Yummy! Sorry to hear but glad you found out the issue.
The drawback of filtering down fined is it works the liftpump more so keep an eye on that, and for folks living in a freezer, the finer filter is where the gelling occurs so a heater becomes more of a requirement.

Something lacking on the factory filter is the ability to deal with water.
The original fuel wouldn’t suspend water in it, it naturally separated. So the spoonfull of water the filter will absorb and start passing through wasnt a big deal as the WIF light came on and we drained out the small amount of water which we rarely had to deal with.

No that they are determined to squish corn juice into our fuel the ethanol can absorb its own weight in water. With minimal ethanol amount @5%-10% depending on time of year, congrats you now can have 10% water going through to do the number on your optic sensor, pump rotor housing & veins, and injectors.

So while you are messing with adding a better filter, my suggestion is add one specific for water. The factory one will saturate then allow the water to pass through. I have not researched all the different filters that can stop it, hut have found one that is Absolute. FASS.

The argument against them is cost & what if it stalls the engine causing a safety issue.
Having a fuel pressure gauge on your dash, as it plugs with water you will see the pressure dropping if you have a moderate amount of water plugging over time and you can address it.
What if the neighbor kid fuels you up with a garden hose? You can drive then the slug of the water stops all the fuel near instant as you have to steer& stop without power assist. Without the fass that same volume of water would bypass the ffm and damage the ip shutting the engine down anyways. The difference is one way you can unscrew & pour out the filter, put it back on and start the engine to het off the freeway, the other way you are waiting for a tow truck and a new ip.
So obviously I see it as way worth it.

My plan going to electric pressure gauge is use a sensor before the filter, and at the ip. Flip of a switch and you see the difference of plugging filters. @MrMarty51 has done his this way for questions. The worst part of it is high quality gauge and sensors cost as much as a truck now days.

 

[jrsavoie]

Yummy! Sorry to hear but glad you found out the issue.
The drawback of filtering down fined is it works the liftpump more so keep an eye on that, and for folks living in a freezer, the finer filter is where the gelling occurs so a heater becomes more of a requirement.

Something lacking on the factory filter is the ability to deal with water.
The original fuel wouldn’t suspend water in it, it naturally separated. So the spoonfull of water the filter will absorb and start passing through wasnt a big deal as the WIF light came on and we drained out the small amount of water which we rarely had to deal with.

No that they are determined to squish corn juice into our fuel the ethanol can absorb its own weight in water. With minimal ethanol amount @5%-10% depending on time of year, congrats you now can have 10% water going through to do the number on your optic sensor, pump rotor housing & veins, and injectors.

So while you are messing with adding a better filter, my suggestion is add one specific for water. The factory one will saturate then allow the water to pass through. I have not researched all the different filters that can stop it, hut have found one that is Absolute. FASS.

The argument against them is cost & what if it stalls the engine causing a safety issue.
Having a fuel pressure gauge on your dash, as it plugs with water you will see the pressure dropping if you have a moderate amount of water plugging over time and you can address it.
What if the neighbor kid fuels you up with a garden hose? You can drive then the slug of the water stops all the fuel near instant as you have to steer& stop without power assist. Without the fass that same volume of water would bypass the ffm and damage the ip shutting the engine down anyways. The difference is one way you can unscrew & pour out the filter, put it back on and start the engine to het off the freeway, the other way you are waiting for a tow truck and a new ip.
So obviously I see it as way worth it.

My plan going to electric pressure gauge is use a sensor before the filter, and at the ip. Flip of a switch and you see the difference of plugging filters. @MrMarty51 has done his this way for questions. The worst part of it is high quality gauge and sensors cost as much as a truck now days.

And what are high quality gauges, snubbers amd fuel.pressure sending units?

 

[Will L.]

I wish I knew which to recommend.
For instance, auto meter was always considered an acceptable entry level gauge. Those start at $300 now and are from china & have a higher failure rate than ever before. They have some cheaper but like Marty experienced with the glowshift- the sensors fail soon
Used to be VDO, Longacre, AEM, etc made quality but they are chinese made now and have a higher failure rate than the older ones.

So unfortunately I don’t have the suggestion which brand to get. Idk if any of them offer a good warranty anymore

Something I plan to look at is ones rated for aircraft.

 

[jrsavoie]

I wish I knew which to recommend.
For instance, auto meter was always considered an acceptable entry level gauge. Those start at $300 now and are from china & have a higher failure rate than ever before. They have some cheaper but like Marty experienced with the glowshift- the sensors fail soon
Used to be VDO, Longacre, AEM, etc made quality but they are chinese made now and have a higher failure rate than the older ones.

So unfortunately I don’t have the suggestion which brand to get. Idk if any of them offer a good warranty anymore

Something I plan to look at is ones rated for aircraft.

Keep us updated.

If anybody has a link to good quality fuel pressure gauge parts, please share