Fuel Gremlins

[Begle1]

I have some issues here.

I filled up at a sort-of hole-in-the-wall gas station, and then I drove for about 50 miles. Slowly I started to loose top end. I couldn't go above 2400 RPM, then after a mile I couldn't go above 2000 RPM, then I pulled off the freeway and it stalled while idling in a parking lot. Cranks, but doesn't start. Too much ether and it runs again, and it seemed to fuel normal when I romped on it in first gear.

I put a new fuel filter on it the next morning, primed it through to the injectors, then I made it another 50 miles before it does the same exact thing. This time I had the foresight to have a new fuel filter on hand! But I didn't bother to bring a strap wrench or a big enough wrench to bleed the injectors... So I broke my belt twice trying to take the old filter off, which somehow became tighter than all Hell and I had to pound a screwdriver through the thing three times to get it off of there.

I primed it at the injectors and it runs again, altough now it's starting to give me the same trouble after one mile. And now, I swear that my in-neutral idle has gone up 100-200 RPM too. It seems to have plenty of power if I full throttle it, seems to smoke as much as ever from a stand still, but when I'm just cruising I find myself having to give it more and more throttle just to maintain speed.

I have a leaky bleeder screw that got stripped somewhere along the line, and it is drips about one drop every 30 seconds at idle. Could that, or another leak, be allowing air into the system and giving me these problems?
Could it be a bad lift pump that stalls the engine like that?
Could it be bad fuel?
Is my injection pump going out?

[Paccool]

I would guess bad fuel. Go back and tell them what happened. If it is a station you deal with all the time they may help out. Dump a bunch of conditioner in and see if that helps. It would be interesting to see when they had fuel delivered - that day or was it almost empty?

[Begle1]

So I soldered close the leaky bleeder screw and replaced the lift pump with a piston lift pump. Went through and tightened all fuel system connections in the engine compartment. Then it ran good to the gas station where I put 10 gallons of fresh Diesel on top of the about 15-20 gallons of questionable Diesel I had at that point.

That combination made a lot of difference; it got a bunch better on the top end. Drove like an airplane to school.

Then I left school, got a mile on the freeway, and it totally powered out at about 70 MPH. A lot more sudden of a power decrease than before, and it was blowing a hell of a lot of black-blue-grey smoke at the time too. About 15 seconds later I was over in the slow lane going about 55 MPH and the power came back.

I pulled off and decided to take side streets. Made it a couple blocks, and it totally lost power on me again, going about 45 this time. It choked down to about 35, throwing lots of blue-white smoke again; I downshifted to second to bring the RPM's up, and it managed to clear itself out again.

A few blocks later it started doing the same thing; I decided to get off the main road so I took a right turn, immediately after I finished the turn the engine stalled for a second and I lost power steering and brakes (if it had done that right before or during the turn I would have totalled somebody), then I put it into first and it managed to come back to life and cleared itself.

Then I found myself driving up a big hill looking for a parking lot, then it started bogging down and blowing smoke yet again, and I stalled in the middle of this private up-hill culdesac populated by multi-million dollar homes. I had to get pulled over to the shoulder by a rich English dude in a suit and tie in a Jeep Liberty.


Injection pump? Is there any chance in Hell that an air leak or something else could cause that kind of problem?

[Begle1]

What about fungus?

[KTA]

adding good fuel to bad fuel does not make bad fuel good. DRAIN THE TANK!!! and refill it withh known good fuel, like from a big truck stop that uses alot of fuel. put another new fuel filter on while you are at it. while you have the fuel tank off to drain it, thats right it has no drain so ya got to drop the tank, use a floor jack you cant hold it, examine the fuel pickup in the sender make shure it is good, no rust leaks or collapsing hoses.

[Begle1]

You can drain a tank by siphoning fuel out of one of the hoses already installed, or just thread in a new one.

You think bad fuel can cause that? What if I were to drop in a few ounces of biocide?

[KTA]

WHAT DID I SAY TO DO?

Beagle1 my life lesson to you for the week is this. THE EASY WAY OUT IS NOT THE BEST WAY. i notice you are always looking for an alternative way to do things which is fine and good, but MOST OF THE TIME it is best to FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. the reason stuff comes with manuals and directions is so you dont destroy or damage it trying to figure it out on your own.

as this pertains to your application if you have a tank with 10gal of water in it, you can throw 40 tampoons in it 6 bottels of fuel treatment and a racoon, and when you are done you will still have a tank full of 10gal of water but with a bunch of other crap in it too.

[roxxx]

Just a question could it be the start of a head gasket leak ?

[Begle1]

Do you have any experience with biocide? I've had a couple guys say that they have had the same symptoms and the biocide cleared it out after a tank. Seems to me like it'd be worth putting in a few dollars of it, driving around the block a few times and seeing if it clears up.

If you have a funny engine noise, replacing the engine is guaranteed to fix it. That doesn't mean that it's the best way.

[Fnschlaud4620]

KTA wrote:

as this pertains to your application if you have a tank with 10gal of water in it, you can throw 40 tampoons in it 6 bottels of fuel treatment and a racoon, and when you are done you will still have a tank full of 10gal of water but with a bunch of other crap in it too.

I think I about died LMAO!

The tampon part was the best!

Hey KTA I see that you almost have enough posts to be in the 14mm club

[KTA]

In my experience with the algea that grows in the fuel it plugs the filter, and thats pretty much it, your intermittent problem you describe sounds more like water or bad fuel.

[PToombs]

Begle, drop the tank. Been there, done that! I had a truck with water in it. Wintertime, freeze, quit, thaw before I could figure it out. I drained the tank, (pulled the filler and siphoned thru there). Dropped it and pulled the sender. The tank had black sludge in it, water, and yuck! The sock on the pickup was plugged. I dumped out the rest, wiped it with rags, cleaned the sock with brakleen and a toothbrush. Installed tank, dumped in biocide, added new fuel, pumped to filter head. Installed new filter, bled lines and started it. Never had another problem.

Point is, clean the whole system good, once, be done with it!
Sorry about the lecture, but wanna do it in January?

[Begle1]

The tank was squeeky clean and the sender was fine when I had it out a couple months ago. I kind of figured there was a particulate issue with the fuel, it wouldn't be taking out filters with increased rapidity.

If growth is the problem, would that leave tell-tale signs if I cut the filter apart?

There doesn't seem to be much faith in the Water in Fuel warning system? I know it works when it sees water, don't know if my water seperator is working or not... Or if the water is emulsified, which I guess is the possiblity?

It strikes me that there's quite a bit of faith that there is not a problem with the injection pump?

I think that it's in the low 90's around here in January, Pete...

I think I'll try some biocide, and if that doesn't work I'll drain the tank. What's the best thing to do with 25 gallons of bad fuel?

[Ace]

I think the tampons would likely clog the pickup at some point.

You could cut it with kerosene and use it in a kerosene heater.

[PToombs]

Low 90's? You suck! Here it's usually low 20's! If you cut open the filter, you can tell if it's got algae. Black and slimy. You could put an electric fuel pump on the suction line and see if you have good flow. That will check the sock.
The other thing is maybe a fuel line or fitting cracked and is sucking air. That could cause what you describe, gray smoke, loss of power. It does make the exhaust smell bad, bitter, sharp.