Truck problems update

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Okay, hubby replaced fuel filter to see if it would help. The truck strangled for the first few miles, stalling and dying, then ren okay with a few coughs foro a while, then behaved itself the rest of the way home. Will see on way to and from work tonight if it is really okay.

Some background: When this first went bad, Hubby had gotten gas at a station that he normally did not stop at. Then it went REALLY bad (took him 1/2 hour to coax and cuss truck last 1/4 mile to work) and when he replace the fuel filter then (the gas he poured out of the filter he took off came out black!), it only partially fixed it and has been iffy ever since. This was last summer, June or July. Could there have been something in the gas that would have destroyed the fuel injection system, or likely just caca (or some punk stuffing his gumball intot he gas nozzle) clogging up the filters? I will try all the hints and helps if this doesn't do the trick. Whadda ya know - even got Joel to answer (hi, Joel. Miss ya mean it)

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002

Answers

The wife had a 98 Dakota with the V6 engine in Lawrenceville, GA that had similar problems. The codes always came back fuel system. Well, we dropped the fuel tank and cleaned it out, replaced all the fuel hoses, fuel filter & fuel pump and still this kept happening. An old engine guy I knew said only two things were possible: One of the fuel injectors was fouled and should be replaced OR the fuel was dirty. She started buying her gas from a truck stop, where the fuels are all filtered and the problem went away for a while. Then it started again, so we replaced two of the injectors and problem was finally solved.

She drives the vehicle still (185K mi), but in Wyoming where dirty fuel and lower octane is almost never a problem, but parts are very hard to get.

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002.


You could have picked up some water with the gas. Sometimes you're better off dealing with stations that pump a lot of fuel. Over time water will condense and collect in the bottom of the tank.

If you're unlucky you get to pay for the water you pump into your tank along with the problems later. Water can also condense in your truck's tank and build up. You can buy dry gas which is alcohol to add to the gas in your tank. Since alcohol has an affinity for water it absorbs it and the resulting mixture passes through your fuel system with less problems.

Water over time will rust your fuel tank, eventually flaking off and blocking your fuel filter. I'd open up one of the fuel filters you replace and check the pleats for foreign material.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), February 17, 2002.


Never ever buy gasoline when the gas tanker is in the station emptying his tanks. It stirs up all the sediment in bottom of the tanks and guess where it goes? Into your gas tank.

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), February 17, 2002.

You shouldn't be having condensation problems with the Dodges, since they all have poly tanks. It's those old metal tanks that really have the problems.

-- george (wycowboy2@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.

You probably picked up some water with the gas.Get some dry-gas or denatured alcahol from the hardware store and add it to the gas tank. It will combine with the water and let it burn. Also adding some HI- TEST gas,yes I mean the really expensive stuff,won't hurt eather. Good luck.

-- J.P.Warner (kaji1@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.


We always look for a station where the tanks are not in a low spot - don't know where I picked up the habit, but the thought is if the water stands over where the lids are, it is liable to leak in, or wash in when they are opened for filling, along with dirt, etc.

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), February 17, 2002.

Christine, that has little or nothing to do with it. Water doesn't get into tanks thru the caps. There's a secondary cap about a foot down inside the tank. Besides, most tanks now are fiberglass and resist condensation. The stations with the old metal tanks had until last July to replace them with fiberglass or get fined when discovered, so there's probably a better than even chance that some have slipped under the DEP/DEQ radar screens. Most gasoline comes from major refiners and the individual stations add their own additives to make them their brands. The ten gas stations in our town all get fuels from Cenex, but we have no Cenex stations within a hundred miles. The brands Conoco, Exxon, Texaco, Maverik & Sinclair.

The Sinclair refinery is 400-mi away; there is no Texaco refinery in our state; Conoco and Exxon refineries are about 125-mi away. Maverik doesn't have a refinery. All diesel fuels come out of Canada and it's all the same stuff in the pipeline.

-- George (wycowboy2@yahoo.com), February 17, 2002.


I shoulda been more specific - the gas had black "gunk" in it, not all black. The filter seems to have stopped the problem, so I guess it's in the tank or the pump. Hope it holds til after the move. Too much stuff to do right now to throw in a fuel system overhaul on the spur of the moment.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), February 19, 2002.

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