[AT] Part time trailer puller fuel system

[charlie hill]

Charlie  I realize you were just joking with Farmer but boy did you ever 
tell the truth in respect to computerized engines.  Here's my story about 
that.

My 89 GMC (relatively primative throttle body injection system) was only 
about 4 years old and maybe 130,000 miles or so when it developed a hitch, 
sputter and pop at a steady speed.  After a while I figured out that it only 
happened with the cruise control set.  I couldn't find the problem and a 
couple of mechanic friends couldn't find it.  It kept getting worse and 
eventually I just stopped using the cruise control.  That worked for a while 
but then the problem started under all driving conditions without the cruise 
control.  I messed with it for over a year.  Several mechanics looked at it 
and couldn't find the problem.  I finally decided to get serious about 
finding it myself.  I bought every after market manual I could find for it, 
took my multi-meter and went to work trying to find the sensor problem that 
would fix it.  Nothing worked.  I finally realized that none of the manuals 
I had addressed the cruise control system.

At the time there was a small local Chevy dealer in the next county that was 
owned by a man I knew and the shop  was run by his son.  I went to them and 
explained the problem.  They let me go in the shop with their tech and tell 
him what I had done while he looked for the problem.  I kept telling him he 
needed to look at the cruise system.  He told me he would but to let him 
work through the rest first.  I patiently waited and watched while he tested 
and replaced sensors and modules.  Luckily for me when they didn't fix the 
problem he took them back off and put them back in stock.

After an hour or so I told him again he needed to check the reference 
voltage and grounds on the cruise control.  I had figured out from 
somewhere, posibly online, that might be the problem but as I said before I 
didn't have a manual with the data.  Finally he went over to his manual and 
started reading about the cruise control.  He came back, pulled the wire 
harness off of the cruise module and checked the resistance between a lug in 
the cruise module and a ground that attached to a stud in the thermostat 
housing.  I saw a glimmer in his eye!  He took a box end wrench and 
tightened down on the stud and checked the resistance again.  We took it 
down the road and the problem was gone.

Ok here is the post mortum as we figured it out.  At that point I remembered 
that I had changed the thermostat at some point in time prior to the problem 
starting.  The housing was held to the manifold by studs.  The holes were 
drilled through into the water jacket in the intake.
The stud with the ground wire had a double nut to tighten the ground.  The 
ground wire was a bit short and when I tightened it I was fussing with 
getting it tight without breaking the ground wire.  I had the nuts tight on 
the ground and the stud but the stud was just a bit loose in the intake. 
Less than a quarter turn but that was enough to let, over time, some 
antifreeze seep in around the threads on the stud.  That seepage had thrown 
the resistance on that ground wire out of spec.  It had a ground but not as 
good as it needed.  That was the entire problem.  It took nearly 2 years, 
several hundred dollars in changed out parts while other mechanics tried to 
fix it and a bunch of wasted gasoline because it was running so poorly.  The 
solution, ..... just as Farmer said.... Check the grounds and check them 
really good.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CEE VILL" <cvee60 at hotmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 6:48 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Part time trailer puller fuel system



Farmer:  Be sure to remember to check the grounds.  (grin)

> Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:04:46 -0400
> From: robinson at svs.net
> To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> Subject: [AT] Part time trailer puller fuel system
>
> I have an old 1983 F-150 with a 302 V-8 (sure wish it was a 300
> straight 6) that I am uncomfortable with about long term durability due
> to various noises...  :-)   I don't want to get involved in a rebuild at
> this time.
> I have a good 302 in an old station wagon (about 1985 IIRC) that my
> mother had bought and never drove. The wagon ran great and very quiet
> but the in tank fuel pump failed and she never had it fixed. It has TBFI
> engine and as I seem to recall that it used about 40 to 45 PSI pressure
> to feed it??? I never owned a Ford TBFI engine and never had to work on
> that part of one.
> My old truck on the other hand has a standard carb on it and I thought
> about just switching manifolds and using the carb but that is also more
> than I want to get involved with right now since it is a V-8. Also the
> TBFI would probably get better mileage. Does anyone make a replacement
> high pressure fuel pump that will mount outside of the tank? Or is
> heating too much of a problem outside? If I could have a son-in-law swap
> the complete engine over and add a different fuel pump that would keep
> it simple but I'm not sure that is an acceptable approach. I have never
> seen such an after market pump listed...
>
>
>
> -- 
>
>
> "farmer"
>
>
> I now have one more email list - "Budget_Solar"
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/budget_solar
>
>
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana, USA
> robinson at svs.net
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at

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