Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Getting Involved

Getting Involved

Several weeks ago I bought an M-37, three quarter ton Dodge military truck. The previous owner had let it sit for a long time and there was silt and contaminated fuel (deteriorated) in the tank. After driving it for several days the silt clogged the system and the fuel stopped flowing. Not having time to fool with it I took it to my local repair guy and he ordered a new fuel pump and did some other tune up repairs.

On Monday I picked it up from the repair shop. It ran fine but on the drive home it began once more to exhibit the symptoms of fuel starvation. Ie jerking and cutting out. Once home it quite running altogether.

My first reaction was to put it on my utility trailer and haul it back. However, my utility trailer had a flat tire. I could have called a tow but that would cost a hundred dollars. I called the owner of the repair shop and he suggested the following actions.

1. Check the gas tank for gas
2. Pump the hand lever on the pump and see if that did anything.

I went out to the truck and turned the drain cock on the tank....fuel came out in a good stream. Then I pumped the lever on the fuel pump…no success. Then I cleaned out the sediment bowl…it was still dirty. Then I removed the fuel filter canister…there was no fuel filter in it but maybe it isn’t supposed to have one. Maybe the fuel flowing through the canister allows particles to settle out. The bottom was filled with this red paste…I think its dried up “Stable,” a product used to extend the life of gasoline. I cleaned that. Then I cranked over the engine and checked to see if fuel had been drawn from the tank back into the canister. As I loosened the bolt, some began to drip out and I tightened it back down. This told me that the mechanical fuel pump was pulling vacume (fuel) as far as the canister and sediment bowl. I went over to the carburator and unloosened the fitting from the pump. I had Linda crank it and nada…no fuel was coming from the deliver side of the pump. It was bone dry. I called back my repair shop and the owner told me…

2. Blow some compressed air through the lines from the gas tank.

I did this and there was a slight improvement. I disconnected the line from the pump to the carburator and blew air directly into the pump outlet port. BINGO! Fuel started flowing, the truck started, ran smoothly and I drove it around the block.

This was a time consuming exercise but a good learning process. I learned “The compressed air blown through the fuel line trick.” This is how it is on the farm. One has to be prepared to step in and get personally involved.

One of the points I keep relearning is that to solve a problem you have to be able to visualize and understand it. Once that is accomplished a solution is generally not too far off. The Monkey See/ Monkey do approach of blindly following instructions you don't understand seldom works very well.