So most of you know I was on the struggle bus all weekend with some fuel delivery issues...
I would like to start this off by thanking everyone on Steel Bender Friday who helped me nurse my junk off the trail, you know who you are. I really appreciate the team effort out there and everyone trying to help me diagnose the problem, and staying with me the whole time. I felt terrible slowing down the group, because I knew these folks could be out ahead enjoying the trail.
So on the way down on Wednesday it was 111 in Idaho and my truck started vapor locking. I was running the fuel command center which is fed by the mechanical pump, and the heat made things get bad. The truck died on the highway probably five times and after cooling off a bit it would fire back up. I made it to my campground and swapped out both the mechanical and electric pump just to watch the fuel boil in the filter again.
With the extreme heat I couldn't sleep anyway so I left the campground at 11:00pm and drove through the night because I knew the cool temperatures would let me continue on. I crashed out for a few hours past Spanish Forks and made it to Moab in the morning. I kind of farted around on Thursday gathering up some heat shields for fuel lines and creating a blanket for the command center out of some reflective material, hoping for the best.
Well shortly into Steel Bender I blew the fuel pump fuse. Swap fuses and it blew again so then I swapped the electric pump to another one I had. The truck must have cooled down enough because then it drove for a bit further and died again. And so on went the day.
After the second stall, David came over and suggested we pulled the hood Roadkill style because that always works.
Well, not this time...
Later we tried adding an inline low pressure electric pump to feed the command center wired up with a fog light switch and that sort of worked for a bit.
Our next plan was to just feed the pump with a coolant jug full of gas but we never got to that. We end up getting to the cattle guard and turning downhill and going out. By then I figured out that I could relieve the pressure on the low side and then the high side and refill up the reservoir with the low pressure electric pump and then continue on for a few minutes. Strangely enough, Ben was having overheating fuel pump issues at the same time so we were both trying to leave the trail together his truck would die and we would wait for him and then my truck would die and so on.
We made it out by 4:30, enough time for me to hunt for an inline high pressure pump and to make it to the barbecue. If you can believe it out of the three parts stores in Moab only Carquest had one inline high pressure pump in stock that was the proper PSI. And no one had a high pressure fuel injection regulator in stock.
The next day I decided not to hit any trails and fix my fuel system at camp because I did not want to be a burden to anyone else, and because I really wanted to hit Hell's Revenge on Sunday. I installed the inline fuel pump by the tank and actually had to reuse the regulator from the command center, and mount it on the frame, to get everything to work.
After 6ish hours I had everything buttoned up and I went over to Moab Rim Campground and we put the hood back on.
Sunday was Hell's and I was stoked. Of course with my luck it was hot and the crawling with the engine singing at three grand made for a lot of heat and it soaked right into that new fuel pump. I could actually hear it getting upset was able to turn the truck off and cool it down with ice. I made it off the trail with no real issues beside having to let it cool down every now and then.
James with the tan crew cab buggy lent me some really good fiberglass heat shield and I wrapped the pump for my ride home and it seems to be working fine the first 500 Miles although when it idles it gets loud. I ended up picking up a spare pump at a carquest north of Salt Lake. Tomorrow's the last leg, wish me luck!
Fuel command center, now deleted:
Low pressure fuel pump that we tried to bypass the mechanical pump, thanks Duane:
The fog light switch with the relay I borrowed to run the electric pump:
Roadkill mode:
The new location of the regulator/top cap from the command center on the frame ahead of the electric pump...well... it works for now:
Oh and believe me an in tank fuel pump is on the way...
I would like to start this off by thanking everyone on Steel Bender Friday who helped me nurse my junk off the trail, you know who you are. I really appreciate the team effort out there and everyone trying to help me diagnose the problem, and staying with me the whole time. I felt terrible slowing down the group, because I knew these folks could be out ahead enjoying the trail.
So on the way down on Wednesday it was 111 in Idaho and my truck started vapor locking. I was running the fuel command center which is fed by the mechanical pump, and the heat made things get bad. The truck died on the highway probably five times and after cooling off a bit it would fire back up. I made it to my campground and swapped out both the mechanical and electric pump just to watch the fuel boil in the filter again.
With the extreme heat I couldn't sleep anyway so I left the campground at 11:00pm and drove through the night because I knew the cool temperatures would let me continue on. I crashed out for a few hours past Spanish Forks and made it to Moab in the morning. I kind of farted around on Thursday gathering up some heat shields for fuel lines and creating a blanket for the command center out of some reflective material, hoping for the best.
Well shortly into Steel Bender I blew the fuel pump fuse. Swap fuses and it blew again so then I swapped the electric pump to another one I had. The truck must have cooled down enough because then it drove for a bit further and died again. And so on went the day.
After the second stall, David came over and suggested we pulled the hood Roadkill style because that always works.
Well, not this time...
Later we tried adding an inline low pressure electric pump to feed the command center wired up with a fog light switch and that sort of worked for a bit.
Our next plan was to just feed the pump with a coolant jug full of gas but we never got to that. We end up getting to the cattle guard and turning downhill and going out. By then I figured out that I could relieve the pressure on the low side and then the high side and refill up the reservoir with the low pressure electric pump and then continue on for a few minutes. Strangely enough, Ben was having overheating fuel pump issues at the same time so we were both trying to leave the trail together his truck would die and we would wait for him and then my truck would die and so on.
We made it out by 4:30, enough time for me to hunt for an inline high pressure pump and to make it to the barbecue. If you can believe it out of the three parts stores in Moab only Carquest had one inline high pressure pump in stock that was the proper PSI. And no one had a high pressure fuel injection regulator in stock.
The next day I decided not to hit any trails and fix my fuel system at camp because I did not want to be a burden to anyone else, and because I really wanted to hit Hell's Revenge on Sunday. I installed the inline fuel pump by the tank and actually had to reuse the regulator from the command center, and mount it on the frame, to get everything to work.
After 6ish hours I had everything buttoned up and I went over to Moab Rim Campground and we put the hood back on.
Sunday was Hell's and I was stoked. Of course with my luck it was hot and the crawling with the engine singing at three grand made for a lot of heat and it soaked right into that new fuel pump. I could actually hear it getting upset was able to turn the truck off and cool it down with ice. I made it off the trail with no real issues beside having to let it cool down every now and then.
James with the tan crew cab buggy lent me some really good fiberglass heat shield and I wrapped the pump for my ride home and it seems to be working fine the first 500 Miles although when it idles it gets loud. I ended up picking up a spare pump at a carquest north of Salt Lake. Tomorrow's the last leg, wish me luck!
Fuel command center, now deleted:
Low pressure fuel pump that we tried to bypass the mechanical pump, thanks Duane:
The fog light switch with the relay I borrowed to run the electric pump:
Roadkill mode:
The new location of the regulator/top cap from the command center on the frame ahead of the electric pump...well... it works for now:
Oh and believe me an in tank fuel pump is on the way...
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