New need help

[Kurtis93888]

I have looked all over trying to see the size of the fuel tanks on my 97 f250 and they all say 20 gallons but I can only put in 15 at the most when on E do you guys think I still have 5 gallons or not

[OnTheBio]

It should be in the manual. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong) 19 in front tank and 18 in back.

[Kurtis93888]

And another thing my truck seems to loose power and shuts off sometimes when I turn on my lights open my door or really anything that drains power. Or when it's cold. The dumb *** I bought it from put small car batteries in it. Do you think this is the problem? Can't afford new ones till next friday

[Kurtis93888]

So should I just run it and see if I run out? How hard is it to get started again if I run out?

[351fifty]

If ya run out fill the fuel bowl or keep cranking till it starts

[backwoodsboy]

Originally Posted by Kurtis93888

So should I just run it and see if I run out? How hard is it to get started again if I run out?

I'm assuming you're talking about running the truck out of diesel. Don't. Grenading diesel injectors with air is never a good idea. Just fill the truck up before it gets to 'E'. I don't trust these old guages, so I tend to fill up before 1/4 of a tank.

[madpogue]

Originally Posted by backwoodsboy

I'm assuming you're talking about running the truck out of diesel. Don't. Grenading diesel injectors with air is never a good idea. Just fill the truck up before it gets to 'E'. I don't trust these old guages, so I tend to fill up before 1/4 of a tank.

Sometimes it's not just the gauge. It's been reported that the screen at the bottom of the pickup tube sometimes falls off, and thus the tube can't draw any fuel below about 1/4 tank. I don't know of any way to test/inspect for that, short of dropping the tank (or pulling the bed) and removing the pickup / sending unit gizmo.

[glovemeister]

Originally Posted by Kurtis93888

And another thing my truck seems to loose power and shuts off sometimes when I turn on my lights open my door or really anything that drains power. Or when it's cold. The dumb *** I bought it from put small car batteries in it. Do you think this is the problem? Can't afford new ones till next friday

Buy yourself a digitial multimeter, best tool I own hands down. Test your batteries for 14v. If its less than that likely its your alternator. You also need to ensure you have good batteries, but I would expect they would run stuff ok, just have starting troubles.

[backwoodsboy]

Originally Posted by madpogue

Sometimes it's not just the gauge. It's been reported that the screen at the bottom of the pickup tube sometimes falls off, and thus the tube can't draw any fuel below about 1/4 tank. I don't know of any way to test/inspect for that, short of dropping the tank (or pulling the bed) and removing the pickup / sending unit gizmo.

Yeah, I guess I was overly specific there.
I was mainly commenting on the fact that the OP has his fuel guage read empty, but thinks there is still at least five gallons of diesel in the tank. Hell, it could be alot worse. I had an '87 F150 that would run out of fuel with the guage still reading half a tank!

Oh and by the way, my '97 F250 has an 18 gallon front and 17 gallon rear for 35 gallons total. So I'd say your fuel guage was pretty darn accurate if you're pumping 15 gallons in on "E".