starves for fuel and dies, PLEASE TELL ME WHERE TO START

[diesel350]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and diesels. I read about 50 pages worth of stuff here and still cant resolve my problem. I think the problem is simple and I am reading a lot of high tech solutions, I just want some advice on the basic first steps.

I just bought this 2000 e350 cargo van with the 7.3 and 110k miles. It was rarely driven and probably stood in place a while. It ran good for the first 100miles/ 2 weeks until my delivery guy ran out of fuel and dumped 5 gallons of gasoline into it. I picked it up and drove it (barely) to a gas station and put 20 gallons of diesel to dilute the gas. The truck started running bad and has been bad since (6 days). It starts ok and idles well at first, but as soon as you start driving it looses power, stutters, and eventually (10 mins) dies even if you keep the rpm's up in nuetral. Starting it again is harder and unless you let it sit for 10mins it dies right away. If you wait the 10 mins before you start it will drive another 1/4 mile under 15mph and NOT uphill. It is was cold and I assumed it was water freezing in the tank and lines. I drained the separator and added "diesel 911" to the tank. Problem remains. It was a warm day today (50 degrees) and I thought if water was the problem it wouldn't be today. Same problem. This is a back up truck and I dont want to waste money on expensive fixes. Please advise me where to start, what are the basics.

No sludge in the fuel filter. No "water in fuel light". No check engne light.

Any help is appreciated, thank you guys!

[jesilvas]

You need to drain the diesel/gas mix, then start with a new fuel filter and a FULL tank of diesel.
You have a 1 to 4 mix of gas to diesel. Even a 2 to 25 or so mix, it'll run rough. There was a thread on here and it happened to them in about that ratio.

[diesel350]

Thank you jesilvas. I plan on getting my elbows dirty tomorrow, and I would like to have as many possible solutions at my disposal as possible.. Could there be any other problems besides the bad fuel mixture? I was told that the fuel pump is lubricated by the diesel fuel, and gasoline could have caused damage to it. If so, is there another fuel pump in the tank? I saw one mounted on the frame outside the tank. Also, what is the easiest way to drain the tank? (i saw the rubber plug on the bottom of it but I KNOW that s***t will get chewed up if i try to pull it)

[diesel350]

I disconnected the fuel line from the electric pump on the frame rail and jumped the relay just to check the fuel pressure by eye. It was a very slow stream. Since the pump on the frame sounded fine I went to listen to the one in the tank - NOTHING. I unplugged the connectors to the pump in the fluel tank and fed them direct from the battery - NOTHING. ( I used a stethoscope, I know the pumps are quiet.) So I guess the pump is not good. Do i have to buy the entire assembly or I can just buy the pump? A part number or a link would be very appreciated. Thanks again for saving my butt.

[NoRalPh]

Pump????? in the Tank?????

You put 12v into what wires going into the tank?

[jesilvas]

There's no pump in the tank.

[diesel350]

Yup, no second pump. My neighbor claims to have worked on cars before that had a low pressure pump to pick up the fuel from the tank and feed it up to a second high pressure pump - not the case here.

Now a lot of you guys won't appreciate this but like i said before this is a back up van and i dont have too much love for it: To get to the top of the tank and find my non-existant pump i didnt drop the tank, i just cut the floor above it. Most vans like this have plywood over the floor anyway so for a quick job this was the way to go as long as you close it back up water tight.

Once i took out the unit I didnt see a second pump, but i did see a whole bunch of white flakes floating around in the tank, and obviosuly stuck to the pick up screen. I am not replacing the tank ($200 part). I made another big enclose around the pick up tube from aluminum window screening to catch the flakes before they get to the pick up tube and i placed some heavy magnets on the bottom inside of the tank in the far corners and center to catch the flakes that are apparently remains of a metallic coating on the bottom inside of the fuel tank that may have been destroyed by the gasoline that was in there.

Very bootleg fix i know, but this isn't an $80k truck, i bough this thing as a back up for $1500. I will open the tank back up in a month or so and clean the flakes off the magnets, I'm sure it will be a while before it's all gone but as long as it runs im happy.

Now bring on the criticism, i'm ready.

[diesel350]

oh, here's the same problem, it's a factory issue and may not be related to gasoline: FORD GAS TANK DELAMINATION defect and problemAND D

[jesilvas]

What's wrong with cutting a hole in it? I tell ppl either drop the tank, pull the bed, or cut a hole
I didn't think the tank was metal though, but if it is, no reason magnets wouldn't work.

[sargar]

You need to pull the sender back out and disassemble the mixing chamber. There are two screens inside that are stopped up with crud. This pic came from a truck with less than 100K on it.



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