Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) All you FASS truckers

[LowFly]

I had 2 of the earlier Fass system,one was way to noise---mounted at the back of the truck and you could still hear it over the engine running inside the cab,i changed to a spare one i had and did the same thing after towing with it 400+ miles and pressure fluctuations +/- 8 to 10 PSI. I became fed-up and switched to an Airdog,mounted right behind the cab,can't hear a thing,constant pressue of 17PSI. I probabley would still be using Fass if the "EARLIER" units didn't become noise,Both are better than the stock design,just had an opportunity to go with an Airdog for a great price from Charles(old owner)and the company took back the old Fasses for little loss. So far this is working for me,my 2 cents ,Later DW

Charles never owned FASS..... he did Fuel Preporator/Air Dog

 

[BILLVO]

New style 150 gpm pump only,here no problems either very happy. I also agree that there is no need for full half inch line. but in the tank what I have seen works well is just drilling many holes in suction unit in tank to prevent loss of fuel and cavitation. No need for parts here. I have the 3/8 from fass from tank to filter but did do the 1/2 in line from vulcan between filter and pump because the fittings are roughly 3/8 inside dia. through the bends.

 

[DJudson]

Fass

Thanks for the info, truely appreciated. I spoke with the folks at ATS in Arvada, CO. Told me they have had very few problems with FASS and are one of the largest volume retailers in the country.



Thanks again. .

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

One reason you don't notice the Airdog owners is cause we have nothing to complain about... quality wise or customer service or warranty wise...



Anyway, the Airdog does come with 1/2" line from tank outlet to Airdog, return to the tank, and from Airdog to VP44. Overkill? Maybe. But I would rather have too much now which may be too little later. Also, the Airdog was designed to work with the stock pickup tube in the fuel tank.



Again, better designed, better built, the Airdog.



Trent

 

[monkeyman]

I have had my Fass on for over 60,000 miles. Only problem as stated was older external brush motors . New ones are great. Easy install with harness plugs right into existing lift pump harness. Steady pressure and easy filter changes.

 

[DWeiler]

Charles never owned FASS..... he did Fuel Preporator/Air Dog

My post must be misunderstood,what i meant was that Charles convinced me to buy "HIS" Airdog system,i never meant that Fass was owned by him---its his son Brad(read just about ever post on both). The company i had originally purchased from took the old fass's back(locally)Hope that clears things up. DW

 

[steved]

One reason you don't notice the Airdog owners is cause we have nothing to complain about... quality wise or customer service or warranty wise...



Anyway, the Airdog does come with 1/2" line from tank outlet to Airdog, return to the tank, and from Airdog to VP44. Overkill? Maybe. But I would rather have too much now which may be too little later. Also, the Airdog was designed to work with the stock pickup tube in the fuel tank.



Again, better designed, better built, the Airdog.



Trent

And to counter this "point", if there are so many "great" airdogs out there, why aren't there more people pointing that out? So far, I see what? Six people in this thread?? In all the FASS threads (the older problematic ones), you will see very few people mention their AirDog.



I do not buy that the AirDog is fault free... just that there are not as many people with AirDogs that post on them... no information does not equal no problems. This seems to be the main point you are trying to push.



I too have read A LOT of FASS/AirDog threads, and based on those threads, the AirDog "appears" outnumbered 100:1. There are very few threads on the AirDog... very little information, very little reviews... . that was one of the reasons I DIDN'T buy an AirDog... no information. That and they cost around half again as much as the FASS for something that does about the same thing... and IIRC, they didn't have the warranty the FASS offered...



I do not buy better built/designed either... if the airdog was such a "wonderful" product, don't you think there would be more of them being run than the FASS? Most people will "bite the bullet" and pony up more money for a product if it is really that much better than another... I know I would.



And again, my main "drawback" with the AirDog is lack of searchable information. As far as I'm concerned, I would rather buy a product with a known track record (even if it means having a spare set of brushes on hand for a known problem) than to buy something that has almost no identifiable track record.



steved

 

[ARoss]

Steved, I think the Airdog has proved itself in over-the-road tractor/trailer applications. The technology has been used for years in a larger unit, Fuel Preporator, and has been very successful. The smaller, Airdog, unit was manufactured for use in light duty trucks; however, the technology is the same. I have done research on this product and have found enough information regarding its reliability, etc, to make an educated choice. Blacksheepdiesel is correct; if there were problems with any of the units, you'd have heard about it ... that makes perfect sense. I know if I paid $700 for a fuel system and it bit the dust I'd be all over the net making darn sure everyone knows!



There is no way the FASS and the Airdog can be compared, as they are two completely different beasts. The FASS provides one type of filtration, whereas the Airdog has two. The Airdog's filtration is patented, so can't (legally) be duplicated. The price of the Airdog system is not out of line with the current FASS w/filters unit (within $100). Do a Google search. There's a couple of articles; one written by Dieselminded and another written by Charles Ekstam (the man responsible) ... very good reading!



I do not have either system, but, based on the research I've done, I'd purchase the Airdog ... and will likely do so in the not-too-distant future ... If I find the right price!



Not trying to start an argument, just passing along the information I've come across in my search for a better fuel system.

 

[steved]

Steved, I think the Airdog has proved itself in over-the-road tractor/trailer applications. The technology has been used for years in a larger unit, Fuel Preporator, and has been very successful. The smaller, Airdog, unit was manufactured for use in light duty trucks; however, the technology is the same. I have done research on this product and have found enough information regarding its reliability, etc, to make an educated choice. Blacksheepdiesel is correct; if there were problems with any of the units, you'd have heard about it ... that makes perfect sense. I know if I paid $700 for a fuel system and it bit the dust I'd be all over the net making darn sure everyone knows!



There is no way the FASS and the Airdog can be compared, as they are two completely different beasts. The FASS provides one type of filtration, whereas the Airdog has two. The Airdog's filtration is patented, so can't (legally) be duplicated. The price of the Airdog system is not out of line with the current FASS w/filters unit (within $100). Do a Google search. There's a couple of articles; one written by Dieselminded and another written by Charles Ekstam (the man responsible) ... very good reading!



I do not have either system, but, based on the research I've done, I'd purchase the Airdog ... and will likely do so in the not-too-distant future ... If I find the right price!



Not trying to start an argument, just passing along the information I've come across in my search for a better fuel system.

I know the FASS and AirDog are similar, but different... I did figure that out in the single thread on this site that was basically the two argueing their wares... but as also pointed out in that thread, while the AirDog has two air removal systems, that doesn't make it any more efficient at removing entrained air from the fuel than the single stage the FASS has...



I searched back in October 2005 for well over 3 months using phone calls, emails, internet searching, etc. I found VERY LITTLE information on the Airdog, when compared to the FASS. And in my searchings, about the only information out there were adds, nothing really "user" based except for little blurbs like you are seeing in this thread... "it works great" with no explaination of mileage, time of use, conditions, etc. Even the so called Airdog "dealers" couldn't answer many questions I had about the product. While you might have found a bunch of info on the AirDog, I didn't... and in drawing my conclusions, that played a very BIG part in my decision on the FASS.



And as far as the cost... the last I priced the FASS was around $550, the AirDog was $750... and from what I have heard about the ownership of the AirDog setting prices, I doubt you will get a big "variance" between dealers... one of the complaints the dealers I talked with had about the AirDog.



And to point this out, Ekstam no longer owns the AirDog from what I read. It was bought by someone else (a group of lawyers??) a while back and what little bit of information I read about it, the generally concensus seemed concerned whether the quality of the newer units was equal to those of the previous.



I'm not trying to start anything either (and I'm not saying the AirDog is a bad unit, just there is very little info on it to base an educated decision), I'm just pointing out what I experienced when hunting... I seriously considered the AirDog because of all the brush issues the FASS had... that was until I couldn't find any info and real world results of the AirDog. Anyone can sing a good song selling a product, but I wanted real world results... following the FASS threads indicated the only issue was brushes... I could live knowing that, then I lucked out and got the new motor with the sealed brushes...



steved

 

[IngrahamS]

what is needed to add a FASS to a truck with the in-tank lift pump?

 

[chazj]

For what it's worth, I had my Fass installed and they removed the in-tank fuel pump that Dodge installed under warrenty.

 

[OL RATLR]

I have had my Fass on 60. 000 miles no problems and no complaints. Oo.

 

[LowFly]

what is needed to add a FASS to a truck with the in-tank lift pump?

Finding a stock sending unit (Which i have heard that the dealers are just giving them away if you sweet talk them a bit) for your truck or using one of our Suction Tube Ktis to completely bypass the stock sending unit and pump. You can not draw fuel through the intank pump... ... trust me... . people have tried!

 

[darkhorse]

I just became a FASS trucker today. My lift pump went south yesterday in the afternoon. (142,652 on the clock) By this morning I managed to mount the pump & get all the tubes & wires routed & connected. (not always as easy as it sounds ) I get 1. 5 pis to start & when it's running, my Westach 16 psi gauge is pegged. I can't seem to make it move but mashing the throttle.

 

[pacersfan]

I originally was going to use a FASS, but right before I got it installed, one of my friends had a warranty denied because of a problem caused by the FASS. I sold it and had an AirDog installed. That was almost 50,000 miles ago. My installer has one on his truck with 90,000 on his. No problems whatsoever.

 

[steved]

I originally was going to use a FASS, but right before I got it installed, one of my friends had a warranty denied because of a problem caused by the FASS. I sold it and had an AirDog installed. That was almost 50,000 miles ago. My installer has one on his truck with 90,000 on his. No problems whatsoever.

You will have your warranty denied with ANY fuel system modification... even by simply adding a better filter or better pump... even though it is far superior to the OEM setup, they will deny warranty in most cases.



What I'm saying is the FASS wasn't the reason his warranty was denied, having the fuel system modified was...





steved

 

[pacersfan]

Actually, no something malfunctioned in the FASS that caused the problem - pressure spike or something. I can't remember the details now, but at the time he was pretty torqued off about it. It cost him several hundred to fix it.

 

[KDoerr]

Good Day i have 480540 km on my F. A. S. S. and no problems At about 260000 km I changed out the brushes and it is still going strong at 15 psi and WOT is 11. 5 to 12 psi. Get the F. A. S. S and you will love it.



Keith

 

[RWatson]

Installed a FASS 150 after 2nd stock POC died. Maybe it is me, but she idles smoother and seems to have better top end. Can not get pressure below 15 even at WOT. Was a good investment for me and wish I had done it after the first stock pump crapped. No problems almost a year later

 

[steved]

Actually, no something malfunctioned in the FASS that caused the problem - pressure spike or something. I can't remember the details now, but at the time he was pretty torqued off about it. It cost him several hundred to fix it.

And as I stated, it doesn't matter... ANY MOD to the fuel system will void the warranty... and the garage can tell you anything, they tried to tell me that residual charge in the capacitors inside a Cobra29 backfed through the cigarette lighter and burnt the dash cluster out...



There should be nothing to be mad about, as soon as you touch your truck, you become your own warranty station.



steved