Fuel pickup tube ?

[kcv67]

I ran out of fuel and I dumped 2 gallons of fuel into the tank primed the pump, drove 6 miles to the truck stop and fueled up. It only took 30 gallons. I even burped it and thats all it took. Could the fuel pickup tube be broke off in the tank?

 

[chuck3]

I would really doubt that its broke, whats there to break it? I don't know if these tanks actually hold 35 gals or not, I have never run mine that low, maybe someone else can tell you.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I had to completely drain my tank because of a bad fuel load. When I filled it back up (the 1st 5 gallons were from a can, drove 5 miles and filled it up the rest of the way) I put ~37 gallons into it - plus about a 1/2 gallon of additives. I did fill it ALL the way to the top of the neck (so that I treated the fill tube as well) and as I understand it they usually have the tank set up so that there's 2-3 gallons worth of air space for fuel tank crush in an accident - so in my case my fuel tank holds about 35 gallons. There is a TSB out there for a red cap on the rollover valve on the top of the tank that should be removed (on some trucks it wasn't evidently, not sure if that applies to your 96 or not). If that cap isn't removed the tank will crush under the vacuum and you'll lose some capacity.

 

[kcv67]

I removed that little red cap about a year ago . It had collapsed the tank . The tank seems to be in original shape now.

 

[illflem]

Casey, the pickup slides up and down with the tank level, could be that it isn't traveling all the way down. I once used a small electric pump connected to the outlet line to empty my tank before dropping it, when I was done there was less than a half gallon of fuel left in it. Good thing for you that the warning light comes on early, now you know that you better pay attention to it.