Fuel pressure gauge install

[rotohead]

Steve,
I've installed a similar system but having trouble holding prime on either side. Did you use, or consider using the 'one way valves' as shown in the service manual on the fuel filter? Maybe I'm using too small a hose clamp? Where would I find a one-way valve like that? Any help appreciated because I won't drive comfortably after 45k and not be able to keep an eye on that lift pump.

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'98. 5 2500 QC ISB 4x4 SLT, Auto DTT TC & VB, JRE 4" exhaust w/5"Tip, DD II's w/Module&Elbow, VA box, Rancho 9000's w/in cab adjust, Mag-Hytec trans&diff covers, Jacobs E-Brake w/BD autoloc, trans temp, boost & EGT gauges, 2Low Kit, Air Horns, Catz MSX, Drawtite Front Hitch, Brite Box, Steel Horse Billet Grilles, AirBullDog hood induction system, Brandon's stainless steel fuel lines, Intake heater system saver

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

No I didn't use one way valves - what I did do is I bled the air out of the lines running to the sender's by leaving the lines slightly loose and bumping the starter to run the lift pump. Once I had fuel at the end of the line I pushed them onto the sender the rest of the way and hose clamped them. I would assume you would get the one way valve from Cummins.

-Steve

 

[trbotrk]

That bad fuel post was an eye opener in more ways than one. I don't know how I missed it the first time. When you noticed a 2psi drop accross the filter is that the max pressure drop for our fuel filters.

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99 2500,etc,ddx,qc,slt,ez K&N,gauges,lsd,3. 54rear,flowmaster, tow a 13k 5er.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Actually the spec is a max of 5 psi restriction across the filter but in my case a 2 psi restriction was enough to cause the truck to hesitate. However it may be that the fuel filter was passing enough garbage through to cause it OR it was plugging up so fast that caused the problem. What was significant to me was that after fueling up I went from a 0 psi restriction to a 2 psi restriction in 2 miles, after putting a brand new filter in went from 0 psi to 2 psi within a mile!!

-Steve

 

[B. Gill]

posted by SHLEETS: "I have Westach looking into making a dual gauge for lift and injector pressures. "

did westach make the gage for you and how much did they want since this would be a special set up?
thanks
bob

[This message has been edited by B. Gill (edited 05-10-2001). ]

 

[illflem]

Injector pressure? Sounds expensive to me. Not sure on the 24 valve, but a 12v can put up to 17,000 psi to the injectors, that would take one heck of a well built sender.

 

[B. Gill]

Bill,i think that he meant injector pump pressure,on the inlet to injector pump,as injector pressure besides being so expensive to monitor is of not much use on daily basis,good obeservation #ad

bob

[This message has been edited by B. Gill (edited 05-11-2001). ]

 

[bholcomb]

illflem,

What brand of gauge did you use on your trucks? So far I have seen 30 psi gauges and then 100 psi gauges. I found a 30psi electric aircraft gauge for about $68 with sender. ISSPRO has a mechanical 30psi, but no isolator that I have seen.

Brian

 

[illflem]

Brian, I used a 40 psi S-W gauge that I lucked out finding covered with dust at my local Napa. After replacing two senders I've since gone to a mechanical gauge. Much cheaper and accurate. The pulsations that the 12 valve lift pump produces just hammer the crap out of senders.

 

[Nemies]

As far as electric gauges, ones in the 0-15psi range have been hard to find. The one listed near the top from xksunlimited.com has been cancelled, and I was sticker-shocked by the price on the AutoMeter gague kit.

After investigating the AM gauge kit (#2661, comes with 1 gauge and 1 sender), it became obvious that for a dual-reading setup, I'd need a 2nd sender. No one knew what sender to get, and finally I called AM directly, and after first answering 2248, then 2246, finally, they settled on 2245 (after comparing the parts manifests). This sender is only available direct from the factory for about $99. So, for 2 senders and a gauge from AM, I'd be spending almost $300. Since the original quote for 2 senders and a gauge from xksunlimited.com was under $100, I was shocked.

I opened up my Westach catalog, and started trying to piece together their options for electric fuel pressure kits. Basically, it came down to two choices:

1) A "Resistive" sender/gauge (about $50 per gauge or sender). Sender is 2" in diameter, 1 3/4" tall.

2) A "Transducer" sender/gauge (about $100 per gauge or sender). Sender is 2 3/4" long, and 1" in diameter, and has no moving parts.

Based on prices, I'm assuming that the AutoMeter stuff is also "transducer"-style, and the stuff from xksunlimited was going to be a "resistive"-style.

So... is "no moving parts", and "not so wide" worth the price for this kind of set up?

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Kees C.
99, 4x4, 2500, 5spd, HD, LSD, SB, QC, Sport, Forest-Green, Cab-Lights
Rhinoliner, toolbox, dual Firestiks, always-on windows


[This message has been edited by Nemies (edited 05-11-2001). ]

 

[illflem]

I feel a fuel pressure gauge is more important than boost. I also feel that readings only need to be taken post filter, prefilter reading shouldn't change much. If your post filter reading drops and changing the filter doesn't bring it back up you will know that the a lift pump or overflow valve aren't working correctly. Eliminating the prefilter sender cuts your cost by about 1/3. If you're like me and have no doubts about your plumbing abilities in bringing diesel in the cab a mechanical gauge set up will cost you less than $50 total.

 

[Ladders]

GENO'S new catalog has a fuel pressure gauge on pg 2 (& pg 6) for 65$. Its from Westach.

Also, the same catalog has the TDR Grille Badge & hitch cover on pg 15. Came with issue 32 the other day.

SOTSU!!
\\BF//

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Illflem, did you see my bad fuel post ( https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12655 )? In that instance I was very glad to be able to check pre and post filter pressures. I changed my fuel filter and it clogged up within 1 mile of changing the filter (basically as soon as I drove the truck) - without the gauge to check pre and post filter readings with the hesitation I was experiencing I would have probably thought it was a bad lift pump instead of it being bad fuel. JMHO but it was well worth the extra $20 or so it cost me to have the extra sender.



-Steve

 

[mangle]

Steve, just a note to say thanks for the posting for fuel pressure gauges. I just ordered my gauge and two senders from XK's Unlimited on the web for about $90 total. I placed this order after visiting my local auto parts supplier and getting a quote of $312 for a SW fuel pressure gauage with one sender.

My reason for installing the fuel pressure gauge is different than your's. In my case I have low boost when towing. Based on the many replies I had to my TDR posting https://www.turbodieselregister.com/ubb//Forum4/HTML/005434.html I feel the problem is in the lift pump or filter. Your dual sender unit will allow me to check pressure to identify the problem.

thanks,

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Mike Angles -- email address removed -- . My web site is www.mangles.net. 2001 Ram 3500 Cummings, 6-speed, 4x2 Longbed Cowboy Cadillac with B&D brake, etc. Gotta get a gun rack...

 

[Nemies]

Mangles, did they actually ship those gauges to you? I was told they didn't make them any more.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I just got off the phone with XK's and the gauge that I ordered has in fact been discontinued it looks like. However, it is still available with other faces, just not in the track force line. Go to this page - http://www.xks.com/SW%20Pages/swgauge2.htm and you can browse through the other gauge lines and find a face that you like based on your setup, it's a 0-16 psi fuel pressure gauge that you are looking for (for 24v engines). The senders are the same for all the gauges. The guy at XK's said many people that have called to order them ordered only the gauge assuming the sender would come with it - it does not, don't forget to order 1 or 2 senders depending on whether you want both pre and post filter or just post filter.

-Steve

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

From another thread ( https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19919 - please respond to that thread for info on the change):

As many of you have probably read I added a pusher lift pump to my truck this weekend ( https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19767 ). The only problem with the install was that my fuel pressures were a little too high for my Stewart Warner fuel pressure gauge setup ( https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6113&highlight=fuel ). I have to verify the numbers with a mechanical gauge but based on input from Enterprise Engine performance and from SW it looks like I'm hitting around 20 psi with the lift pumps operating and the engine off, 19 psi with the engine running, and 18 psi at sustained WOT.



The SW fuel pressure senders have a resistance of 240 ohms at 0 psi and 33. 9 ohms at 16 psi. Checking the resistance of the senders with the engine running it was 15 ohms which pegged the gauge to around where a 19 psi mark would be. So what I did was put 3 - 10 ohm resistors in series (or you could use just one 30 ohm resistor - I had the 10 ohm ones lying around) between the gauge and the switch (soldered them together and put a crimp connector on either end and then covered them all with heat shrink tubing to avoid shorts). That brought my gauge back into the range that's displayable. By my calculations (I'll verify this later with a mechanical gauge) 15 psi on the gauge is around 19 psi and 1 psi on the gauge is around 3 psi. Right now this looks to be the best solution if you are over the 16 psi range by just a bit. I searched around and the next gauge that I could find is a 0-100 and at 20 psi it would be very inaccurate.



I'll just adjust the numbers in my head, I know that 15 psi on the gauge is normal now (19 psi actual) and that if it falls below 7 or 8 psi that I should start looking into it. Main use for the gauge most of the time (at this point hopefully) will be to tell differential pressures across the filter and that will work fine.

-Steve

 

[Bob Cochran]

I asked this question someplace and forgot where!!! For fuel guage install on the 2001 could you use the high pressure hose used on refrigeration gauges? It would screw right on the test port and depress the schrader valve. Then cut off other end to connect to sender unit barbed connection. Sure it would hold pressure but will fuel damage hose? Is this good idea, bad idea, no one thought of it, somebody thought of it tried it with what results? Any thoughts?

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

TTT - there have been lots of questions on fuel pressure gauges lately, I posted a link to this thread on another and was told that some of the links were outdated. I went through it and updated those links so they're all there now.



Bob - I'm sure you found the answer to this a LONG time ago (I hadn't seen your post) but I think the answer is yes that you could. Briar Hopper has the fittings, lines, etc for you '00 and '01 guys and you could use his fittings with these senders to do the same thing. There are also other manufacturers of electric gauges out there Westach, Isspro, Autometer, Dakota, and SPA to name a few. You can also use a mechanical gauge but I prefer not to have fuel running into the cab. There are drastic price differences between the different makers out there so shop them around. The thing I liked about the SW gauges was that they had a bunch of different faces available so you could match them up to other brand gauges.