I solved the slow fillup problem on my '03

[Spooled-up]

I have had my truck almost a year now and I have filled the tank exactly 40 times. Every tiime, I have filled it to the top of the fill neck to get the extra 3-4 gallons in. this amounts to about 50-65 miles of extra range. I regularly get between 570-620 miles to a tank. I like to keep accurate mileage records as well.



The price I pay for this is that I have to spend an extra 5-7 minutes at the pump slowly trickling the last few gallons in. If I averaged 6 min per fill, in 40 tankfulls, I spent an extra 4 hours at the pumps this year. Some of it in bitter cold and with other people waiting for the pump.



NO MORE!!



I ran the truck to where the D. T. E. read 0 and ran the truck another 30 miles. I pulled the tank and still had about 3" of fuel on the bottom of the tank. It was obvious why the tank filled so slow. The aft end of the tank is about three inches higher than the main vent for the tank. This, combined with the rear of the truck sitting higher than the front made it difficult to get fuel in the raised part of the tank.



This pic shows the height difference of the rear of the tank compared to the vent tube (the smaller of the two hoses)



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After I pulled the tank, I spent about 4 hours running around looking for all the fittings and hoses I would need. After I got everything, I took the plunge and drilled a hole in the highest part of the rear of the tank with a hole saw. I used an empty plastic tub to catch all of the shavings inside the tank. Access to the inside of the tank is easy because of the location of the fuel pickup and sending unit.



Here's a pic of the relationship between the hole for the sending unit and the rear of the tank.

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This is the fuel pickup and sending unit. You can see the float for measuring fuel level.



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Here's where I mounted the vent:



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Next, I removed the fill neck and cut the vent tube and inserted a brass "T" in it's place. NOTE: This is NOT required with the new vent kit in the classifieds!

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Here's a pic of the whole system out of the truck The only piece missing is a section of vent tube for the main vent.

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I raised the tank back up into the truck and made all of the connections. Here's the finished vent connection:

NOTE: The finished vent connection with the classifieds kit looks different than this pic. There is no need to cut the metal vent line. Just install the included brass "T" fitting in the rubber hose.

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I went to fuel the truck and it worked like a charm! It filled right to the top and clicked off. It took about 10-15 SECONDS of slow filling to top off with fuel in the fill neck. No standing by the pump waiting anymore!!







Oo.

 

[Spooled-up]

There are a few more pics in my reader's rigs.



If there is enough interest, I could put together a kit with all the required parts to make this modification.



Anyone interested?

 

[KD7GYJ]

Great post. The pictures make it really easy to accomplish this. When my truck arrives, I'll give it a try.



Thanks,

 

[WMcGuire]

I can relate to the slow top off of the fuel tank, normally I would think your fix for the problem is great, but. . if you fill up on a cool morning and the truck sits all day in the sun... 35 gallons without that air space... where is all that expanding fuel going to go, would like to hear from some experts if this is a safe solution

 

[David Oxland]

I would think that the amount of fuel expansion would be handled adequetly by the tank flexing.

 

[Jeremiah]

A different solution

I have a different solution. Buy one of those 45 gallon replacement tanks advertised in the TDR and hook that one up like you want it. But I think the kit you're thinking about putting together is still a good idea!

 

[guava]

I like the idea... A kit or a parts list either way would gather interest.

 

[KBertetto]

Spooled-up

Fantastic job, I don't like dribbling the last 5 gallons in either, I just might try your idea. Thanks for the info!

 

[Spooled-up]

where is all that expanding fuel going to go, would like to hear from some experts if this is a safe solution

For this to be a problem, you would have to top the tank off and let it sit in the heat without burning any fuel. For me, this is a rare condition as I at least will go home and burn the fuel out of the fill neck. I have been filling my tank to the neck for a year now and have seen no leaks on the ground ever. The tank is about 1/8" thick plastic, so it would flex if the fuel expanded.



Can fuel expand? If you filled a glass with diesel fuel, would the level of fuel be higher on a hot day compared to a cold day?



I've personally never heard of this. Anyone have an answer?

 

[Jeremiah]

Overflow

Can't say about diesel fuel. I used to fly planes and we had buckets hanging off the overflows all the time during the summer.

 

[midlife crisis]

Great pics & post. I would be more apprehensive to run the dte to 0, than drilling the tank!! Can you expand on the fittings you used to go thru the tank? How did you seal that area? Thanks-

 

[Spooled-up]

Fittings

I found a brass bulkhead fitting with an o-ring that goes on the top side and a washer and large nut that goes on the inside of the tank. The guy at the marine supply store said that they use just regular pipe thread fittings and screw them into the plastic. I was not comfortable with this and found the bulkhead fitting. I did make the hole small enough so that I had to thread the fitting into the plastic and then I installed the large nut and washer from the inside.



The bulkhead fitting was made to go through thicker material, so I had to cut some of the threads off so that more air could escape from the tank before the fuel reached the fitting level.

 

[Bertram65]

Interesting, does the tank hold more fuel now? I would think the high area where you put the vent would trap air as the tank is filled without the vent being there. It could be a safety thing to keep a air pocket in the tank for expansion. I have filled my boat up with fuel in the water then had it hauled and as the hull and fuel tank warms up to air temp the fuel runs out the vent.

 

[Spooled-up]

I would be more apprehensive to run the dte to 0,

I'd say there was probably 4 gallons left in the tank. Not sure if any of that was unusable.



If you look at the pic of the white sending unit, you can see a thicker half at the top and slightly narrower half on the bottom. This top half is spring loaded and slides up and down on the narrower bottom. When you install it into the tank, you have to push the top down to seal as it bottoms out. the bottom half is full of diesel fuel when removed from the tank. I think this is a small reservoir for when the tank gets low and sloshes around. I could only see one baffle forward of this unit and it was flexible plastic with 5/8" holes all through it.



I thought about bending the float arm, but didn't because with my luck it would mess up the computer or something. There is quite a reserve once you hit 0 on the computer.

 

[XcumminsX]

DC does that so people dont run there trucks out of fuel... VERY hard on the fuel system. .



Nick

 

[Spooled-up]

does the tank hold more fuel now?

I always dribbled the last 3-5 gallons into the tank and put in about 35 gallons. I still got the same amount in, but in what seemed like no time at all. What was weird to me was that when I was keeping the fuel level above the vent while filling the stock tank, no bubbles escaped. I'm not sure where all the air went before I installed this vent.





If you look at the top of the tank, there are small "barbs". These might be one way vents that very slowly vent air. Not sure about that though. That air went somewhere before I made this mod!



By the way, with the dte at 0, there was 3" of fuel at the bottom of the tank. When I filled up, I was able to get 35. 76 gallons into the tank. I'd say the tank's actual capacity is around 38 gallons total. How much of that is usable, I don't know. Anyone run out of fuel and fill 'er up?

 

[jjdiesel]

Spooled-up... ... great job, thanks for sharing the info!

 

[sfr1047]

I read a thread on one of the forums from a guy that let his motor sputter from low fuel and put in 41 gallons. I ran 100 miles after the fuel light came on and put in 40. 4 gal.

 

[mklucas]

I drove about 30 miles past DTE=0 and put in 38. 5 gallons. I was worried I stopped at a pump that wasn't calibrated correctly, but now it sounds about right.



I might be interested in this mod. Filling this thing is a joke!

 

[EEngel]

Package

Spooled-up,



When will you be selling this "fix" in a package form?



Get all the required parts and a small instruction sheet and get it rolling.



I know you explained the required parts, but I for one am one of the guys who always seems to make 5 trips to Meanrds before the jobs done. It's nice to have everything ready to go at the start. I don't care for the "wrong fitting" surpirse.