My son is away at school with an 83 C10 6.2 with saddle tanks.( 290,000 miles)

The truck quit on him last week while driving up a hill. He said he got a couple more puffs out of it, but ran down the batteries trying to start it. Never ran again.

At first I thought about lift pump, but I cannot remember if that truck will quit if the lift pump breaks or not.

He said that he had switched tanks ( saddle tanks) from a tank on E,a little while before it quit and it ran for a while. We have had problems with the switch before too and changed it.

So the questions are:

Will it run with a bad lift pump?
Is there any way to tell if the valve is switching tanks?
If the valve is bad, what is the best way to get fuel back to the lift pump and IP to make it run, without burning up a starter?

Thanks

It's supposed to run with a bad lift pump, but running it like that can damage the injection pump.

He can take the fuel line coming from the tanks off of the lift pump to see if fuel keeps runing out of the line, eventually while parking the truck on an incline with the nose down. If fuel comes out, he could try to find out if the lift pump is still providing fuel by following the procedure to bleed the fuel filters. It may be a good idea to change the filters anyway.

A new lift pump costs about $20, but it's not exactly fun to replace it.

It's supposed to run with a bad lift pump, but running it like that can damage the injection pump.

He can take the fuel line coming from the tanks off of the lift pump to see if fuel keeps runing out of the line, eventually while parking the truck on an incline with the nose down. If fuel comes out, he could try to find out if the lift pump is still providing fuel by following the procedure to bleed the fuel filters. It may be a good idea to change the filters anyway.

A new lift pump costs about $20, but it's not exactly fun to replace it.

Thanks lee. Coincidentally he is in Austin too. It is not easy for him as he is in an apartment, has few tools and no covered parking.
Do you know if there is a way to check that fuel tank valve?

Thanks lee. Coincidentally he is in Austin too. It is not easy for him as he is in an apartment, has few tools and no covered parking.


Cool, I might be able to come around with my toolbox :) The problem is that I need to do something about the injectors on my Suburban (besides some other things) real quick to have it ready for a trip over the holidays.


Do you know if there is a way to check that fuel tank valve?

Sorry, I don't, I have a single 40gal tank only. But I guess if fuel runs out of the supply line when taken off of the lift pump while the vent is switched to one tank and if it stops running when switched to the other one, there must be something wrong with the vent.

There should be a rubber hose going to the bottom of the lift pump, with a hose clamp on it. If he has a screw driver, he can take the hose off and see what happens.

I have a set of good used injectors but they came out of my 6.5 Suburban. Prolly wouldn't work right in yours.

Hope you can get it going for your trip.