I just cut a 6 inch section out of my fuel line to install a fuel filter bypass valve and braided steel lines to my Cat pre-filter. I took a peek through the cut out section and what a mess! Dirt, ground up metal, small rocks, and just a lot of nasty goo. I feel much better about "wasting" that money on the Cat filter after seeing this! Anybody know how to clean fuel lines out without removing them?


http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/uploads/fuel_line_crud.jpgEdited by: DRBEAR

Your not running an additive I bet?


My lines and filter looked shiny new after 10 k of service.

After swabbing out the tubing it looked shiny and new inside, too. The crud consists of more sand and dirt than anything, with a sprinkling of shiny ground metal bits and a few larger pieces of rock or sand. Not really any rust in the fuel line, just sludge. If anyone can suggest an additive that will prevent this buildup of sludge I'm listening.

If you want something to clean out the lines - you might try running a tank or two of biodiesel through her...


- jeff

Damn that's nasty!

How the heck does sand/rocks get in the lines? Are you sure thats not the tar thats in diesel fuel?Edited by: problemchild

It's definitely hard little bits of rock, sand, and metal. The goo could very well be tar, but you can rub it between your fingers and feel the grit that you can see...pretty nasty, but not a lot you can do about what comes out of the fuel nozzle when you fill up. I go only to high volume fuel stops (I'm not bashfull about parking with the big boys at truck stops). I did buy a couple hundred gallons on the Alaska Highway last summer, but otherwise, I'm pretty picky about what I feed my trucks.

Hate to bring bad news, but I would drop that tank and have it cleaned. There is bound to be a build up of it in there as well.. Also have the supply line to the engine cleaned. You dont want that in your filter/ fuel system

That particular part of the fuel line is the sump of the system (except for the bottom of the fuel tank, so I don't know how you could flush it out without removing the line from the truck. From what I can see the fuel line pretty much has the truck built around it making it very nearly impossible to remove it without removing most of the drivetrain first.


I'm afraid there are many, many more fuel lines on the road that look just like mine (or worse), the only difference is I had opportunity to see inside mine. I do appreciate your advice and respect your opinion more than others, but I can't see trying to clean the tank only to go out and buy more dirty fuel. Diesel fuel is dirty fuel just about anywhere you buy it. Hopefully 2 filters will stop it before it gets into the injectors.

DRBEAR, you are correct when you said that a lot of line/tanks could have junk in the bottom. I make it a point to never run on the bottom of the tank. GM actually came out a few years ago and said that on the gassers. I know they have a sock on the bottom of the fuel pickup but it was not keeping the crap out of the pump. The dirt was prematurely eating the armature/brushes in the pumps. We were buying all our fuel from Flying J at the time. I don't know where the return fuel dumps in the tank but it has to agitate the fuel in the tank a little. I would think it would be a lot better to keep the junk on the bottom. I would also hope there is a baffle in there to keep the warm fuel from being immediately picked up by the pump. Later! Frank

Just a thought but is your truck secure at night?


Maybe someone is throwing sand down you fuel neck. Put a locking cap on it.


Any enemies?


Never understood why people wouldnt let there tanks get low. The fuel pick up is in the same spot all the time so it dosent care how low it gets. Now if your worried about sloshing fuel in a low tank picking up crap I would rather the fuel pick up a little sand and crap each tank full and send it to the filter to be cleaned a little at a time, rather than EVENTUALLY letting the tank run low ONE time because you cant avoid it (and it will happen to you) and all of a sudden picking up ALL the LARGE amount of crap that you have accumulated in the bottom of the tank over time and sending that large amount of crap to the filter and plugging it up.


My .02 is let the filter do its job and dont worry about the amount of fuel in the tank unless you know you have a bad fuel supplier.


Diesel Dragon http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cool.gif

Never understood why people wouldnt let there tanks get low. The fuel pick up is in the same spot all the time so it dosent care how low it gets. Now if your worried about sloshing fuel in a low tank picking up crap I would rather the fuel pick up a little sand and crap each tank full and send it to the filter to be cleaned a little at a time, rather than EVENTUALLY letting the tank run low ONE time because you cant avoid it (and it will happen to you) and all of a sudden picking up ALL the LARGE amount of crap that you have accumulated in the bottom of the tank over time and sending that large amount of crap to the filter and plugging it up.


My .02 is let the filter do its job and dont worry about the amount of fuel in the tank unless you know you have a bad fuel supplier.


Diesel Dragon http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cool.gif





I follow this same idea, and have for 20 years without a problem.

Drbear, I may have sounded a bit extreme, but I just want to make sure you have no problems. And as far as flushing the lines goes, not that big of deal. From past experience, When you see that much stuff, there may lead to be other issues. If your running two filters, I feel better.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Embarrased.gif

To each his own. Wait till someone gives you two gallons of free water. I recently retired from a company that had a fleet of 750+ vehicles. It happened on several occasions especially with the diesel fuel. We don't have a station on every corner out here in the west. It is not hard to get 75 miles from a paved road. Later! Frank Edited by: Frank Blum

I'll be keeping an eye on my fuel filler neck. It's always possible someone could have sanded either my main or auxillary tank, but I don't have any current enemies (that I know of http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Wink.gif) and the truck is always locked in my garage or shop whenever I'm not in it.


I plan on cutting my filters open at the next change and have a look at what's actually making it to the CAT and primary filters. I hope nothing, but we'll see.

There are at least two reasons for keeping your tank half full (on average). It's not totally necessary but good practice IMHO. First of all fuel is used to cool the FICM, so as the tank level drops there is less fuel to absorb and dissipate the heat. Keeping the tank half full helps the fuel cooler get rid of the excess heat generated by the FICM, pump and injectors. Secondly, less air space above the hot fuel in the tank after a long run reduces the chances of water condensation forming - especially in the winter.

As far as how the tank sender and return lines are configured, I seem to remember JK describing a cup in the bottom of the sender unit where the ends of both the feed and the return line are located.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gif

I doubt if using an additive would help in your case, it had to come from were you purchase you fuel or someone putting it in your tank. Someone late last year posted an article about the distributers and the way they handle the diesel.

Crud in the tank,drop it drain it $500.00 later, new set of injectors, two weeks in the shop. Sound familiar? It's the story of my '02 dmax. My boss is now driving it and will fill it at anyplace that sells diesel. He says "...the old cummins can eat at any diner why should the dmax be any different." It sounds like it should be true but I know better. Got it back saturday, take it back in on monday diesel leak on the OUTSIDE of the motor this time. Sometimes I just don't get it. Two weeks in the shop for problem parts no longer used in production "special order" parts I was told. What a pain in the @##. One more episode and he'll dump it for his 125k mi f150. We have had more trouble with general motors trucks than anything else, and that's looking back over 18 years.

There are at least two reasons for keeping your tank half full (on average). It's not totally necessary but good practice IMHO. First of all fuel is used to cool the FICM, so as the tank level drops there is less fuel to absorb and dissipate the heat. Keeping the tank half full helps the fuel cooler get rid of the excess heat generated by the FICM, pump and injectors. Secondly, less air space above the hot fuel in the tank after a long run reduces the chances of water condensation forming - especially in the winter.

As far as how the tank sender and return lines are configured, I seem to remember JK describing a cup in the bottom of the sender unit where the ends of both the feed and the return line are located.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gif


I fuel at half tank for those reasons and one more - cleaner fuel. By the time I reach a half tank, the remaining fuel has been through the fuel filter many times ("polished"). Given the same quality of fuel at each fillup, this cuts the "hard particle" count in half for the start of the next polishing cycle...


- jeffEdited by: dmax lover

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<TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNABLE="off">I work for a fuel company and it has been knowen where I am for the fuel to be bad every once in a while. One of the fuel companies in town don't even have filters on there pumps to get faster operation. Mabey you have been gassing up and places without filters. This would allow and crud to be transferred to your tanks. If at all possible the safest places to get fuel are at cardlocks if you can get a card.</TD></TR>
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There are at least two reasons for keeping your tank half full (on average). It's not totally necessary but good practice IMHO. First of all fuel is used to cool the FICM, so as the tank level drops there is less fuel to absorb and dissipate the heat. Keeping the tank half full helps the fuel cooler get rid of the excess heat generated by the FICM, pump and injectors. Secondly, less air space above the hot fuel in the tank after a long run reduces the chances of water condensation forming - especially in the winter.

As far as how the tank sender and return lines are configured, I seem to remember JK describing a cup in the bottom of the sender unit where the ends of both the feed and the return line are located.

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gif

I fuel at half tank for those reasons and one more - cleaner fuel. By the time I reach a half tank, the remaining fuel has been through the fuel filter many times ("polished"). Given the same quality of fuel at each fillup, this cuts the "hard particle" count in half for the start of the next polishing cycle...


- jeff

Jeff,

Excellent point about the multi-pass re-circulation through the fuel filter(s) http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cool.gif … I forgot about that one. The bypass regulator loop on my lift-pump (http://community.webshots.com/album/77018086bLHHHC) also re circulates fuel through the 30 micron pre filter. The more filtering the better...

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Geek.gif
Edited by: jbplock

PC: I was just wondering how an additive would help with a problem like this? I run Stanadyne p/f every tank. Just wondering...