fuel tank lining?????

[towcat]

Yes, I am a stranger venturing into an unholy land. But I do know where to go ask questions when it is out of the IDI basement
I have a few fleet PSD's that I babysit and this one that is coming in this weekend is a new customer thanks to MVFT.
He's been having drivability issues for some time and the techs there diagnosed the problem is the fuel tank internal coating is coming off the walls and has contambinated the entire fuel supply. They gave him an estimate to replace everything in the fuel system
This has got to be the first time I've ever heard of something like this that is factory.....
stats of the truck....early '99 prod, 234k on the odo, no coding....everything else unknown.
yes, I have pulled the bodies to do injectors before and I'm not looking foward to the job at all
thanks all in advance.

 

[jestersv]

my 99 has a plastic tank it is a late model though did the earlys have a steel tank? there is no coating inside as far as I know. I have done a fuel sending unit on mine and dropping the tank isn't that bad.

 

[towcat]

this truck has steel tanks front and rear.
I've never heard of any type of coating inside any of these tanks ever. I've opened up enough of them over the years and have never noticed anything interesting inside other than basic steel sheetmetal.

 

[JLDickmon]

Unless someone did an old moto-cross trick...

back when MX bikes has steel tanks (in the '70's), it was common for them to stress & vibrate, crack welds & leak.

not exactly a condition condusive to winning when your bike starts to leak fuel, it drips on the hot exhaust & bursts into flames..

anyway, some guy came up with this polymer resin that came in a quart paint can (Malcolm Smith Inc sold it, as did a couple other equipment houses) that you poured into the tank, sloshed around till you were SURE you coated every nook & cranny, then drained off the excess & let set up for like six months because you didn't follow directions & rinse out with Stoddard solvent after you drained the fuel...

could be something like that.

 

[BJS]

Steel tanks have a galvanized coating that has problems with WVO, back in the days I was on TDS there was one thread that documented very well the problems when the poster installed a bronco tank for his WVO and a few months later the lining started to come off.

SD should not have front & rear tanks or I didn't think that there was even a dual tank option.... aside from that I would suggest pulling the tank to verify or debunk this diagnosis. I greatly suspect that the real problem is damaged injectors or air in the fuel system.

I will say that I have a bronco tank in my truck that has been there since day one and there have been no problems with the tank and the lining coming off. I have run anything from 30% WVO to B100.

 

[Frankenstien]

BJS there is a dual tank option for the 350/450/550 chassis cab trucks, however all of those tanks are plastic to the best of my knowledge. diesel and galvanized metal tanks do not play well with each other.

 

[towcat]

well....
I had a chance to take a closer look at the problem truck and the first thing I found was a bad turbo. I have another '99 with bad injectors and this one doesn't even come close in exhibiting any of the issues close to the truck with bad injectors. How MVFT was able to come up with the tank lining diagnosis when a bad turbo was so obvious completely baffles me. when you fire up the truck, it acts like it has a plugged exhaust system and there's no boost due tot he fact the EBPV is engaged and the impeller blades are locked up on the housing. here's the pics.....

 

[platinum01]

Wow that is one sick looking turbo. My step dads company has a 7.3L that had some running issues so they took it to the ford dealership and they said the same thing. The lining inside of the tank was coming off and contaminating the fuel system. Ford also stated that WVO had been run in the tank and they would not warranty it. Finally got the problem fixed.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

First thing that I noticed with the turbo pics, is it looks like the mount bolts holding the exhaust housing to the center section look to be missing. If one or more fall out, then you'll get a big loss of turbo drive pressure and an exhaust leak that'll turn the rest of the turbo black with soot, kinda like in the picture.