New day, New problems

[Invisibleman13]

So, I found out my gas tank in my '85 Bronco had a hole in it. Ordered a new one through Bronco Graveyard along with a new fuel pump to replace the inline electric one a previous owner had installed. Put in the new tank, sending unit, skid plate, "new" lines, new pump, and new fuel filter, along with new (rubber) lines to the carb. Before I installed the lines from tank to pump, I blew them out. I hooked the wires back up to the sending unit and put five gallons of gas in the new tank, but the gauge isn't reading that there's any gas at all. Also I'm getting no gas to the carb. I unhooked the pump to carb line, and the pump isn't drawing fuel from the tank. Any suggestions for something I could troubleshoot?

[FuzzFace2]

Did you check to see if the pickup reached the bottom of the tank?
If thepuckup did I would not worry on the gauge as it could read empty but still have 5 gallons in the tank.

I was lucky on both of my tanks with 5 gallons the gauge did move up to the empty line, key off the needle is below the empty line.

You may have to drop the tank to check what is going on.
Dave ----

[86 1/2 Brutus]

check the pickup tube, make sure it reaches the bottom of the tank.  i had this issue on Brutus, it was bent

[86 1/2 Brutus]

a good way to cehck befoe you tear everything down, get under the truck and put a pipe against the gas tank, put your ear to the pipe, have someone put the key in run and listen to hear if you can hear the fuel pump sucking

[Invisibleman13]

The new fuel pump that I installed is a mechanical pump on the block, not an in tank electric one. Sorry about the confusion.

[FuzzFace2]

Invisibleman13 wrote

The new fuel pump that I installed is a mechanical pump on the block, not an in tank electric one. Sorry about the confusion.

You can still use the pipe as an ear and blow a little air in the tank, cap off, and if it bubbles the pickup is in gas, if it hisses then it is not.
Dave ----

[Invisibleman13]

I disconnected the feed line from the tank and hooked up a line to run to a gas can. The truck started and ran, so it looks like I'll be dropping the tank again.

[Invisibleman13]

Dropped the tank to check if pickup was reaching the bottom of the tank, only to find the tank was half full, and the pickup is on the bottom. Hooked up the pigtail for the sender and the gauge still doesn't work, so I'm thinking I got a bad sender or I've got a different problem.

[ArdWrknTrk]

If the pickup is on the bottom and you're still not able to get fuel I think you're 'sucking wind'
i.e. there is a hole in the line.

Mechanical pumps do take a long time to prime.
I often fill my bowls with a syringe through the vents sticking up in the mouth of the carb.
This has always proved enough idle time for the timing case mounted pump to get fuel from the tank to the carb.

[ArdWrknTrk]

You can ohm out the sender.
Just see what it reads with whatever fuel you have in the tank.

If it's between 10-70 ohms the sender is working and you have an issue somewhere else.

[Invisibleman13]

Turns out I did have a hole (cut) in the rubber hose from the main fuel line to the pump. Also, previous owner had replaced the pigtail for the sending unit and did a craptastic job (think wires twisted together and covered in electrical tape) fixed both of those things and it fired right up. Thanks for the help and suggestions

[Gary Lewis]

Glad you got it fixed.  Isn't it amazing what some people will do?!?!?!  

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm glad it wasn't too difficult to fix.  

The more I hear about PO's horrible "repairs" the more glad I am that I'm the only one responsible for stuff done to my truck.