So I've started to notice that in the morning my truck has hard a little harder time starting. By harder time I mean, just cranks a little longer then it typically would. We haven't had to cold of mornings (high 30's low 40's) but it used to be 1 second or less and it'd fire up. This morning it was 3-4 seconds and then she fired up. I did just change some things with the Smarty so the battery was on for a little longer then normal before actually cranking but this isn't the first time it's happened. My driveway is at an incline so engine bay is slightly higher then the tank. So I'm wondering...

 

Could it be batteries? Before starts my needle is juuuuust above the lowest marker on the battery gauge

Intake heater no working properly? I have noticed more white smoke then usual on cold start ups

Fuel leak? Haven't seen any spots in the driveway, and the system definitely primes once the key gets to 'ON' typically see 5-10psi needle jump

 

So what do ya guys got?!

 

 

I feel like this is turning into my own blog! 

 

Anyways, in case anyone was wondering, turns out, YET AGAIN, it was the stupid check ball and spring. I pulled it out to check it and sure enough, this is what I found.

 

 

if if you look close you can see the spring has pushed in over itself on the bottom, causing the lean. The ball is pressed so firmly into the spring that even falling over wouldn't cause it to fall out. I have no clue what's causing these things to fail on me so quickly. Like I mentioned before, FASS seems to think its air leaking somewhere causing higher cavitation (I say BS) but that doesn't add up.

 

I replaced it with an Airdog 17psi spring and Viton rubber ball. I attempted to use the Airdog fitting as well but it seemed slightly too long and wouldn't snug so I kept with the FASS fitting, which has grooves where the spring seats.

 

LEFT: FASS fitting, spring & buna ball RIGHT: Airdog fitting, spring & Viton ball

 

So far pressures are exactly 18 after getting even slightly warm. PSI drops with rpm increase and drops when voltage is pulled from grids. I'll obviously keep you all posted on the longevity of this setup.

 

All in all, pretty wild to think that spring and ball was causing something that seemed clearly electrical. 

Was this the final fix ?

 

Dave

On 2/24/2017 at 11:09 AM, davidc70 said:

Was this the final fix ?

 

Dave

 

No not the final fix to the longer cranking. This did fix the erratic and random fuel pressure. I'm pretty sure I identified the problem in another thread, but I haven't had the time to drop the tank and run new hose yet so I'm not 100% sure if it's the fix. I'll try and find the thread and link it. 

On 2/24/2017 at 11:09 AM, davidc70 said:

Was this the final fix ?

 

Dave

 

Here's the link I was referring too in my last post. 

 

Keep in mind this is only going to matter if you're running a drawstraw 5 and modded fuel basket. 

Thanks

 

Dave