Fixing the same thing more than once

M

MarkO

Member
As we all know, working on old ihc iron can become rather aggravating at times. It becomes especially aggravating when you have to fix something again because your original fix really didn't fix what was wrong.

I am having fuel delivery problems again with my '65 t-all.

When I purchased my t-all two years ago the po told me he had had problems with the driver's side tank and it wouldn't deliver fuel.

Since I wasn't driving the t-all very far or very often running on just one tank wasn't a problem. But after purchasing a tin tent to tow behind the t-all, a second tank became a nice option.

Long story short, I now have fuel coming from both tanks. But if your fuel tank selector valve isn't working correctly you can run out of gas while still having a full tank of fuel. Replumbing the tank selector by the side of the road is not very fun. At least it is summer and I got to do it during the daylight and it wasn't raining.

So now I have to determine why the tank selector valve isn't selecting one tank at a time.

I found out that if one tank is empty and it is feeding off of both tanks, you are effectively out of gas.

And once I get the tank selector valve fixed so it will only allow one tank at a time to empty I then get to repair the fuel fill hose on the driver's side. The wonderful ethanol fuel has eaten a hole in the hose.

I suppose if it were easy everyone would want to own a 'binder.
 
Reconditioned fuel tank selector valves are on the shelf at ihon right now but they are not shown in the online store as of yet.

I did two of 'em Saturday and two more this morning...three more are soaking in the carb dip now. One of the fresh ones is going into the beater tomorrow, they should be replaced every couple of years, just like carbs need to be rebuilt. Tank contents cross-transfer will recur since the valve will not shut down each plumbing path when the "o" rings on the valve pintle rot away.
 
I just hate fixing the same thing more than once. I really hate fixing the same thing three times. But I think the third time is the charm with my fuel delivery issues.

I went to carquest to get new 'o'-rings for the fuel tank selector valve. They didn't know if their 'o'-rings were rated for use with fuel, especially fuel with ethanol. I suppose I will find out in a few months if they were fuel rated or not.

I got everything back together and it still didn't work correctly. After much scratching of the head and looking at everything I decided to pull all of the lines back off and start over again. When I did that I found I hadn't tightened completely one of the soft lines. As a consequence it was sucking air.

Now all of the lines have been double checked and the fuel fill hose has been fixed. All I have to do now is run enough fuel through the tanks to see if everything is working correctly. Finally!
 
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

How many ways can I say I hate the ethanol blended fuels and what they do to old fuel systems.

I thought I had everything working correctly but when I went to switch from one tank to the other I ran out of fuel in that tank as well.

Finally got things running on the first tank and got to the gas station.

Come to find out the second tank was almost all the way full.

What had happened is some crud came loose and blocked the line. Once the line got blown out the fuel started flowing again.

I am thinking I am going to be doing that again sooner rather than later.
 
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