The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Had to drag the 'bolt home for the first time...

Last Saturday was the first time since I've owned my '63 that I've had to tow it home. My son and I went for a drive out by the lake to look for a place to launch the boat and the truck started acting like it was running out of gas. I was showing about 1/8 of a tank, but the fuel gauge was recently installed and I'd never had it that low before so I just assumed it was reading a little bit wrong. We managed to coax it into a station and get some gas. We coasted up to the pumps with the engine not running...still assuming we were out of gas. I put 15 gallons in it and we tried starting it...no joy. We finally got it running by priming it through the carb (I know...not real safe). Once it was running it seemed to idle and run OK so we pulled away from the pumps and headed away from civilization to continue the search for a spot to launch the boat. When we were about as far as we could go without floatation it started sputtering and died. This time we were unsuccessful at a re-start and my wife had to come get us with one of the other trucks and a tow strap. I suspect either trash in a fuel line or a bad fuel pump. I can fire the engine if I put gas in the carb, and sometimes the truck will actually idle for a little bit, but if any load is applied to the engine it dies. Anybody have any other ideas before I start tearing into fuel lines and pump?

Vapor lock...weak fuel pump.

I thought about vapor lock, but I cut the line between the tank and the pump (fuel gravity fed out of the tank freely...mostly down my arm and into my face), I broke the connection at the pump and blew air backwards through the fuel line toward the tank (tasted nasty!), and I removed the galss bowl off the filter assembly. I could blow air through the line, but not as freely as I would have thought possible through a 5/16" line. I have a glass bowl filter between the pump and the carb. I could see the pump "blowing" against the filter element, but no gas. Fuel line is coming off today to see if there is something in the line. One thing that is probably worth mentioning...this fuel tank is not in the cab. It is a 50 gal aluminum tank mounted in the bed underneath the tool box. I suspect that there is a partial blockage in the fuel line not allowing enough gas to be delivered to the pump under load.

and check the fuel filter too........sure sounds like a pump,, you would think if it was a vapor lock that you might have had the problem before but could be,,,,,,,put a wooden clothes pin on the line, some say that stops a vapor lock?

And the winner is...fuel pump. I replaced the lines from tank to pump anyway.

thanks for letting us know you got it fixed

SOunds like Murphys Law- Farthest point away from home when it dies. Glad to hear you solved it. I had a truck get water in the line and it acted like that once, when I was stationed in Colorado. I was 40 miles from home in the mountains when it acted up like that.