Hi all my name is Dan and this is my first post here as well as my first Ford. I've been looking for a Ford of this generation for about two years and I finally went and picked one up last week. I'm new to trucks and Fords. Most of my car experience has been with subarus. I've done plenty of my own mechanical work so not afraid to get the hands dirty.

A little history about the truck: I bought it from a gentleman in Seattle who got it at auction. Currently it has 124k original miles and is in mostly good mechanical condition. It has the VF 5 speed manual transmission and it shifted smooth from Seattle through my three hour drive home. it was a forest ranger truck up here in Washington most it's life. It was then bought by the University of Oregon and used by the department of oceanography to tow their boat into the pacific ocean and there in lies the catch withtwith vehicle...rust. thankfully the majority of the body and chassis is only surface rust and disappears at the sight of a wire brush. But the guy I bought it from let it sit (under cover) for five years and never addressed the issue so it had a leak on the roof and has a couple other bad spots that need some attention. Other than the rust she is a real beauty. I'll be learning about this truck as I go through the process of fixing her up and hope you guys can help me learn a few things in the process.

For some reason I cannot get photos to upload. It keeps telling me my url is invalid and when I try to just do an upload it stops at 50% and says error. Either way here is a link to copy and paste and you can check her out. I'll get some more photos up soon.

EDIT: figured out the photo situation

 

Looks nice. My F250 was also most likely dipped into the Pacific over and over but down in SF. Good luck!

 

Seeing as how you're a senior user maybe you can answer a question for me. My first tank won't fill. The pump keeps shutting off after a second of filling. Second tank fills fine. So I'm thinking the vent tubing is clogged from the tank to the charcoal canister or maybe the canister is bad. Question is, there are two canisters and they don't appear to each be venting one tank. They look like it's all one loop. Seeing as how one of my tank fills fine doesn't that rule out the canisters or the vent tubing as being the problem? I'm a little confused about how the evaporative system works as its a problem that I've never had to deal with

 

No expert on gas tanks here but, I doubt it has anything to do with your charcoal cans or evap. Gas pumps don't need to be vented much at all to auto-shutoff so far as I know. For example you can fill an unvented gas can just fine. The venturi auto-shutoff in the pump handle is likely seeing liquid which is why it's shutting off. My guess: your tank is full. Yay? Bad news is that your switch/valve might not be working, the sending unit not working or a variety of other issues or combination of issues! Twice the tanks, twice the FUN! I'd try to see if you can't siphon some gas out of the tank, but whatever you do don't look down into the tank with a lighter!

 

But like with lots of things, I could be wrong:
Looks like an easy fix if this is the issue.

 

My front tank on my '91 F150 has always done this. I've tried to fix it, but had not luck. However, I can fill the front tank as long as I fill it VERY slowly.

 

gas, or diesel?
try driving the truck up onto a 6X6 block on the driver side rear wheel and then see if it will take fuel.
i have been filling my 88's front tank this way for the past 496,000 miles.

 

Second that. The horizontal fill tube(s) do zero justice for diesel fuel. I keep a stick of dunnage in the bed for that exact reason.

 

My truck is the 7.5L 460 gas engine. Interesting tip with the truck on blocks. So you're taking the blocks to the gas station and doing that at the pump? Hahaha. I'm sure I could fill the tank at home with cans but i'm worried that could cause pressure issues if the venting is clogged or the canister is bad.

 

See I have thought about doing this but I worry about the pressure causing damage to the filter or lines...and then there is the potential boom situation but I am probably just a wuss.

 

My truck is a gas-burner, '91 F150 and when I bought it from the original owner that is the way they told me they always had to fill the front tank. That was in 1996, and I've been filling it that way ever since with no problems... other than being slow to fill up.

 

Hi Dan, that’s a nice find. Looking at the aluminum rims, assuming they are original, there’s hardly any corrosion on that truck.

I thought I’d chime in here, I’m not a Ford truck expert, but in the middle of fixing mine up. I have the bed off right now, and the tanks and system are easily visible. I’ll post a few pictures so you can see what your dealing with. This is a 96 RCLB 351 - I am going to assume they are the same fuel systems.

There’s not much to stop the gas from filling the tank. There are two hoses, one outer - one inner, from the filler cap/neck to the tank. The outer from what I can see, is there to vent the tank to the cap, and the inner is the filling hose. The inner is attached to the filler neck that attaches to the bed side, and must be swaged or installed in a way that it does not remove from the filler neck, internally - it is a more riged/hard rubber. The outer hose is a typical filler neck hose that attaches to filler necks - on the tank and neck at the box side. There is one vent hole in the filler neck, right beside the filler neck flapper. Other than that, unless I’m missing something, I cant see anything that could restrict it.

The only thing I can guess, is either the internal hose is plugged with something, or was permanently kinked when it was installed or replaced. Something in those two hoses anyway, or the vent hole itself.

Hope this helps you out.

 

​​​​​​This is fantastic. Thanks for the pictures and information. I'm planning to take the bed off my truck soon anyways to sand some of the frame and powder coat it so I'll be able to look into the tanks more than. Thanks again.

 

So,
today I managed to change the oil, filter, transmission fluid, plugs and wires, rotor, and distributer on the old forest ranger. The old plugs may have been original but I'm unsure. Truck is at 125k so I doubt it. They looked like crap. With the tune up done she sure is starting up quicker and easier.

I also found the coding for this government "forest mint" and managed to pick up a few cans for touch up. I'll be doing that next.





Check out the new vs old spark plugs...YUCK Old plugs were way out of spec. Gap was .065.

These spark plugs have seen better days.

 

Holy crap, I can't believe they came out looking that gnarly!
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