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Old 05-22-2016, 08:22 PM   #1
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: West Texas
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Fuel tank pickup

Ok, has anyone ever dropped their fuel cell to replace the pickup? My generator won't run below a half a tank. Runs fine until the gauge reads just a hair over a half tank, then won't suck fuel. That is unacceptable for the boondocking that we do. I know that the problem is in the tank. Fuel line is good. Generator runs fine with the fuel line in gas can. I have a clear fuel filter installed inline and can see that it is running out of fuel. I'm thinking that the fuel pickup tube in the tank is rotted out from the previous owner leaving old gas in it. I'm guessing he left just over a half tank and it corroded the pickup, causing an air leak. I'm planning on dropping the tank tomorrow, but here is my question. Is the fuel pickup assembly replaceable or am I going to have to replace the entire fuel cell? If so, any idea on cost?
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Old 05-23-2016, 09:57 PM   #2
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Ok, update and looking for advise. Pumped out 13 gallons of fuel, so it still had almost a half a tank while the generator was acting up. Dropped the tank. Pulled the pickup tube, expecting corroded metal. Well, what a surprise when it is plastic. There is an aluminum elbow that has a barb on the end with a plastic pickup tube that goes almost to the bottom of the tank, so now I know that I have to be sucking air. The plastic tube is not clamped at all to the barb. It is pressed on snug, but I can spin it with my hands and can pull it all the way off with some force. I can't find any obvious leaks, and I know that the fuel line is good, since it ran fine for two hours before quitting. It has to be related to the fuel level in the tank. Two options, what are your thoughts?

1. Seal the plastic to the metal with some JB weld and put it back together. This seems like the safest bet, since it uses the factory plastic and aluminum fittings.

2. Build a new pickup tube with brass fittings and copper tubing, all soldered together.

I sure hope this is the problem. Next day off I will run the generator from a gas can that I put the fuel line from the tank into. This will check the entire fuel system except for the tank. I don't see how I could have a bad fuel line, since it ran for 2 hours before acting up.
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Old 06-29-2016, 03:44 PM   #3
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Make sure gas cap is allowing air back into tank to replace fuel being used? Just a thought..if not that try #2 since I would not trust JB weld in a fuel tank.
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Old 07-08-2016, 02:12 PM   #4
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Sorry, forgot to come back here and update. Called ECI fuel systems, they are the manufacturer of the tank. Great customer service, they sent me a whole new pickup assembly at no charge. Installed the new pickup. Added 8 gallons to the 30 gallon tank. Gauge showed just a hair over empty. Ran the gen for over 2 hours with the AC on in the camper. No issues. At least for now I'm going to say that it's fixed. Anyone having these type of issues, consider dropping the tank and replacing the pickup. It's not that hard a job and seems to have fixed my problem. I will be giving it a good workout over 2 trips in June and will see if there are any issues.

Over the two trips last month, we used the generator a lot. Absolutely no problems.
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