318 Loses fuel stalls then starts after (sometimes)
 

My 1985 Ram 150 royale se truck has developed a problem that nobody seems to be able to figure out so here I am on the forums as a last resort for information.
I will start with the history of the truck:
Canadian truck, was government seized in 1987 for running drugs at the u.s. border in Emerson Manitoba (3kilos of cocaine in the spare). Sat in their compound for 15 years and was actually "misplaced" between two semi trailers. Until one of the trailers was moved, so the truck then went to auction. Then I got it. This was in the summer of 2002 aprox. The truck has been rock solid up until this summer. I first noticed the truck would have a small stutter or seemed to be a loss of fuel for a split second on the hwy approaching a small hill (happened twice) both on hills. This winter it started losing fuel very randomly and usually stalls. If I wait a few minutes it usually starts up and is fine. Until it happens again. I took it to a shop recently and of course it didn't do it the whole time it was there. They ran a pressure and volume check on the fuel pump and everything seemed to be fine, they inspected heat riser valve and choke operation and intake all checked out fine. I will add some things I did myself were; inspect carb for dirt/ debris and change fuel filter. Carb is as clean as can be. I will add that when this loss of fuel is happening it goes on for a long time (anywhere from 2 to 20 mins) until I pull over shut it off and wait. Then it goes away. And the truck will be fine for a bit or even a few days.

Today it was doing it and I managed to sputter into the shop that was looking at it. The tech there hooked up a pressure gauge to the fuel line by the fuel filter and I cranked it over and he got a reading of 7psi but the fuel was only trickling out of the line. The tech mentioned he thinks it might be a delivery problem between the pump and the tank. Can it be as simple as a clogged fuel line?

I've tried to supply as much info as possible and hope to hear from you guys!

ps the shop I took it too is very well known whom I trust with top qualified mechanics. Also it is a holley 2bbl carb.

My first question is does fuel tank fullness have any correlation with when the problem occurs. My first guess is something floating around in the tank restricting the fuel pickup then dropping off when suction is stopped. If it was in the line it would starve each time it ran.

Maybe there is some coke in the fuel tank that plugs it up ?? Did they check the rubber connection hoses at the fuel tank ??

Johnny -

Kinda sounds like plain old vapor lock. How close is the fuel line to the block, manifold, etc?

Archer

Thx for the comments so far.
Pretty sure the fuel level doesn't affect the problem but there may very likely be debris in the tank. And if the debris is cocaine (lol) the 318 would've snorted it all up shortly after I got it. Didn't remember any sudden increase in power at the time! As for vapour lock very likely but why now? And never before? The fuel line runs inside the passenger side frame rail. The closest it is to the block would be at the fuel filter where in runs up over the manifold to the carb.
I'll do my research on the vapour lock and hopefully sort this out. If I have to pull the fuel tank I will.

I would drop the tank and make sure it's clean. Also replace your rubber hose at the tank and anywhere there is one on the suction side of the fuel pump.

Removing the tank in these trucks is very straight forward and not difficult at all.
Good Luck.

You are due to drop and clean the tank, and replace any rubber lines back there anyways. It is 26 years old after all. God only knows what the gas in the tank turned into after 15 years of sitting!

Found out what it was, low grade fuel from a low grade Canadian gas chain called Co-op.

Put shell premium in and it been fine.

Co-op could have had some water in theirs.