Truck left me stranded today.

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AuroraGirl

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Airtex are 1/3 the cost of another pump. And at work, only one in three Airtex pumps (intank) last more than a month.

Took awhile, but we (the mechanics) finally convinced the powers to be that it was cheaper to buy the factory pumps. Save two labor times and two tow jobs, on average, for every Airtex pump installed.
any experience with edelbrock or other "internally regulated" mechanical pumps? In the future when I replace mine I was wondering if I should go for their edelbrock pump to regulate the fuel down for the 1406 or if I should go new delco and work in a regulator
 

sgrinavi

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did you just say 1 quart - 400 miles?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Stall your truck again and then pull a spark plug or 3.
Thats a lot of oil. I would know my 2001 olds aurora did that. Blue smoke on every morning and you could get it to have slow-ness and dips while cranking if more than 1 day (valve seals, rings werent leaking that much)
How hot is the pump getting?

A quart a month is horrible? For the type of driving I do I don't think it's the end of the world, just time to start thinking about replace/repair. It does not put out any blue smoke under acceleration, just when I start it and not every time at that, It seems worse when I'm parked with the nose up. I should probably pull the plugs anyhow, it's been a while since I looked at them.

I have no idea how hot the pump is, trucks been working fine since I pulled out the pressure regulator though. There is no doubt that it was a/the problem since no fuel would come out of the line without bypassing it. I suspect that the regulator I have was designed for higher pressures than I'm running. It would also explain why I had to "prime" the system every time I disconnected a fuel line.
 

AuroraGirl

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A quart a month is horrible? For the type of driving I do I don't think it's the end of the world, just time to start thinking about replace/repair. It does not put out any blue smoke under acceleration, just when I start it and not every time at that, It seems worse when I'm parked with the nose up. I should probably pull the plugs anyhow, it's been a while since I looked at them.

I have no idea how hot the pump is, trucks been working fine since I pulled out the pressure regulator though. There is no doubt that it was a/the problem since no fuel would come out of the line without bypassing it. I suspect that the regulator I have was designed for higher pressures than I'm running. It would also explain why I had to "prime" the system every time I disconnected a fuel line.
what kind of regulator? Id almost wonder if that pump has literature for that model and if it has any words on using a regulator. it may have special considerations. and then the quality of the regulator would be my next look lol
 

scrap--metal

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A quart a month is horrible? For the type of driving I do I don't think it's the end of the world, just time to start thinking about replace/repair.
That's not horrible oil consumption. It's sure not normal, and you're right to be thinking ahead, but it'll keep going for many miles if it's not fouling plugs and otherwise running fine.
 

AuroraGirl

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That's not horrible oil consumption. It's sure not normal, and you're right to be thinking ahead, but it'll keep going for many miles if it's not fouling plugs and otherwise running fine.
Oh yeah, doable, but the miles to how much oil, if not leaking out , im wondering what his plugs look like and if hes fouling out bad or something
 

DoubleDingo

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did you just say 1 quart - 400 miles?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Stall your truck again and then pull a spark plug or 3.
Thats a lot of oil. I would know my 2001 olds aurora did that. Blue smoke on every morning and you could get it to have slow-ness and dips while cranking if more than 1 day (valve seals, rings werent leaking that much)
How hot is the pump getting?
I had a truck that burned more oil percentage-wise than it did fuel. I kept a case of 40w in the bed, and when the oil pressure gauge dropped from 60 to 40 I knew it needed a quart. Sometimes I would stop on the side of the road, truck running, grab a quart and add it, toss the empty in the back and go down the road again. In an hour I'd have to repeat. It didn't foul plugs, ran strong, just burned way too much oil. I got a new crate engine and fixed that problem, and sold the oil burner to a friend that wanted it.
 

AuroraGirl

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I had a truck that burned more oil percentage-wise than it did fuel. I kept a case of 40w in the bed, and when the oil pressure gauge dropped from 60 to 40 I knew it needed a quart. Sometimes I would stop on the side of the road, truck running, grab a quart and add it, toss the empty in the back and go down the road again. In an hour I'd have to repeat. It didn't foul plugs, ran strong, just burned way too much oil. I got a new crate engine and fixed that problem, and sold the oil burner to a friend that wanted it.
Thats crazy.
i found this earlier for 3800s in the 90s and saved it, I wonder if the truck also was r-tarded on the timing or if it ran lean or rich if it didnt burn oil. fuel injected would be more sensitive from what I read here
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DoubleDingo

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Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
Thats crazy.
i found this earlier for 3800s in the 90s and saved it, I wonder if the truck also was r-tarded on the timing or if it ran lean or rich if it didnt burn oil. fuel injected would be more sensitive from what I read here
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No. My dad had the engine rebuilt, but I doubt he ever properly broke it in and he lugged it everywhere. Apparently he was afraid to rev it passed 1,000, I don't know. He basically starved the top end of oil and the guides wore out. It would suck oil in on long downhill grades and leave a half mile of smoke screen once you gunned it on flatter ground until the oil in the cylinders burned off. I don't know how it didn't foul plugs. I drove that truck all over the place, including 6 hour one-way trips. Going down the road it didn't smoke, didn't smell of oil, just burned it like I mentioned. Don't overthink it, it was the valve guides being wore out.
 

AuroraGirl

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No. My dad had the engine rebuilt, but I doubt he ever properly broke it in and he lugged it everywhere. Apparently he was afraid to rev it passed 1,000, I don't know. He basically starved the top end of oil and the guides wore out. It would suck oil in on long downhill grades and leave a half mile of smoke screen once you gunned it on flatter ground until the oil in the cylinders burned off. I don't know how it didn't foul plugs. I drove that truck all over the place, including 6 hour one-way trips. Going down the road it didn't smoke, didn't smell of oil, just burned it like I mentioned. Don't overthink it, it was the valve guides being wore out.
I wasnt over thinking it... I was talking about the document I found. If your engine has a crap load of oil in it, burning , then it should be fouled but it didnt. Interesting, but im not worried about that. I was just thinking about the condition I showed in the pic
 

DoubleDingo

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Carb'ed Vortec 350; 1972 L48 350
I wasnt over thinking it... I was talking about the document I found. If your engine has a crap load of oil in it, burning , then it should be fouled but it didnt. Interesting, but im not worried about that. I was just thinking about the condition I showed in the pic
I never opened it up, didn't care to as I put in a new powerplant and that fixed the problem. I have no idea if the guy ever rebuilt it.
 

sgrinavi

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Welp... it died again, same symptoms. So much for thinking it was working. Starting to wonder if it has something to do with the temperature of the vehicle, it only seems to happen after it warms up. When I go 5 miles to the gym at 4:30 in the AM it's nice and cool out, the fans don't ever come on. It only seems to happen when the truck has warmed up. Vapor lock in the carb?

EDIT, The cam lobe is wiped, so mechanical FP is out.

EDIT 2, the more I look into it the more it makes sense that I need a return line regardless. I'm going to throw some more money at the problem.

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sgrinavi

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Oh yeah, doable, but the miles to how much oil, if not leaking out , im wondering what his plugs look like and if hes fouling out bad or something

These have 3-4k miles on them


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Depchevy4lyfe

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If it has an hei dizzy, if the ignition module is bad most of the time it will work fine until things heat up, check the ignition module for sure
 

AuroraGirl

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These have 3-4k miles on them


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did you get antiseize on the strap on pulling it out? (joke there haha so funny) Also these are taper plugs, but it looks like the tapers might be cruddy unless that iis just light and antiseize in the photo
Are those AC delco plugs low mileage or they old? I know you can still buy the old stock kind like those and they look the same I believe still, so I dont want to judge it by looks
 

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