Fortunately, I Wasn’t a Fire Ball

Earlier this week I jumped in the ’24 F250 to go get some parts.  It started up just fine, but while I was sitting there giving it a few seconds to warm up it started running like garbage.  After a minute it died.  It started right back up, but it still ran like pooh.  Then I smelled gas.  The AC was on, windows were closed, and the air was set to recirculate.  It had to be a lot to smell it.  I bailed out of the truck and gas was pouring out from underneath right near where the cab meets the bed.  I reached in to shut it off right way, and the gasoline waterfall trickled out.

This truck is two years old, but it doesn’t have that many miles on it.  I only use it for truck things.  For stuff when I don’t need a truck, I take one of the cars that gets 3 times the gas mileage.

I started doing some research, and there is no common or even semi common problem like this.  There is a connector that can leak if it wasn’t installed properly at the factory, but it’s very uncommon and nobody talked about getting a Niagra falls of gasoline.  However, the fuel lines and some of the other stuff are made of nylon.

A few weeks ago I had battery loose in the back of the truck I was using to run a winch, and the battery fell over.  I’m not sure how long it was laying on its side.  I have a cover on the bed so it was out of sight.  When I noticed a small puddle under the truck, immediately pulled the battery out, washed out the bed, and then crawled under the truck and hosed everything off to wash away any acid that might attack my wiring.  I didn’t know those nylon fuel lines were almost directly under the drains in the bed, but I did look it up online and find out they were definitely susceptible to sulfuric acid after my deluge of gasoline pouring out on the ground.

I called my insurance company who will “probably” cover it.

If you ever have something like this happen:  On these trucks they precharge the fuel system when you open the driver’s door.  I had heard it before and thought it was a servo motor, but I had looked it up a long time ago and I already knew it was the fuel pump.  I climbed in through the passenger door to pop the hood and then disconnected the battery.

I made arrangements at the local Ford dealer, and called Ford Roadside Assistance to come haul the truck in.  While I was waiting on the tow truck I looked up and pulled the fuel pump fuse.  That way I could hook up the battery, turn on the truck, and shift it into neutral to move and load it on the tilt bed.

Here is the bad part.  As you know if you follow YumaBassMan I have been working on The Tin Can and changing its lay out.  It’s ready for a test run to find out if the new layout does what I hope it will do.  I’ve got the outboard starting easier than it was in years, and I just need to tow it to the lake for a little testing and shake down.   For the first time in over 30 years I find myself without a tow vehicle.  All the time I was contracting I had more than one truck.  There were times when I limped a broken truck back to the shop loaded all my tools on another one, and went to take care of the customers.  Since 2001 when I bought my first brand new truck I’ve always had a couple newer vehicles.  In fact until 2024 when I bought this new (then) F250 I had two good tow vehicles.  When I bought this truck I sold my Jeep, and I sold my old Silverado.  I have no way to take The Tin Can to the lake.  No way to tow anything for the first time in over 30 years.  To add insult to injury, the dealership is very busy and they said it would be at least a few weeks before they could get it taken care of.

Tomorrow I am going to go take a look at what I hope is a good used truck, so I can go fishing.