Last straw!! Update #2

[Exnavydiver]

in the last two days I have had to do 3 fuel filter changes. Not one problem in Vegas or on the trip to Havasu, but had to change 4 since leaving Vegas. Tomorrow it goes in to the shop to have the tank dropped and cleaned. It appears that there is enough trash in there that on this last few hundred miles of very bumpy I-40 the bumping got a lot of the trash swirling around and clogged the in tank filter,causing the fuel pressure to drop the truck into crawl home mode. It only happened when climbing hills when turbo kicked in. Found great shop in San Jon NM and they will take it in tomorrow and have it back Sunday. Should cost about 450.00. The estimates in Vegas were over 1100.00
The worst part about it is that it always happened when I got 1/2 tank
however today it did it with only 1/3 down. And at 54 bucks per fuel filter it is time... Oh Well!!! The joys of owning a diesel truck. The tank was clean as a whistle and that is going to cost me 450.00. They think it is the HP pump which means a minimum of 1000.00 just for the pump and a 70 mile drive to the nearest good Chevy dealer over in Texas. So we are going to be stuck in Grady NM for the foreseeable future.
Here we go again, took truck to Chevy dealer today and they ran 2 hrs of diagnostics and got two codes: one was #6 glow plug failing and the other high voltage on fuel pump. They had a computer update specifically for that and did the flash. Not showing any codes yet so will be heading east and north in a day or two and see how it flies..

[rohrmann]

Do you think the contamination is from a single load of fuel, or just happened over time? Still sounds like a good chunk of money to repair, but once it's done, you should have smooth sailing for quite a while.

[JandC]

It strikes me as a little odd that you would be getting junk into your filters that often when only down 1/2 or 1/3 on your level. My 1990 diesel boat had (2) 150 gallon tanks that would suck debris from the bottom and fill up my filters but not until they were down to 1/8 of less.

Did the truck sit with a low tank for an extended period of time recently?

[WeBeFulltime]

I think I would take this as an opportunity to replace the factory tank with a new larger aftermarket one. You are spending 1/2 the cost anyway on a POSSIBLE fix.

[DonandBonnie]

In my past railroad life the stuff that grew, yes grew, in the diesel fuel tanks of locomotives were a real issue. Frequent fuel filter changes and periodic tank cleanings were the norm in the industry. Impurities in the fuel were only part of the problem. There are several ways to slow the growth of gunk in the fuel tank, some easier said than done. Use your vehicle. Stuff grows faster when fuel sit in an unused vehicle. Fill your tank before it nears empty. The lower your fuel level, the higher the chance that you will suck stuff into your fuel line. Only buy diesel at stations that sell a lot of diesel fuel. The stuff grows in the fueling station tanks the same as in your fuel tank. The more diesel that a station sells, the less chance that their tank is full of stuff.

[1retired06]

Wow, in 20 years of owning diesel trucks (all Fords), have never experienced that problem. Sorry for your troubles.

[Exnavydiver]

Now for some back story, I got a load of bad fuel at Cherokee truck stop west of OKC last year on the way home. 80 miles later the truck dropped into crawl home mode. I took it to the chevy dealer in Guthrie OK and they changed the filter which was full of trash. At the time I didn't realize where I got the bad fuel. On the return trip last fall I got fuel at the same place and had the same result at about the half tank level west of OKC. Yesterday there was a section of very rough road on I-40 and the truck and rig were bouncing pretty hard and I think it stirred things up. Anyway I will drop it off at noon today..

[1retired06]

That would do it.

[Tom S.]

It may not have been bad fuel, but good fuel instead. Diesel fuel isn't the cleanest fuel around, but so long as you stick with it, most people never have a problem. On the other hand, bio-diesel is a lot cleaner, to the point that if you have run standard fuel for a long time, then switch to bio, knowingly or unknowingly, the bio will clean out the gunk that the regular diesel has been leaving in your fuel system. My step brother went through 3 or 4 filters in a matter of days when he switched to bio on a Ford with 100,000+ miles on it, all with regular diesel fuel.

[jcurtis934]

When you aren't using the uck much, biocide additive in the tank is a safe hedge to control growth. Once lost engine in a 42 ft sailboat due to tank growth when we were trying to navigate between a channel of islands with lots of coral. It was very exciting sailing that boat like a dingy and entering a crowded anchorage and setting anchor all under sail. John

[Exnavydiver]

The truck has been used almost daily so there has been almost no sitting. I am waiting for a call back from the Chevy dealer in Hereford, Texas as to when I can get it in for a full diagnostic so we can determine what exactly is the problem. Rails or HP pump or what ever. Whichever it is we will have to bite the bullet as we can't afford to buy a new vehicle until we sell the house. So we will be hare in Grady until it is fixed..

[DQDick]

Here's hoping for a quick and correct fix this time!

[mazboy]

you could always change out fuel tanks with a titan fuel tank....only another $2K

[bigskyjimmy]

It's a bummer to hear of the problems ,the LBZ Duramax IMO and others is the best Duramax made and that is saying a lot because IMHO being the owner of all 3 big brands of trucks the Duramax/Allison has been the most consistently reliable combo thru all the years,hope you get her going and back on the road again