Community Forums

Artemisprime · 08-05-2022, 10:18 AM

I was on my way back home and my gauge was reading that i had a quarter tank left. i ran out of fuel right at the on ramp to a fuel station. i was able to restart it and drive it to just 10 feet away from the pump until it died again. i tried to restart it for about 5 minutes but nothing was happening. luckily i had an empty 5 gallon fuel can that i was able to fill up and then refuel the coach enough to get it closer to the pump. After refueling, it would only take 58 gallons. but after that the coach ran great and i was able to get it home. am i missing something because i was under the impression that these had a 100 gallon fuel tank.

bdpreece · 08-05-2022, 11:25 AM

If you were reasonably level and are sure you really got the tank full the only other thought I have is that somehow your pickup tubes in the tank for the engine and generator are reversed and you are running out at half a tank like you are supposed to do on the generator. Either that or the engine pickup tube has broken off.

craigd853 · 08-05-2022, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artemisprime

I was on my way back home and my gauge was reading that i had a quarter tank left. i ran out of fuel right at the on ramp to a fuel station. i was able to restart it and drive it to just 10 feet away from the pump until it died again. i tried to restart it for about 5 minutes but nothing was happening. luckily i had an empty 5 gallon fuel can that i was able to fill up and then refuel the coach enough to get it closer to the pump. After refueling, it would only take 58 gallons. but after that the coach ran great and i was able to get it home. am i missing something because i was under the impression that these had a 100 gallon fuel tank.

Hello sir, you need to find out the exact size of your gas tank and go from there. If your gas tank is 100 gal then you definitely have a problem. If it is only a 50 some gal tank then your fuel tank gauge is off and I would suggest replacing the whole assembly if that is the case. If this is a gasser and I am assuming it is the pump, siphon tube and float gauge are all one assembly. Good luck

wolfe10 · 08-05-2022, 11:56 AM

Just an FYI on any diesel running low on fuel.

Diesel fuel is used to COOL and lubricate the fuel injection system. For every gallon that goes through the engine, only a few ounces are burned. The rest returns to the fuel tank.

Running on the lower 1/4 of a tank, particularly in hot weather is needlessly stressing fuel injection components.

And, hot diesel also gives you less HP. Have you noticed that when adding 75+ gallons of fuel (around 500 pounds) performance is actually BETTER! Cool fuel is the reason.

Bruce Anthon · 08-05-2022, 08:49 PM

Since it seems to run great since you fueled and restarted it. I think the slope of the ramp into the station was enough for the fuel to slosh to the side of your pickup tube and sucked air, causing you to loose prime.

This has happened to me twice as I approached a sloped fuel island approach when It was at 1/4 tank. Since then I really watch the approach to the pumps if under 1/3 tank.

3x5 · 08-05-2022, 10:26 PM

The size of you fuel tank may be stamped on the outside of the tank somewhere. I think mine has 115 gallons stamped on the bottom.

catchusifu · 08-09-2022, 03:34 PM

Did you see liquid fuel in the filler neck? Not just foam. I have a 1999 40' Alpine. Very early I discovered that one must see the liquid in the filler neck to know if the tank is full. The very long fuel fill pipe to the tank causes lots of foam which causes automatic shutoff fuel nozzles to click off. You can do this several times and think that the tank must be full. Not so. I have added another 20 gallons after the nozzle has clicked off a few times. Getting the tank full takes a long time because you have to go very slowly and continue to let the foam die down. Your gauge showing a quarter tank yet the tank is empty sounds like a faulty gauge.

Mitimet · 08-09-2022, 06:08 PM

I don't know if this will help at all but I too own a 2000 36FDS which I've had for 4.5 years now. My owners manual stated that I have a 100 gal fuel tank, 100 gal fresh water, can't recall grey tank but black was about 85gal. I too was told that the generator fuel pick line was at the 1/2 level mark for the diesel tank. I guess I'm leary of getting below a 1/2 tank but my fuel gage sticks very close to full much of the time. I fill up around 400 miles; 50 gal x 7mpg (guessing).=350 miles. I do not have solar and I like the sound of diesel engines so yes I run my generator. I wish you much luck and more enjoyment.
Another inconvenience I've had but hope no one else does is a backed up toilet. A plumber friend of mine and I took out my black tank to find out that the inlet pipe on the black tank was only about 2 inches from the tank bottom. We changed the inlet to a 5in diameter and only about 1-1 1/2" from the top. Still causes occasional issues, I was told to make sure the tank had a good amount of water in it for easy solids distribution.
You can contact me with questions or concerns in the future and maybe I can be of assistance.
Mark Pobanz

IAlreadyGot1 · 08-14-2022, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catchusifu

Did you see liquid fuel in the filler neck? Not just foam. I have a 1999 40' Alpine. Very early I discovered that one must see the liquid in the filler neck to know if the tank is full. The very long fuel fill pipe to the tank causes lots of foam which causes automatic shutoff fuel nozzles to click off. You can do this several times and think that the tank must be full. Not so. I have added another 20 gallons after the nozzle has clicked off a few times. Getting the tank full takes a long time because you have to go very slowly and continue to let the foam die down. Your gauge showing a quarter tank yet the tank is empty sounds like a faulty gauge.

There’s a good chance that the fuel sender arm needs to be adjusted/bent. It is a bit of a process to remove the sender and measure the resistance while moving the arm through the range that would simulate a full and empty tank. Assuming that the sender is producing the correct resistance of 35-240 ohms, it can be tweaked to make for a fairly accurate gauge. That the gauge is moving from Full to 1/4, indicates that the gauge is functional. It’s position is determined by a signal from the sender.

voydryder · 09-28-2022, 02:53 PM

Hi, Just thought I would chime in and give a possible reason for the fuel tank not taking a full fill. Since the price of fuel is so high these days, I ran into a couple gas stations that the limit was set as low as $150. When you hit the limit, the pump shuts off and no more fuel will go in.
I had to reenter my card to keep fueling until the tank was full. What with my new 115 gallon tank I'll need to enter my card 5 times? ouch

Alpine36 · 09-30-2022, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by voydryder

Hi, Just thought I would chime in and give a possible reason for the fuel tank not taking a full fill. Since the price of fuel is so high these days, I ran into a couple gas stations that the limit was set as low as $150. When you hit the limit, the pump shuts off and no more fuel will go in.
I had to reenter my card to keep fueling until the tank was full. What with my new 115 gallon tank I'll need to enter my card 5 times? ouch

Yep, had to run my credit card three times the other day, at just a tad over 400 miles driven. (48 gallons) It shut off at $100, 19 gallon increments. I told the station attendant that might get me from pump 1 to pump 7 lol...

Note: No need to do this if you fuel up at a station that accepts the EFS (TSD) cards. Not sure what their limit is, but we put $275 worth in at once at Loves last month.

**hamm2018** · 09-30-2022, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpine36

Yep, had to run my credit card three times the other day, at just a tad over 400 miles driven. (48 gallons) It shut off at $100, 19 gallon increments. I told the station attendant that might get me from pump 1 to pump 7 lol...

Note: No need to do this if you fuel up at a station that accepts the EFS (TSD) cards. Not sure what their limit is, but we put $275 worth in at once at Loves last month.

If I recall correctly, I can pump up to 200 gallons of fuel.

**Camp CA** · 09-30-2022, 09:06 AM

Possible cause is a faulty fuel sender. My 2002 tow vehicle fuel sender failed with 1/3 tank of fuel while towing my fifth wheel trailer on a busy interstate. Why do I suspect that............because it was widely documented on the intenet. AAA dumped some fuel into the tank and was able to re-start the engine and drive to the closest fuel station. When I got home my truck repair shop replaced it.