Lesson learned--fuel filters

My wife and I recently trailered our bikes from South Georgia to North Georgia, as usual pulling the two bikes on a Kendon trailer with my 1990 Toyota pickup. It's a 4 cylinder so it struggles a little when we get into the hills, but it has never let me down--until this year. We always leave the truck and trailer in Cleveland, GA and ride the bikes to NC and TN for a week or so. This year on the trip up I noticed that the truck began to run hotter than usual (but never over heating) and when we got into the hills the truck didn't seem to have the power I was used to. But it was a very hot day so I just chalked it up to that. However, about 10 miles from Cleveland we stopped for a bathroom break and when we got back on the road we made it about 1/4 mile before the truck started losing power and finally shut down. We coasted into a business driveway and tried to restart but it would immediately shut down. It acted as if it was out of gas but I had more than 1/2 tank. Checking under the hood showed no broken fuel lines or leaks and there was nothing under the truck. I called USAA for a tow and discovered that I had coasted into the driveway of a towing company--I should always be so lucky! Since it was late on Friday they said that no repair shops would be open until Monday morning, and recommended a repair shop about 1/4 mile down the road. So we unloaded the bikes, loaded up our packs and took off leaving the truck with the tower. When I talked with the repair shop on Monday they told me that the towing company had driven the truck to their shop and asked me what the problem was! So I told them how it had shut down and asked them to check the fuel pump and filter. When I got back to Cleveland the following week they had simply replaced the fuel filter--everything else checked out and the truck ran perfectly all the way home--and never ran hotter than usual. So, the point of all of this is to say that when a fuel filter does not deliver enough fuel, either clogged like mine or too small, the machine may run but at some point will begin to run lean and therefore make the machine run hotter. Fortunately, my truck has a temp guage, but most motorcycles do not. So, first make sure the fuel filter is large enough to flow sufficient fuel, and then change it on a regular basis to avoid a problem with a partially clogged filter.

 

Lets see your truck is a 1990, this year is 2015 thats 25 years on the fuel filter not bad, maybe time for some other PM on the truck. I know working on the truck is not as fun as working on the bikes is it.

 

Good observation. Interestingly, I've kelp up the maintenance over the years. Shocks, valves, plugs, brakes, filters, lubrication, all fluids, front end, etc have all been maintained on schedule. I even replaced the fuel pump about 15,000 miles ago. I just forgot the fuel filter--but not anymore. It has 188,000 on it but runs great, rides good, and doesn't use oil--but then it's a Toyota, so that's not unusual.