traveler44
Well-known member
I noticed that the category for tow vehicles has been removed and I think it would be good to have a place to post some of the most common problems we have with some of our trucks. Like this week I had to change the petcock at the water separator on the old 7.3 psd. When you start dripping diesel fuel under the front of the truck around the center of the front axle and it is coming from the area near the fuel filter it is more than likely coming from the water separator petcock orings that get hardened from using ULSD fuel. These orings will get hard and flatten out to where they look more like a washer than an oring. If you are real handy you can take the petcock all apart and change the orings and save about $50 but it was easier for me to just change out the whole petcock. It is pretty easy to change out if you can climb up to where you can reach down behind the fuel filter housing. First you might want to drain the fuel filter housing by opening the petcock. I removed a bracket holding a couple of wires and vacuum lines that attach to the front of the turbo with a 5/16 screw and tied it back out of the way. Then you pull the piece of rubber tubing back on the drain line to get the drain tube out of the way and remove the four #20 torque head screws. A 1/4" drive ratchet and a short extension are handy when turning the #20 torque bit socket. When you install the new one just make sure the valve and handle are in the right position to open and close the petcock. I marked the top of the petcock stem before slipping the handle on to make sure I got it the right direction. I figure I probably saved a couple hundred greenbacks doing it myself and it only took about an hour to do the job. Tom
