Is the fuel cell pickup replaceable???
Puma Unleashed 356QLB. Has anyone ever dropped their fuel cell to replace the pickup? My generator won't run below a half a tank. Runs fine until the gauge reads just a hair over a half tank, then won...
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Have run it many times, but usually with a relatively full tank. This was the process I went through.
1. Showed just over a half a tank, ran perfectly for 2 hours. I was just getting ready to go shut it off when it died.
2. When pushing the prime button, can hear the pump. The clicking noise changes speed, like it is sucking air then gets a gulp of fuel.
3. Restarted several times, died within a few minutes. I have a clear fuel filter inline, it had a little gas in the bottom, but not much. While running, it would get little "splashes" of gas into the filter, but not enough to keep it running under a load.
4. Disconnected fuel line at the filter and put it into a container of gas that was on the ground. I was purposely trying to strain the pump by making it suck the fuel up from ground level. Genny ran fine for an hour.
5. Reconnected fuel line to the long line that runs back to the tank. Generator died within a few minutes.
6. Pumped out 13 gallons of fuel from the 30 gallon tank before dropping it. The pickup tube for the generator runs almost to the bottom of the tank, so it should have still been sucking fuel fine.
My thinking is that if there was a problem in the fuel line, it would have showed up immediately. If there was a problem in the pump, it would not have run while pulling gas from ground level. The only thing left is the tank pickup, right??? Where the plastic tube presses onto the metal pickup, there is a little movement. My theory at least right now is that as the fuel level drops, the vacuum on the fuel line increases since the pump is lifting the fuel farther. Maybe it's not sucking enough air to affect anything until the fuel level gets below about a half tank??
I'm open to any other suggestions of what to check. Kind of on limited time before our next trip. It's hot in TX, and I can't risk our generator quitting on us in the middle of the night.
1. Showed just over a half a tank, ran perfectly for 2 hours. I was just getting ready to go shut it off when it died.
2. When pushing the prime button, can hear the pump. The clicking noise changes speed, like it is sucking air then gets a gulp of fuel.
3. Restarted several times, died within a few minutes. I have a clear fuel filter inline, it had a little gas in the bottom, but not much. While running, it would get little "splashes" of gas into the filter, but not enough to keep it running under a load.
4. Disconnected fuel line at the filter and put it into a container of gas that was on the ground. I was purposely trying to strain the pump by making it suck the fuel up from ground level. Genny ran fine for an hour.
5. Reconnected fuel line to the long line that runs back to the tank. Generator died within a few minutes.
6. Pumped out 13 gallons of fuel from the 30 gallon tank before dropping it. The pickup tube for the generator runs almost to the bottom of the tank, so it should have still been sucking fuel fine.
My thinking is that if there was a problem in the fuel line, it would have showed up immediately. If there was a problem in the pump, it would not have run while pulling gas from ground level. The only thing left is the tank pickup, right??? Where the plastic tube presses onto the metal pickup, there is a little movement. My theory at least right now is that as the fuel level drops, the vacuum on the fuel line increases since the pump is lifting the fuel farther. Maybe it's not sucking enough air to affect anything until the fuel level gets below about a half tank??
I'm open to any other suggestions of what to check. Kind of on limited time before our next trip. It's hot in TX, and I can't risk our generator quitting on us in the middle of the night.
