Fix One Thing, Another Goes Wrong!

[LBJ]

As I posted yesterday, I finally got the front brakes working OK. Got it State Inspected and relincensed for 2016.

But, ideally, you think you have all things working great, but fix one thing, and you might just cause something else to mess up. Which happened to me.

I text drove the truck several times yesterday and this morning, ran just great, accelerated, stopped, idled, everything ideal. On the way back from the courthouse where I got my new registration, I put 9 gallons of gas in and drove home, ran fine. Decided to fix a couple of things while I was in the mood the weather was nice here in TX.

Next on my list was the door hinge pins. They keep working out after 10 or 15 door openings/closings. I got my Dremel tool and cleaned off a piece of bare metal on the hinge swing arm right where the hinge pins are so the weld would be grounded properly. Made a couple of quick tack welds and the pins were in for good.

After doing a couple of other small things, I drove back to the Auto Zone to get credit for some brake items I didn't use or need. Wow, pulling out of the driveway, the engine died on the most minor acceleration. I figured the engine was cold again, restarted and drove on. Every time I tried to accelerate the engine would almost die. On the highway, I barely got to 55 MPH. Drove around town, just barely ran. But, as long as it just idled, she ran fine. Bought some gas cleaner at the Auto Zone and poured it in the tank thinking it might be some water in the gas I just bought. That didn't seem to help.

On the last stretch of road to my house off the highway, I pumped the gas pedal several times and then really put my foot in it. BANG, big backfire.

So, with the engine running near perfect early in the morning, to now barely running, I messed something up with the welding or got some bad gas. If the welding messed something up, like the electronic ignition, it seems it would have knocked it out completely. But the engine still starts and runs fine at idle.

Maybe by coincidence, the fuel filter has gotten clogged with the 9 gallons I pumped in. Maybe some old crud got knocked loose and into the fuel line.

Or, also by coincidence, maybe the fuel pump is going bad. I checked all the vacuum lines and the line between the frame and fuel pump from the gas tank - all in good shape. The line between the pun and chassis has failed/cracked in the past is one of the first things I check if the engine won't accelerate.

Other than these things, I am out of ideas. Any suggestions? Sorry for the long introductory comments.