Trouble Bleeding LN65 (2L) 1985 Hilux

[ShadrachLH]

Hey gurus,

Having trouble bleeding air from my LN65. I replaced the fuel filter last week and I haven't been able to bleed the air from the system.
The person who installed the last filter tightened it down so much I had to remove the entire assemble just to remove the filter.
While I had the assemble out I took it apart and cleaned everything up and painted the holding bracket before putting it back together.
The problem I'm having now is that I can get the truck to run smoothly for about a minute before the fuel level in the filter drops and the engine starts to starve.
If I take off the out line and top up the filter and restart the engine it runs smoothly again until the level drops.
Could it be a blockage in the lines from the tank? or am I just doing something wrong?
I've tried using the hand pump to prime the system and cracking the injector nuts to let the air out and that has helped to get the engine started after it starves.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
(Filter I put in was a Ryco Z169A)

Cheers,
Shadrach

[Mud Dog]

This is obviously a diesel that you're talking about and I'm no diesel fundi but I'll give it a try.

With the filter filled the motor rubs so I don't suspect the injector pump, but id there a lift pump?
You can blow the line back to the tank (filler cap off) to satisfy yourself that the line isn't blocked but I am more inclined to suspect that it's sucking air at the filter connections. This could be the reason why it was so tight before or perhaps even the cause of it sucking air now (connection seals damaged).

I'm not sure what the connections look like, if there is a seal washer in there or if it's just metal to metal. Metal to metal are normally flared type connections and it could be that there is a crack in the pipe end on the flare or that the mating surfaces are compromised. If there was some way, even temporarily like with PTFE tape, to ensure a seal on the filter connections, you could confirm or eliminate that as the problem.

Hopefully one of the diesel-heads on the forum can provide more authoritative advice. Hope you get it sorted.

[Froll]

Hi Shadrach, I have also had a problem on a Ford bakkie at work. I later found that the suction pipe in the fuel tank had a crack where the pipe goes through the plate. I replaced the part and the problem was solved. We have a lot of dirt roads where I live with bad corrigations and I think this cracked the pipe over time. We have a lot of tank problems due to the vibration.