Metal in filter housing

[CAdiesel]

Would metal flakes in the stock filter housing indicate an injection pump on the way out? They seem mildly magnetic. I have a secondary spin-on filter between stock and IP so I’m not terribly worried about contamination getting back into the pump. For what it’s worth I recently put a manual power switch on the lift pump. (I gave up on the stock system, ops, relay, etc.)

[grancito]

Hi Mike, you are loosing it, the metal is coming from the tank end of the system, perhaps the lift pump. The Lift pump over ride is a good fix for the original system, both of my GMCs have direct connection to the ignition.

[CAdiesel]

Thanks, Grant. I just replaced the LP so it looks like I need to just clean out the filter housing and replace the filter. I really hate the design, the fact that all the dirty fuel spills out of the filter into the housing, that's why I got the secondary filter. What prompted all of this was a surging at idle and excessive smoke out the tailpipe. So I suspected the IP, knowing it is one of the older components on the engine. Looks like the beloved PMD was going because the surging went away when I replaced it. However I still have smoking issues. I'll drive it a bit and see if it lets up.

Good to hear you got your Suburban up and running.
How are things in Old Mexico?

[grancito]

Hi Mike. Good that one of the problems is cured. I put a secondary filter on the GMC truck, because particles had got into the IP. Was the smoke black? It has been hot here, too hot to work, and my mini split AC arrived in the middle of summer, so it is only half installed. Hopefully your smoke diminishes.

[CAdiesel]

Hi Grant,
Looks like my lift pump was on the way out prior to all the work I did including installing the secondary filter and new injectors. I found the bad injector… #3. Looks like it was leaking enough to get melted. I disassembled it and found metal flakes in it. I probably shot a slug of metal in it on first crank and it just got worse and worse until it started smoking real bad. All the other injectors seem fine. Replaced injector and truck runs like a top.

[grancito]

Hi Mike, good to get that fixed. So the OEM filter system is useless, similar problem happened to my truck at the time of buying it, when I went to pick it up, garbage had got through the filter, and jammed the IP. All I could find was a 10 micron marine filter, but it worked, as the particles visible in the IP, were large white flakes.
Grant