87 350 TBI Fuel Selector Valve Question

[jrvarnel]

Hey Guys, this is my first post. I have recently adopted my passed away grandfathers 87 silverado. It has dual tanks and when i got it, the truck wasn't receiving fuel.  I narrowed it down to the fuel pump, and I knew that the left tank will be my focus because that was the last working tank. My grandpa never ran the right tank, besides i think that pump had been out for 10yrs. So long story short. I replaced the left pump and that fixed my problem. Then shortly after that I decided to drop the right tank and see what was going on there. Well the tank internally was disgusting, all kinds of build up and rust on the sending unit. So I decided to leave it off.

So I have a problem. When i went to drop the right tank, instead of disconnecting the fuel lines from the pump, i decided to disconnect them at the selector valve because its easier access. well when disconnecting one of the ports on the selector valve(I think supply for the right tank) the port broke off. So now that I have this problem and a crappy tank and sending unit. I am leaving it disconnected, plugged the vacuum line for the right side, but I don't know what to do to the selector vavle. I can disconnect it and just bypass it if i needed to but then the fuel gauge goes all the way to full inside the cab while the switch is set for the left tank. The truck runs fine without bypassing it but should i be concerned about having an open/broken supply port on the selector valve if i don't plan to run the right tank? could in ruin the valve over time?

Thanks
Jason

[VileZambonie]

You could replace the tank and pump and put a new valve in.

You could leave it alone but never flip the switch. Yes you should cap the open lines.

You could bypass the dual tank set up all together.

[jrvarnel]

Thanks for the reply.

So lets assume I go with option 2, which is what I am at now, and since the port is broken, what kinda of sealing would you use to plug the valve. To help you visualize my problem... the port/nipple broke off right down to the butt of the valve which means a hole, so a plug would work but it would need to be moldable to fit an assymetrical hole.

Option 3, I have bought the stuff already to bypass the selector valve but i did a test which was simply starting the truck from the left tank with the switch set on the left tank, while also having the electronics from the valve unplugged which was set up with the non-bypass similar to option 2. The problem was that the tank would show full on the guage but it ran fine. So if i wanted to bypass the selector valve how would I go about get the electronics to work for the gas guage with having the selector vavle removed?

Thanks
Jason

[VileZambonie]

Bypass the valve with the hoses and just leave it plugged in.