Quote:
Originally Posted by chevmn
Just thought I would add to this thread. I just took out a month old counterpart sending unit, and the float was full of gas, and very light pressure and the float fell apart at the solder joint, basically splitting it in half similar to the photo shown in this post. This is not a case of ethanol fuels degrading the solder, it is simply junk parts. Solution is another one of the plastic jeep floats, and replace the junk floats before installation. This item was new out of the box about a month ago, however it had sat in my shop for at least a year before I had a chance to install so I cannot go back to the seller, not that another would be any better. But it is infuriating that so many of these fail out of the box.
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Your 100% correct on the counterparts brand as we learned years ago about theirs having a issue and are fully aware the counterparts brand fuel senders fail early with the brass floats they use. Which is why we source all of our complete fuel senders from Key Parts as they use a different manufacture for the sending units and floats and we have never had any issues with the key parts brand failing yet. BUT eventually even the brass float key parts manufacturer use's we feel will fail as they also use a lead solder joint and ethanol we know will eventually lead to them failing at some point due to the effect ethanol has on lead. BUT we also have trucks with the Key Parts fuel senders in them that have been installed at least 15 years if not longer and none have them has failed yet. We've suggested to every supplier including key parts that carries these fuel senders to look into having their manufactures use the plastic floats but none have opted to do so. We've contemplated on why counterparts brand and others fail and have wondered if the difference is lead solder used, poor quality control or if it's the method they use to solder them as some places cold solder things and others use heat. Dad's always guessed it was probably the companies that use cold soldering over heated soldering that causes the issue. Because we do know that cold soldering reacts poorly to changes in temperature and causes solder joints to fail. Which with these tanks being in cab tanks the temps soar inside with windows up in the summer and rapidly cool down once that heat is released. Dad honestly thinks the manufactures that use cold soldering do so not only because it's less expensive initially but because over time they know it will fail making the purchase of a replacement necessary. Planned failure / planned obsolescence. Dad absolutely hates new vehicles electronics because of the wide spread use of cold soldering in them. He's saved a lt of money through the years opening up a failed electronic control module and similar items and repairing a cold solder joint that has separated with a heated solder joint.
Paul Jr @ GMCPauls