Ford fuel problem Code 542

[nwjones18]

My friend has a 1995 Ford F-150 with dual tanks. Front tank hasn't worked since he's had it. It would not start or run on the front tank. Today I played with it and for no apparent reason it fired right up on the front tank. I could hear the pump running and it had pressure at the rail. Put a few gallons of gas in it and it drove for a few miles on the front tank then died. I ran the obd 1 scanner on it and got code 542. Any ideas on what it could be?

 

[jorton]

I think there is a separate fuel filter for each tank. Sometimes folks only change one of them because they don't know there are two.

 

[Roadkingnc]

If it will run off of one tank and not the other it is either a bad pump or the switch connector could be melted. Most common problem was with the pumps.
They would act as you describe, failing intermittently after getting hot. Bang on the bottom of the tank near the pump, it may start running again. I have replaced a rather large amount of these over the years.

 

[nwjones18]

I replaced the Front Pump with the $35 one he got off Rockauto. It is working fine now.