'96 Dodge 12v Died and won't start

[jwissler10]

Greetings,

I have a '96 ram with 188k that I've had no problems with for the past few years of ownership. Slowly over the past month I've started modifying it (prior nothing had been done to the motor). I first bought gauges, BHAF, 5" exhaust and finally last night put in a #100 fuel plate. The truck started fine, ran about a mile and as my foot got a bit heavy sputtered and died. No matter what I do it won't start. Fuel pressure looks "normal" fuel shut off solenoid works, and no new leaks or strange puddles under the truck. For the life of me I can't figure out whats wrong. Also it looks to be pouring vaporized fuel out of the exhaust. I know diesels don't work the same as gas engines but it felt as if it were flooded. Out of curiosity I unplugged the fuel solenoid and it seemed to clear up the haze from the exhaust, so it seems I can say its getting fuel in the cylinders that's not burning, just getting pushing out through the exhaust... Since then I've not been able to start my truck. The starter turns the engine over but doesn't even try to fire. This doesn't make sense from what I know of diesels. Any help is really appreciated!

 

[ameristar1]

Fortunate thing is that it's an air, fuel or fire situation. Since the problems happened after you installed the plate, go back and check your work. Get the stock plate, reinstall it and see if it fires.

If you have air in the system, it won't run.

Check the injectors and see if they are ok, have them pop tested. New ones are cheap.


Do a compression check on the motor to make sure that the cylinders didn't get washed down. No compression, no running. If that happened, time to pull the motor and freshen it up.

Make sure the timing didn't slip. Check the pump settings.

Main thing is is that if it was running fine before the plate was installed, then that's where you start.