Won't start... what's your guess?

[coletrain777]

hey all,
So my truck won't start all of the sudden? The truck has 8 working beru ZD9 glow plugs, new fuel filter (1 week old), and it normally fires off in below zero weather without being plugged in. This morning it fired no problem, drove fine, let it sit for 5 hours and it started hard (15 seconds cranking like it had air in the system or a fuel problem). It fired and ran fine home. Let it sit for 2 hours and then it wouldn't fire, it would sorta hit but would not fire. I have no visible fuel leaks, great starting system, good GPS, manual push button for the plugs... any ideas what could be going on or what to test? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[icanfixall]

Well I'm thinking gelled fuel in the filter. Remove the filter and crank the engine to see how much the lift pump is pushing. Also run some anti gell No telling what fuel you just bought... No real way to determine if your pumping number 1 or number 2 diesel. Do you think a station is going to tell you they have not gotten the winter blend yet.... They need to sell out what they have first and its sad for the customer... Now I'm only making a wag here but thats what I'm thinking.... I really hope you have a mechanicl issue because replacing a bad lift pump is easier than thawing out a gelled fuel system...

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

It does read like your fuel has gelled.

 

[Black dawg]

what is the temp, and have you checked the plugs again?

 

[Compu Doc]

If the fuel is gelled get some http://www.powerservice.com/d911/ and this will get you going.

 

[coletrain777]

So I went out this morning and it fired, it took 10 seconds or so of cranking but it fired. It was much colder overnight than it was yesterday so I don't think gelling is the issue. I wonder if I have some air intrusion from somewhere, that would probably make it difficult to start. All 8 zd9's ohm great (they are about year old), and of course they pass the test light test. The fuel is the same stuff I have had in the tank all week and yesterday it was above freezing, while earlier in the week it was in the single digits in the morning and the truck fired in no more than 3 seconds each morning. ??? I guess I should start checking for air intrusion, what else should I check?

 

[Diesel JD]

Oh man this is weird. Can't say for sure what it would be. I suppose my concern would be that the intermittent nature of the starting issue could mean it is an internal pump problem.

 

[icanfixall]

Maybe the power isn't getting thru the main wireing harness at the plug near the passenger side head..... Glad its running but now finding out the whys it wouldn't start is important....

 

[Boston]

three things
rotation
fuel
ignition

and my favorite addition to that list
intact fuses

sounds like you have rotation
check the fuse box
check the fuel pressure at the rail or as close to it as you can get
check electricity at the glow plugs and the glow plugs themselves
sometimes they get caked with crap and stop being as effective as they could be

I always go back to basics and work my way up to complicated
its almost always something easy

best of luck
B

 

[idi traveler]

Just a thought. After it started, did you check and see if the water separater had a small amount of water in it?

 

[coletrain777]

OK,
I just went out 3:00 am and its about 25 degrees. Truck fired off instantly and then died after around 1 second... this lead me to believe I have an air bubble problem. I think I just need to get a new return line kit (seems to be a small amount of wetness around a few caps and lines. Which kit is the best to go with, or are they are pretty similar in function?

Also, for those of you who run clear line from the filter head to the to the first return line cap, what type of clear hose do you use? I would think the fuel would try to eat the soft clear rubber, is it a solvent resistant tubing/hose?

 

[FoMoCo]

I am having a similar problem, but i live in a warmer area of the country. Does yours only have problems with low fuel? My 1994 idi would die for no reason, and then it would take a long time to restart. I am not sure, but the only time it has done this was when I had 1/4 or less of fuel in the front tank. This is cause by the shower head in the tank breaking. It is a easy fix, but you need to drop the tank and add a basic rubber hose to replace the shower head.

 

[icanfixall]

Fomoco... Only the rear tank needs to be dropped to repair the fuel shower head pickup. The front tank can be reached from under the truck easily. Just remove the lines and electrical and then knock loose the ring. Lift out the sending unit and thats it. When replacing the inut back in the tank be sure to align the sender with the pin. Otherwise the sender wont fit correctly in the tank opening...

 

[idi traveler]

I just went through the shower head decomposing thing with mine, front and rear. They both had crumbled into small pieces. Some of the pieces would pass through the fuel system and be caught by the the filter but every now and then one would stop up the fuel line. That was a real B***h to figure out. What caught my attention was when I unscrewed my filter during the worst of my problem I heard It break vacuum when I broke the filter seal. That didn't happen all the time. Some times I could drive 3 or 4 miles and it might or might not be surging. Twice I drove over 10 miles, the one that caused the fuel system to pull a vacuum that I could hear when I unscrewed the filter I could only drive a few hundred yards.

 

[towtruckdave]

I am getting ready to do the senders in my tanks.

I will back blow my fuel line from the filter back with the switch in either position.

Then I will use stainless marine style strainers.