Bah. Something is screwy now I guess after stuff got messed with. Not as far as driving, but as far as cold starting/air intrusion.
When it wasn't as cold a week ago and when I was driving every day, I didn't notice a problem. Even when I was at one camp for 3 nights (Nov 11-14), it was fine to start.
But now it's colder, which makes rubber things shrink.
Back on Friday around noon'ish, after sitting parked for 5 nights including some chilly nights, it started and quickly stalled out like it had air in the return system. The usual tons of cranking to get it started again. No other problems including starting a few times more when fueling up and doing a few other stops around town. No highway driving problems either.
It sat here 2 nights (Fri-Sat) and it was cold today (mid 40s at best) and I decided to see how it would do. It started and stumbled like it had air and half wanted to stall, but it didn't. I guess since I was giving it a tiny bit of throttle on and off. It smoothed out and idled fine after that. Then I shut it down after about 15 more seconds since I wasn't going anywhere today.
The hard hard line from the top/front of IP to the fuel filter got messed with (if not slightly damaged) when the shop guy was trying to tilt the pump due to things being tight. We had to unhook it from both the IP and the fuel filter connection. No leaks can be seen, but that IS the return line system so maybe with the engine warmed up, the olives expand and don't show a leak.
It was cold, misting and windy so I only had a quick look under the hood for fuel drips or odor but I couldn't see or smell any. The few injector caps I could see looked dry. The hard return line that got messed with between the IP and stock fuel filter didn't seem to have any fuel dripping/leaking. I know it has olives though, so they could be the problem.
Before I start it tomorrow, I will turn on the Holley pump (key to Acc) and see if air purges out of the fuel filter valve.
It could be IP fuel line olives I suppose, especially the one for the IP inlet in the center of the rear with the injector lines around it. My F250 has had a similar problem in winter. What "fixed" it was tightening it down a bit more with a flare nut wrench so it couldn't round off. Had to it twice, a year apart one time each. It had fuel dripping/leaking from it also though as I recall. A bit harder to see on the motorhome without pulling the doghouse cover.
I guess I'll worry about it later if it's still a problem after I get out to the Arizona desert where it shouldn't quite as cold. I still have a year free replacement warranty on the batteries and if I end up wearing out the starter this winter, oh well. I have roadside assistance. I would buy the $50 higher NEW starter with a lifetime warranty from O'Reilly. The rebuilt one for $50 less only has a 1 year warranty.
I know this wasn't a problem before, since it sat all summer and always started perfectly the small handful of times it was started. Had no problems last winter either when it was very cold around Nov-Dec. Since that's the one thing that was touched on the return line system, it's very suspect.
I will also try sticking the soft return line back to the fuel filter and turn on the Holley pump and see if air purges that way too. That should happen since I don't think there is a check valve between the filter head and the return line, is there? If the Holley pump is on, it should pressurize the return lines via the filter head with that soft line connected, correct?
Here is what I mean. This is from a pic of my F250 but the connection setup is basically the same on the RV. An "L" shaped splitter fitting coming off of the stock filter, one is soft line to the injector return lines, and the other is hard line going to the IP's metering valve.
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Here is a pic of the RV. Ignore the old rotten soft return line. The pic is from before I did the O-rings and lines. You can't see the fitting setup, but I roughly drew the route of the hard line that comes off the IP's metering valve.
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