Died on the side of the road, now won't start. Please help!

[jrou111]

So I took my F-350 out for a drive to make sure it was running good before I sold it. It was driving great until I got on the interstate. About 1/4 mile down the interstate the truck shut off and I tried to pop the clutch to get it fired back up with no luck. I got the truck towed back home and today I went through the fuel system to see where the problem is.

I've got an electric pump BTW, and clear hose going into the filter and at the IP return.

-I've got fuel coming out of the bleeder valve like normal.
-I cracked the line going into the IP and fuel comes out.
-No fuel is coming out of the injectors when I crack one of their lines.
-No fuel is coming out of the IP ports when I crack a line going to an injector.
-I took off the top cover to the IP and it's full of clean fuel. I bumped the starter and the shaft turns inside.
-The fuel shutoff solenoid is clicking and moving fine.

Any ideas? The IP is only 2 years old and has <1000 miles on it.

 

[subway]

what level is the fuel tank at? its commen for these trucks to run out of fuel at around a 1/4 tank. if you ran out of fuel or got big air bubble some how you are going to have to bleed the high pressure side of the system. you should loosen up all the injector lines and crank till there is some fuel. once fuel is coming out you should be able to tighten the lines back up and start it from there. might run rough for a little till it gets the air purged out though.

 

[argve]

I'm gonna go with you suck up some air... becareful leaning on that starter - you don't want to burn it up and have to install a new one for the next owner.

 

[jrou111]

what level is the fuel tank at? its commen for these trucks to run out of fuel at around a 1/4 tank. if you ran out of fuel or got big air bubble some how you are going to have to bleed the high pressure side of the system. you should loosen up all the injector lines and crank till there is some fuel. once fuel is coming out you should be able to tighten the lines back up and start it from there. might run rough for a little till it gets the air purged out though.

I forgot to mention that I've got a 50 gal tank on the flatbed. I've got about 15 gals of diesel in it so I don't think it ran out of fuel. It's possible that I may have forgotten to switch the pump back on when I stopped before I got on the interstate. I've run out of fuel before on this truck, and all it took was flipping the pump on, bleeding the schrader valve, and then cranking for ~30 secs(total time, not in one shot). I cranked way longer than that yesterday with no luck.

I'll keep at it with the lines cracked and hopefully it'll get primed.

How long does it normally take to catch prime to the injectors? I just hope I don't need another pump

 

[Agnem]

Describe how it died. Did it loose power, sputter and shut off, or was it like somebody reached over and turned the key?

 

[jrou111]

Describe how it died. Did it loose power, sputter and shut off, or was it like somebody reached over and turned the key?

It started off with a loss of power, then it came back on like a surge. Then it was low on power and then just died. If it was a loss of fuel I probably didn't help the situation by leaving it in 5th as I coasted to the side of the road.

 

[Agnem]

If you have a mechanical pump, that was absolutely the right thing to do. You obviously ran out of fuel, so the question is, why?

 

[jam0o0]

^yup

 

[jrou111]

If you have a mechanical pump, that was absolutely the right thing to do. You obviously ran out of fuel, so the question is, why?

Electric. I'm thinking I either forgot to switch it back on or that it wasn't running when I was getting on the interstate.

I recall now that when I was looking under the hood after it shut off that the clear hose going into the filter housing didn't have fuel in it.

So how long should it take to fully reprime the system if I've got fuel sitting under the top cover of in the IP?

 

[dansvan]

I've had the on/off solenoid under the IP cover fail before. With the key on can you remove the wire going to the IP pump and hear an audible click when you touch it to the terminal?

 

[jrou111]

I've had the on/off solenoid under the IP cover fail before. With the key on can you remove the wire going to the IP pump and hear an audible click when you touch it to the terminal?

Which of the two terminals is the on/off solenoid? The terminal closest to the front of the truck and to the check valve doesn't move when 12v is applied, but the one a little further towards the back of the cover does. Does anyone have a picture of the solenoids? I can identify them by looking at a pic.

Edit:

Nevermind, I looked at this diagram:

You must be registered for see images attach

and it's the shutoff solenoid that's not working. Is there anyway to rebuild or replace this part for cheap?

 

[subway]

it can take a few 30 second bursts from the starter to get the high pressure side purged. from the syptoms you described like mentioned it ran out of fuel.

keeping the engine spinning might have hurt you in this case pulling more air in the system. sometimes the pump can push through a smaller air bubble (at least in my experaince) but i usually have to purge the system the hard way bleeding every line i can.

like i mentioned if you get the lines purged with them cracked at the injectors then tighten them down you should be back in business. o and you want to hold the accelorator to the floor when you are purging it to get the most fuel flow.

 

[icanfixall]

To purge the lines crack them loose at the injectors. Now pumper the fender solenoid from the small pushon wire to the hot side. The hot is the connection towards the firewall of the solenoid. Hold the throttle wide open so more fuel and air is pushed thru the pump and lines. Crank for 20 seconds and let the starter cool for 2 minutes. Try again. Just loosen the lines that are easy to reach. As fuel starts to leak out tighten them up. Thats about it...

 

[jrou111]

Please see my above post #11.

 

[dansvan]

Get it going?