Motor died suddenly!

[Madgod]

Hello guys,

Thoughts from the guys in the know, my truck( 1990 f350 7.3 idi 4x4) just shut down on the road yesterday. I have a electronic fuel pump feeding the fuel filter. I installed a fuel gauge at the filter. I was running low on fuel and thought maybe I just pushed it to long to fill up. Popped the hood and noticed I still had 4.5 psi at the gauge. I tried flipping tanks to see if maybe that would help.( Second tank doesn't read so not sure how much fuel was in the tank.) Same psi reading at the gauge.

My next step was thinking that the fuel shutoff failed and was not letting fuel through the IP. ( IP is the original one with 200,000 miles) I kept cranking in intervals hoping that it would start but did not. Sitting in a left hand turn lane in Southern California is like sitting on the freeway back east. I ended up pushing it ( with the help of a bystander, yes there are friendly people that are not nut jobs in CA) up into a parking lot. Had to get to work so I left it and came back at night.

I filled up the tank that was reading with 10 gals. Pulled the fuel line feeding the filter and had my wife turn the key. Fuel came at a steady rate into the empty gas can. So I figured I didn't pull air into the feed side to the filter. I hooked the line back up and decided to crack one of the fuel lines to the injectors. Had my helper turn over the motor and the cracked injector barely got wet with fuel. The fuel shut off seems to click when you take the power off and on.

Is it right on me to think that either the pump went south or the fuel shutoff failed? The truck had been on the freeway earlier that day and started and stopped a dozen times before this. I went ahead and ordered a Baby moose anyway but now I 'm starting to think I jumped the gun.( still wanted the moose but maybe there is more to this story that I'm missing)

New to the diesel game and any thoughts would be great.

P.S. Glow plugs and relay was replaced about 3500 miles ago. No warning lights came on before it died.

Paul

 

[Jake_IN]

Did you crack any of the injector lines to see if when you cranked the engine over fuel would squirt out? When my truck "just died" going down the road it turned out to be the pump shaft had sheared.

 

[dgr]

Did you depress the scrader while she was cranking? That should be the filtered side of the filter head. What is this fuel gauge at the filter head of which you speak? Is that a pressure gauge? If so, what pressure were you seeing? If you did suck air, crack all the lines, floor the pedal and crank it.

 

[Madgod]

Jake-I cracked one of the injectors while my wife was cranking and nothing came out. Barley got wet around the nut. dgr-The gauge is a 0-15 psi gauge. I did depress the scrader valve but not while she was cranking. Tried holding the throttle wide open before I started cracking injector lines and still no go.

 

[Devon Harley]

You have to crank it a few time electric an push valve a few times take a bit if air is in the system.

 

[TWeatherford]

The best way to quickly test a fuel shutoff solenoid is to turn the key on, and rapidly disconnect and reconnect it. You can hear it click, and even put your finger on the top of the IP housing and feel a tick as it moves.

I like to loosen all of the injector lines at the same time. My theory is that the IP has to work less hard and if there is air to be bled, it can get it out with no resistance from any of the lines. It should have gotten more than barely wet - not streaming or anything but a very small amount of fuel could be just whats in the line leaking out and not the IP pumping anything.

In my experience, running out of fuel you at least feel a little surging before it dies. I haven't actually run out of fuel (enough to kill the engine), when I do have issues I've been able to switch tanks and gun it to keep going. If it just up and dies and doesn't even try to restart, my guess is FSS, or a sheared pump shaft (happened to me).

 

[SparkandFire]

Certainly sounds like the pump bit the dust. If you can hear the fuel shutoff working, then it doesn't sound like an electrical problem. A pump with 200k miles is most definitely suspect.

 

[Devon Harley]

Tweatherford I agree with surging an flipping tanks u can gun it an go! But my auto drw does not give opertunity as the zf-5 especially at a stop light auto trucks are pia to keep goin when running outta fuel. Not that this relates but thought I would mention. An if 200k are on it an it just died I'm thinking it's the shaft as posted.

 

[Kevin 007]

Could very well be electrical issues leading up to the FSS. If a wire shorted out and melted somewhere, that could interupt power to the FSS. But testing the FSS as mentioned above with the key on, would determine if thats it or not. Is it common for the pump shafts to shear??? I have never seen this happen

 

[John Deere]

Is it common for the pump shafts to shear??? I have never seen this happen

Lately it seems to be common on this board.

 

[Madgod]

Thanks guys for the info and ideas. The fuel pump is jumped off the power to the fuel shut off, so I know power is being supplied. The pump never lost power.

Is there any way to check the pump shaft without removing the pump? Doesn't seem likely.

Thanks again. I will let ya know what I find about the pump when I pull it this weekend.

 

[John Deere]

Out of curiousity, are you burning waste oil or diesel?

 

[79jasper]

Could maybe pull the pump gear cover inspection plate and try wiggling the gear. Or use the inspection hole on the side of the pump. But might as well just pull it. Take pics while doing it then post em up here.

 

[Goofyexponent]

Ok ok. Hold on.

before we think the pump crapped it's pants, have we changed out the fuel filter? It's the simplest place to start now that we know you have fuel pressure to the filter.

If the gauge is AFTER the filter, it still does not mean anything. You could have pressure but no flow.

Change the filter. Fill it with Howes, diesel kleen, diesel...atf, anything to get it full. Howes is the best option.

Now, with that done, crank and depress the schrader valve to get all air out of the filter.

As far as the injector nut goes, these trucks are VERY efficient at idle. Opening a nut and cranking without holding it wide open throttle will not so much as get the nut wet. You NEED to hold it at WOT to get the juices flowing.

Once we have determined whether or not you are getting fuel to the injectors or not, we can then make a diagnosis.

Replacing the GP's and relay is a good start, but it has no bearing on a truck quitting cold turkey. That is either a fuel, air or compression issue.

Did your truck exhibit any signs of power loss, black smoke, grey smoke, overheating, noises before this happened?

 

[Goofyexponent]

Do you hear a click when you jump the IP to the battery?