what will happen if i run my idi out of diesel?

[noahz]

MY FUEL GAUGE IS MESSED UP AND IT STARTED TO REV REALLY HIGH THIS MORNING WHEN I WAS PULLING INTO SCHOOL. I KNOW THIS IS A SIGN THAT IM OUT OF FUEL. I TURNED IF OF REALLY QUICK. BUT SHOULD I BE CONCERNED AT ALL??? AND WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM?
THANKS FOR THE HELP
NOAH

 

[gonecrazyi]

Get some fuel in it.

Hopefully you can feather the throttle enough to get it to a station. If you run out you will have to crank it for a bit to get started.

 

[icanfixall]

Well Noah you probably will have to sell the truck and buy a gasser.. We can't have an owner doing this to these trucks.... Just kidding ya.... Did you switch tanks when this happened. If so you might be ok. Driving by how many miles is going to be the best way of determining how far you can go till you need to switc tanks of fill up. When you try to restart the motor let it rev up to around 2000 rpm. It may run out of fuel. If it does try cranking for 20 seconds at full throttle. That will get more air and fuel thru the system. These systems don't have an acereralater pump like a gas motr does so don't think you can pump the carb idea will help. Other than thatjust wait and see. Welcome to the forum...

 

[SparkandFire]

Well Noah you probably will have to sell the truck and buy a gasser.. We can't have an owner doing this to these trucks....

 

[hesutton]

To be safe, you can just switch tanks at 150-175 miles. That's certainly less than average milage, but at least you won't run out of fuel and suck a bunch of air in the system........ causing a huge PITA to get it to purge the air and to start again.

Heath

 

[SparkandFire]

To be safe, you can just switch tanks at 150-175 miles. That's certainly less than average milage, but at least you won't run out of fuel and suck a bunch of air in the system........ causing a huge PITA to get it to purge the air and to start again.

Heath

I have to do this too, my front sender is dead so I fill it up and run about 200 miles on that tank.

The rear tank shows EMPTY at around 150 miles, so I know that sender is crap as well. I go 400 miles between both tanks, to be safe!

 

[Rot Box]

My old 86 IDI had one reliable gauge.... The Tach! you could say I was a pro at running out of fuel Running out of fuel in a diesel truck isn't a bad experience whatsoever as they all come with an easy way to purge the fuel and light up quickly once the air is out--oh I meant EVERY diesel truck except for the Ford IDI's

You really have to just sit there and crank it over and try to 1. Not burn up your starter and 2. Not drain your batteries and both are easy to do. I would HIGHLY recommend carrying a small can of diesel with you wherever you go. That way you can pull off the fuel filter and fill it to the top and re-install it. This will really help you get it going much faster. Once filled crank it over--it should start. If it starts, runs and then dies (remove) fill the filter up one last time and that should be it. But that only works if you still have fuel in one of your tanks

 

[papastruck]

I use the trip odometer. Just monitor how much fuel is going in with each fillup, you'll get an idea pretty quickly how far you can go based on how close to the tank's capacity you're putting back in.

As far as causing problems, I'm told habitually running it empty before switching tanks is ******* the IP and not to make a habit of it; how accurate that is I don't know, but it makes sense.

 

[TWeatherford]

If I need to prime the fuel system I'll either use some sort of jerry-rigged vacuum container to pull fuel through it, or if I'm away from electricity or something I'll just suck it through with my mouth. A little unpleasant, and if you were in CA it would probably give you cancer, but it does work and saves a lot of cranking.

 

[THECACKLER]

I run out often. No problem except for the first time or two on each tank, and that is only if your pick-up goes all the way to the bottom. If so you suck up all the crud off the bottom of the tank and move it to the filter. Running out is easier if you're rolling cause you can just hit that switch, leave it in gear, and put it to the floor and it'll light up again in a few hundred feet. At a standstill it sucks because you'll hve to crank it or prime it. I always give the starter two 30 second chances with a cool down in between, and it works 90+% of the time. I also carry a jug of ATF just in case I have to fill the filter.

 

[Diesel JD]

I've typically had to bleed the injectors if I ran the thing out of diesel and I have dne it a few times. I did this a lot because of plugged fuel filters when I was learning how to make good biodiesel. I'm not sure if this or a poor early fuel quality or a bad rebuild contributed to the pump only making it some 30,000 miles instead of the 100-150K or much more that it should ahve lasted. Anyway I would get fuel in it before I went for a start or switch tanks if you have fuel in the other and you selector valve works. Otherwise you might be sitting in the school parking lot trying to bleed air for awhile.

 

[GOOSE]

Make sure one tank has fuel. If truck wont light, have friend push schrader valve near filter while you're cranking until fuel comes out there. Then loosen one or two lines at the injectors with 5/8 wrench while starter is cooling off. As soon as engine lights off, shut it down and tighten lines back up. My front gauge doesnt work and this has happened to me a time or two. I usually get 250 miles out of front tank befor switching over.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

In the half-a-million-miles plus that I put on my old 6.9, I ran a tank out of fuel numerous times.

If I were rolling when it happened, like already said, I just switched tanks and within a 100-yards or so it would light right off and keep on going.

In the many years that the 6.9 was in my truck, I NEVER had to resort to loosening an injector-line and never messed with that Schraeder valve.

I could always just crank it a little and it would self-bleed and be running before I could have got the hood up and the tool-box open.

If your engine behaves otherwise, then you have either a fuel issue, an air-intrusion issue, or the batteries are just not stout enough to really whirl it over.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

So far as running out of fuel being harmful to the injector-pump, it can't be good for it; but, then again, it won't kill it either.

The vast quantity of fuel that cycles through the return-line system ( about ten gallons for every gallon burned ) does so to COOL and LUBRICATE the injector-pump.

That being said, whenever the engine starves enough for fuel to "run out of fuel", the injector-pump will still be nearly full of fuel; the intrusion of air just causes it to "lose prime" and not be able to acheive a high enough pressure to pop the injectors.

Cranking the engine with the starter does not develop enough engine speed, nor is it of long enough duration to generate any heat, so the fuel remaining within the pump should be sufficient to keep it lubed until the engine fires.




That being said, running out of fuel in a busy intersection, or in the middle of a long bridge, can get you run over and killed.

Running out of fuel while pulling a big goose-neck full of cattle up a steep hill will result in the truck/trailer sliding backwards down the hill until it either jack-knifes or you are fortunate enough to manage to jam the corner of the trailer into the road-bank, and not go over the cliff on the other side.

 

[swuchase1]

FUEL PUMP

I INSTALL AN ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP AND BYPASSED THE MANUAL ONE SEAMS TO RUN BETTER ALSO UNIVERSIAL PUMP AUTOZONE ABOUT $20 BUCKS IF YOU RUN OUTA FUEL TRUN THE KEY ON WAIT A LITTLE BIT PUSH SCHRADED VALVE BLEED AIR GOTTA GO