6.2 diesel first start in 4 years... Electrical problems please help post 27

[max 02]

Its an 86 K5 body that I bought with a trailer for $500. The trailer was worth it but the body turned out to have more rust than I wanted to deal with. It will probably end up cut into pieces after I remove the good parts out of it (ie., pedals, steering column, etc.)

I've thought of putting the trim and moulding strips back on, I agree it would look better. But since I drive it in the winter I decided to keep it bare bones after the paint job in an effort to try to keep it as rust free as possible for as long as I can Its already starting to show signs of decay unfortunately though... I've driven it for 2 winters since the paintjob.

That makes sence Josh...living in the praires and trying to keep salt off is next to imposable.

Maybe you could put the 6.2 back in action for salt duty.

 

[DK5]

When I bought my '85 K10 Suburban in November of 2010,it had a nearly full tank of fuel,which was a mixture of diesel,kerosene and God knows what else someone may have put in it,because it was supposedly set up to run veggie oil or used cooking oil...the Burb has a 40+ gallon tank,and I have never put it on the road yet due to no money,so I have only started it up infrequently to keep the engine free and hopefully keep the batteries from dying--sometimes I have let it sit idle without starting it for a few months in a row............................................................................................................................................................................................................Despite that,it still starts ,though sometimes rather hard,probably due to it needing some glow plugs ,I only had 2 new ones I put on the drivers side,and I dont know if any are dead on the passenger side --it always starts when I get the batteries fully charged up,but its not always eager to fire up below 45 degrees or so....it's taken me till the present day to run the tank down to 1/4 of a tank,I bet I have let it run 10+ hours since I got it ,before I used that 3/4 of a tank..Diesel fuel does not seem to go sour as quickly as gasoline does,it takes years instead on months--we ran our loader on 5 year old diesel we siphoned from a street sweeper and several diesel busses at the junkyard and never had any real issues,we were careful to filter it well before pouring it in the tank though....and didn't siphon it all the way to the bottom of the tanks,to avoid getting any sludge in the fuel..........................................................................................................................................................................................................Algae can grow in it though,and it attracts water too,but so far,despite letting both my Suburban and my plow truck sit long periods of time (and I rarely have more than 5 gallons in the plow truck since buying it in '03),I haven't had any trouble with the trucks really...haven't even replaced the fuel filter on my plow truck once yet,it looked new when I got it,a Wix 33123--now its getting rusty on the outside ,so I guess I should treat it to a filter change soon........................................................................................As long as no valves have got stuck in your engine ,and it spins over freely,I'd say you wont have much trouble getting it started,even on the "old" fuel,though it may take some coaxing to get it fired up at first...once its running you could just let it use up whats left....or maybe if your determined to pump the old diesel out,it could be used in your home oil furnace instead of having to get rid of it otherwise....I was going to use the diesel in my Suburban in my plow truck,but was leery of doing it in case it did have some "unknown" alternative fuel mixed in with it.....but it doesn't seem to bother the Burb any,once its started ...

Thats good to hear. It would be a lot easier to not have to pump a half tank out! I'll have a look around at the fuel filter and make a better assessment before giving it a go on the old fuel.

That makes sence Josh...living in the praires and trying to keep salt off is next to imposable.

Maybe you could put the 6.2 back in action for salt duty.

I've thought about that too. But that 'ol blue has a tall list of things to do. Actually I'm looking at getting an econobox too to commute to work with and then use the blazer as a weekend toy. That way she'll last much longer

Turn it over by hand first. Mine had sat for a while, and froze up. Put marvel mystery oil down the glow plug holes and let it sit for a few days. Try and turn it over until it spins smooth. Follow everything else as said.

I'm pretty sure I know how to turn it over by hand, but just asking to be sure.. how is it done? and also, should I leave the glow plugs out while turning over the engine by hand?

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm actually starting to enjoy this, rather than dread it... I was thinking that this was going to be a huge job with limited time/resources and loads of frustration .

 

[bashepard]

Off topic, but where did you get the cab enclosure for your black K5?

 

[DK5]

It came from Oregon, was originally on craigslist. I think CUCV2 has a couple that he would sell. Just search half cab

 

[DK5]

The motor turns over by hand. Rotors/hubs are back on both sides. Just have to put the steering box back in and hoses, put the wheels back on and then I'll fire her up!

Not going to drain the fuel tank. Diesel can keep longer than gasolene. With a half tank in there, and the fact that it was in the shade for the most part the fuel will be most likely good enough to fire up.

Hopefully this will happen on Saturday if not sooner.

 

[DK5]

Well it sounded really nice like it was gonna start, but I drained the batteries after cycling the glow plugs 3 times and cranked it once. So on Monday I'll have to pick up a new diesel truck battery, since my old ones are, well, old. The one doesn't hold a charge, I just thought I'd get by with one good one

 

[DK5]

Fresh batteries in

She cranked over for 5 seconds and then stopped on its own, and then nothing. Wait a few seconds try again, and now nothing-like batteries are dead.

But the batteries aren't dead. Very low power if any gauges aren't even working, although the batteries are new and have a full charge.

Shorting somewhere? The truck ran 4 years ago...

I checked the battery terminals, that helped, now the glow plug light comes on, but still not enough power to make the starter work.

I don't know where to look, I don't even know where the glow plug controller is or if that would cause the problem???

 

[imiceman44]

She cranked over for 5 seconds and then stopped on its own, and then nothing. Wait a few seconds try again, and now nothing-like batteries are dead.

But the batteries aren't dead. Very low power if any gauges aren't even working, although the batteries are new and have a full charge.

Shorting somewhere? The truck ran 4 years ago...

I checked the battery terminals, that helped, now the glow plug light comes on, but still not enough power to make the starter work.

I don't know where to look, I don't even know where the glow plug controller is or if that would cause the problem???

Is the starter showing like it wants to turn but as if the battery is dead?
If so then it's your ground.
I would check all the grounds from the bettery to engine to body to frame.
If it's not even trying, then you probably blew the fusible link right by the starter.
Could also have burned the starter but first try the easy ones.

 

[DK5]

Is the starter showing like it wants to turn but as if the battery is dead?

Yes!

If so then it's your ground.
I would check all the grounds from the bettery to engine to body to frame.

I'll do this again.

I don't think I blew the starter. It did the same thing on the weekend and she cranked nice on the first try and then nothing. Seems to me when the batteries are fully charged, they have enough power. Then after they drain a bit, there's just not enough power getting through (short!).

So technically if I boosted it, I think it would start because the batteries would remain fully charged. However, if there is a short, this is a problem that may need to be dealt with.

 

[imiceman44]

Well when the ground is weak, it will drain th ebattery quicker and once it not really full it can't turn the starter.
in this case I usually get a jumper cable and get both cables hooked from the engine to the battery negative, it gives it more ground and if it turns better then you know it's a ground issue.
Also make sure the starter is tight.

Yes!


I'll do this again.

I don't think I blew the starter. It did the same thing on the weekend and she cranked nice on the first try and then nothing. Seems to me when the batteries are fully charged, they have enough power. Then after they drain a bit, there's just not enough power getting through (short!).

So technically if I boosted it, I think it would start because the batteries would remain fully charged. However, if there is a short, this is a problem that may need to be dealt with.

 

[DK5]

Also, could this be what is going on?

http://www.dieselbombers.com/chevy-gmc-6-2l-6-5l/82299-diesel-wont-start-electrical-problem.html

 

[imiceman44]

Also, could this be what is going on?

http://www.dieselbombers.com/chevy-gmc-6-2l-6-5l/82299-diesel-wont-start-electrical-problem.html

Yours is not computer controled.
You have a ground issue which lets you lose power at the bad ground, it's like a short but it's not really.

 

[DK5]

Well that made a huge difference using the jumper cables. She turned over some more until I drained the batteries. I noticed the cables became really hot, not sure if this is normal.

 

[DK5]

I also pulled some fuses in case the short was coming from somewhere else on the truck

 

[DK5]

Probably hard on the alternator of my other k5 to keep using that to recharge my batteries

Any other suggestions to get this thing to fire?

A friend suggested spraying Ether into the intake

 

[cdoggwsu]

Ether is a no-no with the glow plugs (assuming your's are working) but you can use plain old WD-40. Worked like a charm when I was bringing my burb back from the dead after sitting in a field for years. I just pulled the entire air cleaner assembly off and sprayed (lightly!) straight into the intake runners.

 

[DK5]

Yea ether is pretty volatile, I want to do things safely so I'm just going to try sticking with just the diesel in the fuel tank for now.

These are photos from just now:

 

[DK5]

Now nothing is happening

I'm going to go pick up the mechanic's booster since I can't boost with another vehicle (no access right now)

 

[imiceman44]

Well that made a huge difference using the jumper cables. She turned over some more until I drained the batteries. I noticed the cables became really hot, not sure if this is normal.

OK you just confirmed that you have a ground issue.
Go back to your ground cables and check the ends, sometimes the wire is corroded inside the connection, the fact your starter turned better with the cables added means you didn't have enough of a connection and the fact they got hot means it's pretty bad that most of your currecnt went thru the jumper cables.
Stop messing with it like this now, go put your batteries on charge and work on your cables, make sure you have good connections everywhere and get the batteries charged good then give it a try again.

 

[diesel4me]

If you resort to using ether or WD-40,I'd get the engine spinning over full speed before spraying any into the intake,then spray it in while its cranking over--you will need a helper probably--dont just spray a load of it in the intake and THEN crank it,that can cause a kickback,or hydrolock, and break pistons or glow plugs and other parts--also disable the glow plugs first,you do not want them "hot" if you use ether,that will also cause potential kickback and breakage problems...you can simply pull the plug off the glow plug controller to disable them or if you have a manual push button for the glow plugs,just dont use it to energize them...