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6.2 won't start

Big Ray

Big Ray

The Older I Get, The Grumpier I Become!
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I drove my truck to work Saturday, made it home, parked it, everything was fine.

Let it sit Sunday, got up for work Monday and it won't start...ran the batteries down trying. It's acting like it's starved for fuel.

Cracked the fuel bleed and there's nothing...totally dry. Cranked it with the fuel bleed open and there's no fuel. Gauge says the tank is 3/4 full.

I cracked the fill cap and it sounded like there was a vacuum on it.

Cranked it again still nothing. It's been monsooning here all day. We've had over 3.5 inches of rain so far.

The glow plugs are just over a year old, the fuel pump is just a few months old.

I'm thinking the fuel pickup...or the injector pump. Does the i.p. give any kind of warning or does it just die...?

As always, thanks in advance. :waytogo:
 
When was the last time the fuel filter was changed? Which fuel bleed point are you checking at? Once the rain stops I'd start at the fuel tank and move forward looking for were fuel stops. It's more time consuming then anything but sometimes its what you have to do to find the trouble spot.

Injection pumps don't usually just die, have you been having hot start issues? That's one sign of a failing pump. Or any other drivability issues?
 
The filter is less than a year old. Everything was fine Saturday when I drove it from work. No issues at all...I'll pickup a new one Friday when everything opens back up.

I cracked the bleeder on the top of the filter base...#7 in this pic.

060205TX03-290.JPG
 
I'm thinking about putting in an electric in line boost pump...priming the system is a p.i.t.a....
 
Time alone isn't a great measure of filter life, you have a lot of miles with that filter or buy fuel from some place that doesn't sell a lot?

That's the normal bleed spot and that filter can't be prefilled either which sucks. Adding an electric pump inline or in place of the stock pump won't hurt either. Will certainly make priming the truck a hell of a lot easier too.

It's a bit time consuming but pulling all the glow plugs will let the engine spin stupid fast, just look for the mist spraying out. Course you could always give it a sniff of ether too just make sure to unhook the glow plug controller and don't use too much. Just a little shot will work.
 
thanks...this will be a good weekend project.
 
It will either be a blockage, air leak in the fuel lines, or a bad fuel pump if you get nothing out of the bleeder when cranking the engine.
 
I'm going to mess with it tomorrow...

Yesterday I was brainstorming and the 5 watt bulb over my head started flickering. Lets start with the simplest issue - is their fuel in the tank?

My gauge has been sitting at 3/4 full for several weeks. I was just out there with my Grandson and had him tap the tank while I listened at the filler tube. Sounded empty to me...:doah:Doh!

I'm thinking my fuel gauge died and I just ran her out of fuel. I'll put some in it tomorrow and get 'er primed & bled & see if that works.
 
Well other then dropping the tank to change it, which would be easy with it empty, sounds like it is something stupid.
 
That happened to my buddy. Truck just wouldn't fire, he is checking all sorts of stuff. He is convinced it's a bad fuel pump and is about to drop the tank. I asked him if it had any gas in it...and sure enough it was out of gas. Now every time he has a problem with his truck I ask him if it has gas in it. :D
 
That reminds me of the time a friend called me and asked what might be wrong with his car "It wont crank over at all,not even a click--I made sure it was in park and tried moving the shifter with the key held on "start" and still nothing"...what do you think it can be?"..

I asked him to check the battery cables for corrosion and see if the headlamps would come on and if they stayed bright when he tried cranking it...

A few minutes later he calls back--I turned the lights on--nothing!--I opened the hood to check the cable connections,and --the battery is GONE!..someone stole the f****** thing!...:eek1:

Well,there's yer problem!...:rolleyes:....:whistle:...:haha:
 
this is starting to irritate me...

put 5 gallons of fresh diesel in it, and a new fuel filter. nothing.

pulled some glow plugs to ease the spinning resistance, still nothing at the bleeder.

batteries are charging now, going to try again later 2nite...

strong voltage at the fuel solenoid.

may run an entirely new fuel line next weekend. I have a coil of 3/8s stainless line from an old project that never came about.

and an ELECTRIC pump.:thumb:
 
I ran a copper 3/8 line from the tank right to the filter on my pickup,when the original metal line was so rusty it started weeping..only used a short rubber hose to join it at the sending unit..right away I noticed it started faster and didn't chug and shake the first few seconds like it used too..

My truck has an electric pump like the round one pictured here,already mounted near the fuel tank,but it was not hooked up for whatever reason--looked brand new!..the former owner butchered the dual tank wiring and switch setup bad and had a manual shut off and all kinds of cobbed plumbing,so I decided to just run one tank and deleted all the crap he messed up..

I like the square Facet pumps better than the round ones,either will work though...mount it near the tank,otherwise it will not live long..electric pumps push fuel better than pull it a long distance...

I'd stay away from Mr.Gasket pumps,more than one person I know who bought one was very displeased with it when it died in a few weeks time..

images (22).jpg

images (23).jpg
 
Thanks! I'll order one tonight...I'm sure I won't find one local.
 
NAPA can get you one,or just about any of the other parts stores...

I left my stock mechanical lift pump hooked up also...

I've been warned this could "ruin my injector pump seals" or fill my crankcase with diesel should the diaphram in the lift pump fail,but 11 years later ,its still running...GM used a electric "assist" pump on later year trucks,so I dont see what the problem is...the pump I used had a 4-6 PSI output..
 
If you ran it out of fuel, it can take a fair amount of cranking to bleed all the air out of everything.

When I was doing the first start of my 6.5 after the rebuild it took probably 2 to 3 minutes worth of cranking to get the air out. That was with the glow plugs removed and doing like 20 to 30 second intervals to not kill the starter. Now having an electric lift pump helps a ton. Just remember the DB2 injection pump doesn't like high fuel pressure feeding it 8-10 psi is about the limit. So a 4-5 psi pump would be perfect.
 
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