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'94 K30 Diesel Not Starting

Craig Artzner

Craig Artzner

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Hey guys, my buddy Jason inherited a 1994 Chevy K30 Diesel (non-dually!) and we're trying to get it started. It's been sitting unused for about 6 months. He charged the battery yesterday and it ran for a few minutes and then died out. He put all new injectors in it and now it turns over but won't start. Anything we should check for, other than maybe he installed the injectors wrong somehow or that we're out of diesel fuel? Thanks in advance.

I've only worked on gas engines, I'm a diesel n00b.
 
First make sure you're getting fuel to the injection pump - I'd just disconnect the fuel filter outlet and see if it squirts when you crank it. Then bleed the air from the injector lines by loosening the fittings at the injector until fuel starts to leak out while cranking. Once you've got visible fuel to the injectors, hook everything back up tight, use your glow plugs (may as well check them for function also), and it should start right up.

Some trucks are finicky about ths process, and it may take a while to get the air bled out. Have a battery charger handy because you may drain the batteries in this process. My pickup, on the other hand, has never required me to crack injectors to get going from a dry-line siutation :confused:
 
If you pulled the injectors out (i.e. opened up the fuel system) and then tried to start it you sucked a lot of air into the lines and injectors. Diesels are not like gas engines that basically self-prime the fuel system. You will need to spend some time bleeding air out of the fuel system before you can even hope for it to start.
 
More than likely the injectors were not part of the original problem either so you just made things more difficult by changing them out and getting air in the system.

Test the glow plugs before you try to start it again as well.
 
Well we tested the glow plugs and they're all fine. Truck still won't start. We disconnected the glow plugs and removed the lines from the injectors. We had a bettery charger hooked up and cranked the motor in 7-10 second increments, the fuel lines are only seeping/barely squirting while cranking. And when we crank the motor it seems to turn over slower than normal and the cranking seems uneven.

Oh, and my friend told me the truck has been sitting idle and unstarted for 2 years, not 6 months... :doah:
 
Did anyone tell him why it was parked? Also, the fuel filters will need to be changed and the fuel system purged with fresh diesel.
 
If it's been sitting for 2 years than the first thing I would do is suspect bad fuel, especially since it's a diesel that has a tendency to grow stuff in the tank. Chances are the filter is clogged with crap. Purge the system of the old fuel and get a fresh filter (might need to replace this multiple times.

A guy in our club recently built a CUCV that had been sitting for awhile. He had put new fuel and a filter on it and it ran great for probably a half tank of fuel, then started having issues on the trail to the point it wouldn't stay running at all. We pulled the filter and it was plugged with a reddish algae/bacteria/sludge/whatever the technically term is that was probably stuck to the inside of the tank and finally broke loose.
 
help your batteries live longer by removing the glow plugs while you're doing the cranking/priming - you'll drop the compression down to 0 and it will be much easier for the starter to turn the engine over.
 
kennyw said:
Did anyone tell him why it was parked? Also, the fuel filters will need to be changed and the fuel system purged with fresh diesel.
Click to expand...
The guy who parked it (not my friend Jason) was driving it one day and it died on him. He was too lazy to try and fix it so it just sat. If you saw this guy's house you would understand. The whole property looks like a junkyard. We have been working on it in the dude's driveway.
 
Here are some pictures. See that '70 Dart Swinger on the right? In the front window it has passes to an all-mopar car show back in 2002, when it was probably show-worthy. Now it's been sitting outside so long it's fast-becoming a piece of junk. The interior is in near-perfect shape. Just taking a walk around this guy's property will make you understand that he values nothing.

JasonsK35001.jpg


The K3500 is a 6.5L Turbo Diesel...
JasonsK35002.jpg


JasonsK35004.jpg


JasonsK35003.jpg
 
i think that truck is junk. before you take it to the wrecking yard, ship that turbo to me. i'll pay shipping.

:wink1:
 
I just wanna say I hate people like that.

Surprised he's giving it away though. Around here the morons with the junk sitting around like that are always saving it for the future.


However the future always seems to be when the vehicle rots back into nature.
 
Since the problem that left it parked to begin with has not been addressed I'd think about common things like the PMD to start off with. They often failed quick like that since they were mounted on the side of the IP and heat kills them.
 
kennyw said:
Since the problem that left it parked to begin with has not been addressed I'd think about common things like the PMD to start off with. They often failed quick like that since they were mounted on the side of the IP and heat kills them.
Click to expand...
That would be that thing in the middle of the intake manifold with the lines coming out of it, right?
 
The injector pump is in the center, front of the motor with all the fuel lines coming out going to the injectors. The PMD is the electronic module mounted on the side of that.
 
I had a friend drop off almost the exact same truck here. He bought it for $800 with the intake and a bunch of other stuff removed. The owner had problems and began trying to replace the injection pump...then gave up, bought something new and sold the truck cheap. I re-assembled everything and added a new PMD with heat sink and remotely mounted it.

Got the truck running, and out of my yard.

Look at a new PMD, and unsure you have good cranking speed. Without good cranking speed it will start way harder than it should. It's not like a gasser than can catch with a half a rotation and a fortunate spark with a 3/4 dead battery.

Rene
 
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