ataboy9026

Yesterday after work I waited until "wait to start" light went out and cranked engine. After about 5 seconds and no fire I thought that was pretty weird. So I tried again, same thing. On the third try it fired up and drove fine, no problems at all. This morning it started fine and drove to work fine. After work today no start. I tried about 12-15 times with no luck. I even cracked bleeder screw and pumped plunger and diesel fuel comes out there. It just cranks like it doesn't get any fuel. I even gave it throttle as I cranked with no change. All guages work fine,battery power is good with good cranking speed, everything seems and sounds like normal but no fire.I have about a half tank of fuel also. What do I try? Will a lift pump do this? Fuel pump in tank? I replaced the fuel filter about 3000 miles ago and its been fine.

Rare1

Did your new injector pump come with a new overflow valve? Either that or old fuel supply and return hoses are letting air bleed into your fuel system.

apache

Take a look at the fuel shut down solenoid. Its on the pump kinda hanging down the drivers side. It probably is hanging up and not allowing fuel to flow. Pop the hood and check the position of the plunger(cant remember which is on/off) turn the key on to the run position and see if it pulled the other way. there should be 3/4 in travel or so?? very noticable. give it a try,if it wont fire try moving the plunger more by hand with the key on. I bet it will start.

apwatson50

From what I understand just turning the key to the on position won't actually pull the plunger in. The solenoid has power wire coming from your starter which actually "pulls" the plunger in and a separate "hold" power wire that keeps the plunger pulled in. I would say that the starter contacts are wearing out and not giving enough power to the "pull" side of the solenoid to actually pull the plunger in.

To test this just pull the plunger in and wire it in then try to start. I guess you would have to try this after you tried to start normally and it wouldn't.

apache

I would imagine the 2nd gens are the same in that there are 2 wires to the solenoid. one keeps it up while driving but the other is a boost that comes on only during the cranking mode. someone correct us if were wrong please.

infidel

You are correct except there is also a ground wire

ataboy, going by your description the most likely problem is that blue wire coming off the driver's side battery is corroded, possibly under the insulation where you can't see it and is causing a poor connection. Jiggle it around and see if anything changes.

ataboy9026

Thanks for all the info guys. This site sure is a life saver. I just pushed my shutdown switch up while my key was on and then it started fine. I do think its the ground wire on the battery cause its pretty corroded there. I called Fix-n-rams to order a seal kit for my vacuum pump and asked him about it and he said the shutdown sol get ground from one of the little wires at the battery terminal and power thru the starter brushes. And if either is corroded or worn it may act up. He also said to check the relay on the firewall before the switch itself. But mine is fine again, at least for now.

Rockyhud

attaboy, I had a very similar sounding problem this past summer that got progressively worse to the point it wouldn't start without pulling the shutdown solenoid up with the key on. I bought a replacement fuel shutdown relay from Foster Truck and that cured the problem. Apparently the high current contacts in the orginal relay were bad and just got worse pretty quickly after the problem first became apparent. As the others said, check your wiring to make sure it's all in good condition then check out the relay and so on. The relay from Foster Truck is about $20. The relay from Dodge is $57 (at least that's what I was quoted).

Steve

snackdaddy

Hey guys, I still have the same problem. about a year ago I couldn't start my rig and ya'll helped me with the blue wire check. Now about 7 mos ago it started happening again and I've been just pushing the plunger forward manually ever since. i know what you're thinking, and yes i am really good at procrastinating. I did clean all wires at battery terminals and replaced the relay and the solenoid, and the problem still isn't fixed. what's this about the starter link to the pulling open of the solenoid, and which direction should i trace this? any help would be great, thanks

infidel

Check the small brown wire from the starter and it's connections.
Check that the blue wire from the battery isn't corroded deep down under the insulation where you can't see it by wiggling.