ubermensch

Hey everyone,

My truck stalled while I was on the freeway a few days ago. At first I suspected it simply ran out of fuel (fuel level gauge gave out a few weeks ago), but now I'm starting to worry it might be a bad lift pump.

After dumping about 10 gallons of fuel into the tank, the truck still won't start. I tried to bump start the lift pump to help prime the system, but I don't hear it operating. Now what do I do?

The truck is a 2000 and has about 140k miles. Completely stock.

Thanks

mopar-or-no-car

Have you tried bleeding the air out of the injector lines?

ubermensch

No I haven't. Do I simply loosen the fittings on the injector side and then crank it over a few times?

By the way, even if there is air trapped up there, shouldn't the life pump still try to bring fuel up?

nickg

yep, If I recall you only need to do any 2 of the first 3 injectors. To save a lot of cranking, loosen the fuel line where it goes in to the IP, "bumb" the starter and the LP should purge all the air between the LP and the IP, when you see fuel at the IP, tighten the line back up then loosen the injectors crank till she chugs/ leaks fuel. tighten the lines back up and it should fire right up.

If you have no fuel at the IP, during the starter bump, then your gonna have to find out why the LP quit,
Good Luck

ubermensch

Perfect, except I think this is where I'm stuck. I loosened the banjo bolt that goes into the IP, but when I bump the starter, the LP doesn't respond.

rich

if thats the case the try cranking it first, if it still doesnt send fuel then yea lp is gone

ubermensch

I hope not.

Okay, I loosened the banjo bolt going into the IP again. Bumped the starter and still didn't hear anything from the LP. Then I let it crank for about 5 seconds and got some fuel coming out of the banjo bolt. I tightened that back up and moved on to the injectors. Cranked it a few times, about 10 seconds each time, and started to see fuel come out. Tightened those back up and it still won't start.

BTW, thanks for all the help so far.

rich

then i would say lp is gone or real weak. you could try some starting fluid which is kinda bad or get a rag pour some gas and place it over the air filter and crank the truck the fumes will get it going be sure and hold on to the rag or it will be sucked up into the motor. we do that with equipment and are dump trucks when the have a fuel problem

mopar-or-no-car

If you try starting fluid I would unhook your grid heaters first. Also try turning the key back and fourth 3 times to see if you have any codes, they will be displayed in your odometer.

Clete

Try tapping the LP with a hammer and see if it starts pumping.

dodgeguy71

air in the system can be a real b......ear. I'd bleed more injectors, I've had to do 6 injectors on some diesels to get them to start. Just because one guys will take off by bleeding only two or three don't mean yours will. It's better to have someone else in the truck cranking, you under the hood on the fender being aware of the rotating fan and taking care of the injectors.

Make sure you have a good spitting injector. The fuel should spurt up around the nut. I loosen mine pretty good though. Sometimes it takes more than once, you may think you have bled the air and think there is something else. I always give it another shot, especially if I confident that I'm getting fuel to the ip.

00 CTD

There's been a few times that I've had to pressurize the tank with air to force the fuel up to the lift pump. Try bleeding it at the filter inlet first, then at the VP inlet, then the injection lines, go progressively up the fuel system.

If the lift pump is weak, it's going to be harder to bleed the system out.

Russ Roth

Ten seconds is not always enough cranking to rid the system of air unless you do it numerous times. I think it was Blue Chip who recommends 30 seconds at a time. I couldn't get mine to fire by doing about 10 second cranks but 30 seconds started getting fuel at the Injectors. After a couple times she fired right up. You NEED fuel at the IP first before you crank it like that to be most successful.

nutter3

ubermensch,

i've been having the same issue lately. I have the stock lift pump moved to the frame with the Vulcan big line kit.
A couple weeks ago the truck would not start after sitting for 10 days. ( it was a 10°F day) I tried a bunch to get it started. It originally had about 11 psi on the fuel gauge. After alot of cranking on it it finally started, but then died right away. It would restart with a little effort several times, but always died. I finally gave up to get my family to our house 120 miles away. Gelled fuel?

Fast forward 2 weeks and I finally got to work on it again. It started up immediately with 12 psi that day, it was about 30°F this time. Drove the truck home. By the time I got home my fuel pressure had dropped to around 4 psi the last 50 miles. Not good.
Now I have a condition where the lift pump will not run sometimes. I have taken to bumping the starter just to make sure now. Sometimes it will not run at all. Other times it will run 20 seconds or so just like it should and build up to 10-13 psi. Could the ECM be on its way out and not running the lift pump every time?
I changed the lift pump and fuel filter. Getting the same pressure as before ~14 psi. One time I bumped the starter the LP did not run. I now have my volt meter temporarily wired in to the lift pump to watch the voltage. So far I havent seen the voltage drop out on it.
Sorry for the hijack. But it seems almost like the same issue.
I'm still thinking that the ECM is not supplying voltage occasionally. That could be your problem too. I would first change the LP and see if that fixes you up.

ubermensch

I appreciate all the help and tips.

As it turns out, I'm not getting fuel from the LP. I cracked the banjo bolt going into the fuel filter, cranked the engine, and nothing came out. Just to be sure, I cranked it for about 15 seconds a couple of times. Nothing.

The error code I'm getting is P1693 - Turbo Charge Control Circuit Malfunction. Can anybody verify that this is also the Dodge code?

One last thing: would a vibrating fuel line (between tank and LP) cause the fuel level sensor to go bad? A couple of months ago, a local shop replaced the clutch and must have left the fuel line off the two plastic 'stays' on the frame rail. I just noticed this. I wouldn't have brought it up except that the fuel gauge recently gave out, so I'm just wondering... On a side note, that shop also left off one lug nut from a wheel, along with a radiator cap that was opened. If it wasn't for that, I probably would have had the truck towed to that place days ago instead of bugging you guys.