Hoping someone can help me figure out what's wrong with my '97 2500 12v.

I'm still pretty new to this and hope it's just some rookie mistake I'm making.

I recently changed the fuel filter, pumped the air out and all was well. After driving about 200 miles, the engine cut off and wouldn't restart. It sounded like the engine wasn't getting any fuel, so i reached in and pumped the primer a couple hundred times, and it started, but after a few seconds it would turn off again.

I repeated this process and kept getting the same result (shocking). I opened the bleed bolt and pumped again and sure enough air bubbles started coming out. It's my understanding that once the air is out, fuel should begin coming out of the bleed bolt, but this never happened. I must've pumped it 500 times (I quit counting after 250) and no fuel, or anymore bubbles, came out.

And that seems to be the circle i'm going in: it won't start, i pump it, engine starts and then cuts out when i try putting it in gear or after a minute or two of idling. It sounds like air is in the line before it cuts off each time because it bogs down (not sure how to best describe the sound). I just can't figure out where the air would be getting in. I've reinstalled the fuel filter just to make sure I didn't screw that up, but the problem persists.

Oh, one more thing that I don't know if it could mean anything or not: when i pump the primer with the bleed bolt cracked open, air bubbles come out, BUT when it's closed and I pump, I'll hear a high pitched whistling sound, sort of like when you pinch the neck of a balloon while letting the air out, as if air is trying to escape somewhere.

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts and/or advice.

 

The whistling noise is the OFV, Over Flow Valve, allowing extra fuel to head back to the tank.

Did you remove all the old sealing gaskets and replace them with new, when the fuel filter when you changed it out?

I have seen some of the '97 and fuel filter canisters themselves crack and cause problems. I prefer the '94-'96 screw on style fuel filters myself. To the point where I just swapped that earlier style housing on my '97 motor I am putting in my '95 2500.

Did you lose any of the sealing washers for the fuel lines that lead to the filter housing? Maybe replace them with fresh ones.

 

I did replace all the gaskets. And from what I could tell, they seemed to all be in place and not twisted or kinked up.

I'm wondering if there may indeed be a crack on the canister. It wasn't dropped or banged against anything, but it's quite possible I tightened the nut on top too tight and it could have cracked.

If I took a squirt bottle and squirted some water on top of the canister, I'm assuming I would see bubbles coming out when i pumped the primer if indeed there was a crack in it, no?

 

If the lift pump is working and before the fuel filter housing, you should see a fuel leak if it is cracked.

If that area is dry, you most likely have a leak either at, or between the LP and the fuel tank. Which would explain the loosing prime while it was running.

 

Thanks, Oliver.

I'm going to get back in there today and see if I can make sense of it.