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Engine won't start when vehicle parked facing up hill
The truck can sit for months and will start instantly as long as it is parked facing down hill or on level ground. If it is parked facing up hill for only a few hours it will start and run for a second then die. Then you must crank and crank and crank. It will try to catch and acts like a flooded gas engine and so far it ultimately will start however I've had to replace a couple of starters and I think this is why. I've had it to a couple or three shops. The first guy said the fuel line was leaking. For several hundred dollars he replaced them which did nothing. The next guy said it was injectors and for a few hundred more he cleaned them and tuned the engine which did nothing. I forget what others have done for a few hundred but whatever it was it did nothing. Seems like the problem gets worse as the less fuel there is in the tank. This has been going on for a couple of years now. Truck has 139K miles and always garaged. Anybody got any ideas?
IMO it sounds like a lift pump. they are cheap and easy to replace, located drivers side towards the back of the engine. 2 hoses and 2 bolts, an hours worth of work with basic hand tools.
To me this sounds like bad fuel hoses or lines.
I'd start by replacing the fuel line from the tank to the lift pump with fuel hose (ID 10mm) - had a 97 in the shop where the metal fuel lines looked good but could be crushed between fingers and thumb due to corrosion from the inside out.
Another point would be the quick connect fittings on top of the tank.
All hoses and fuel lines were replaced12-18 months ago. Made no difference. Truck is a 1996 2500 SLT, 4x4 king cab long bed. The most work this thing has ever done is to occasionally pick up a 4x8 sheet of plywood from Home Depot and haul a few Hefty bags of leaves to the dump. Original spare tire has never touched the ground. I bought it to pull a boat when I lived in Oregon but after I bought it I couldn't afford the boat. Obviously the fuel is draining back to the tank somehow. There are no leaks or any indication on the under carriage that there ever has been. This lift pump sound like it has possibilities, I'll check it out. Thanks.
I had the problem that the fuel module inside of the tank had a line that got rubbed through by a screw. Almost drove me mad while trying to find it.
(It was the bigger one of the 2 black hoses in the module pictured. The screw that caused it is on the left side of the metal part and has a sharp tip that rubs a hole into the supply hose over time)
It's quite normal to see no leakage because the hole is in the "suction" portion of the fuel system.
Again, take a look at the top of your fuel tank.
You see the rusty metal bits where the 2 quick connects (blue and grey clip) are- on some trucks the metal is rusted through and allows air in.
Usually the lift pump gives you lack of power long before it lets fuel drain back- also it's so much higher than the tank that it would drain back regardless of a bit of slope less than 30-40 degrees.
Maybe you can snap some pictures on how it is set up at the moment.
I guess it is necessary to drop the tank in order to get to this thing? But if is a vacuum leak why would the problem occur only when parked on a incline. The other day I had a load of dirt heavy enough to cause the rear end to drop a couple of inches lower than normal and that was enough to cause the problem.
If the tank is lower than the source of the leak, the fuel drains back too the tank.
If the tank is higher than the leak it never drains back and work great.
You have a leak in the fuel system somewhere.
I guess it is necessary to drop the tank in order to get to this thing? But if is a vacuum leak why would the problem occur only when parked on a incline. The other day I had a load of dirt heavy enough to cause the rear end to drop a couple of inches lower than normal and that was enough to cause the problem.
To look at the quick connects you put your head up close to the frame and look towards the fuel tank - no need to drop the tank for this.
Take some pictures of your fuel lines- especially where they are attached to the stock system.
If you're worried about air being drawn in, plumb in a section of clear hose on the suction side of the lift pump, park on a hill and see what happens. if it's drawing air you will see the bubbles through the line when it's running, if the fuel drops back from the lift pump, you have a leak most likely internal in the pump (past the pump is pressurised and usually shows up as a visible leak), if fuel never leaves the clear tubing and it doesn't start, good chance it's the pump, can be confirmed by disconnecting the delivery side and seeing what you get for flow/pressure.
The truck can sit for months and will start instantly as long as it is parked facing down hill or on level ground. If it is parked facing up hill for only a few hours it will start and run for a second then die. Then you must crank and crank and crank. It will try to catch and acts like a flooded gas engine and so far it ultimately will start however I've had to replace a couple of starters and I think this is why. I've had it to a couple or three shops. The first guy said the fuel line was leaking. For several hundred dollars he replaced them which did nothing. The next guy said it was injectors and for a few hundred more he cleaned them and tuned the engine which did nothing. I forget what others have done for a few hundred but whatever it was it did nothing. Seems like the problem gets worse as the less fuel there is in the tank. This has been going on for a couple of years now. Truck has 139K miles and always garaged. Anybody got any ideas?
I’m in the same boat. My 95 would start and run as long as I jacked the back of the truck up and primed the system. After a few attempts, it would run and stay running. I could drive around for an hour. As soon as I shut it down, it wouldn’t start again unless I primed the system....again.
I removed the fuel lines and installed hoses from tank to engine. Now I can not get the truck started at all. I’ve bled the system over and over. I’m currently troubleshooting the fuel shutdown solenoid and the over flow valve in the injection pump. I’ve changed the lift pump and eliminated the fuel heater before I changed the lines with same result. Since I changed the lines, it won’t start, even after a brutal bleeding process.
Last edited by crew dawg; 07-30-2018 at 12:58 PM.
Reason: Missed a couple of items.
I’m actually thinking about installing an external tank on my flat bed and gravity feeding the lines to the engine. That seems like the fix for all this mess. Haha
Pressurizing the tank with a PSI or two will help get fuel from the tank to the LP.
The LP will not really pull fuel well from the tank if the LP and fuel line is full of air.
Crack the bleeder on top of the fuel filter and wait till some fuel comes out, then use the thumb pump on the LP to finish bleeding the system.
This does not seem to be an uncommon problem yet when I go to Dodge dealership, or any other repair shop for that matter, and explain what's happening they look at me like I'm speaking Chinese. I even went to Cummins and got the same response. I am no longer able to do this type of work anymore so it's been a frustrating experience.
07-28-2018, 09:01 PM
Engine won't start when vehicle parked facing up hill
