total diesel newbie here, so please no laughing...

Just picked up a 98 12v this weekend, and in screwing around with it trying to learn, thought I'd test draining the fuel filter. So I flick the yellow drain lever (is that called the banjo bolt I read about here?), and fuel starts draining out, before I realize what's going on I suppose about a cup of fuel came out and I turned it back off. So one questions is, how do you know when it's water coming out and not fuel, or for how long do you let the filter drain? Secondly, now the truck will not start, do I need to prime the filter and is the priming button on the lift pump? Thanks in advance.

 

the water separator is on the bottom of the filter...all u do is press up on it once and let go...a couple drops will come out and thats really all it is...if u held it any longer then you'll have trouble starting and have to prime a bit....when u prime your life will be easier if u pop the banjo bolt on top of the filter...the middle one and prime with it opne till u get fuel leaking out...then u tighten it and crank...i think there's a small difference in the filter design between yours and mine but it should be the same idea

have fun

 

The primer button is below the filter. The knowledgeable guys here suggest using a short broom handle to reach it easily. An easier solution offered by Infidel is wrap a rag around an air compressor hose and insert into the gas fill hole to slightly pressurize the fuel tank which will fill the filter. Next time drain less.
Welcome to the site, you'll learn more about your truck here than anywhere else.

 

'Nother suggestion: Get a small glass jar and let the fuel you drain trickle into that. Then you can hold it up and look for water at the bottom of the jar.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, when I get home tonight I'll give these a shot. Hopefully I can get it to start! I cranked it for something like 20 seconds, I hope I didn't hurt anything by doing that. I don't know what that yellow lever on the side of the filter was (I hope that was the filter...) but fuel/water was definitely not trickling out, pouring out is a more apt description.

update: just figured out what the yellow handle I pulled does, I guess is dumps all the fuel out... imagine that. Determined that from the procedure described on changing the fuel filter here:
http://www.dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/fil...uel_filter.htm