I have searched the threads on both these issues and not found a specific answer for my problem.

Here is the symptomology:

When I bought the truck, it had been sitting for a couple months. The first time I fired it, I had to hold light pressure on the go pedal and then it fired and ran a little rough. I ***-u-me-d that it had lost "prime", so to speak.

In addition, on my first day of ownership, I notices she cranked alot more than my '93 CTD did. My '93 would fire on what sounded like the the very first turn of the starter.

A couple days down the road we had that snowstorm here in the mid-west and then it got silly cold! Well, with the temps in the 20's and not plugged in, I had to do the same thing with holding the go pedal on start up and she didn't want to run until she had idled about a minute or so. In addition, the fuel mileage went down the toilet, (from about 20mpg to 14mpg).

So that is where she stands. A hard start condition in cold weather or if she has sat for awhile; and, the starter has to turn over a fair amount for her to fire.

I haven't noticed any fuel leaks or whatnot but my drive is gravel. Any suggestions would be appreciated. By the way, I changed out the filter and it was black/nasty. She ran alittle better initially but then returned to her previous state.

Thanks in advance

I

 

If your fuel filter looks real bad, check your pre-filter.

http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/filter/pre-filt_clean.htm

 

Does'nt sound like much of a problem. You must keep it plugged in for smooth starts. I add Lucas fuel treatment every tank, especially in winter. An overflow valve is cheap maintenance. My mileage always goes down in winter. New Hampshire gets 3 weeks of 0 degree weather. I let it idle for 5 minutes and then chug her down the road. These diesels must run to get warm. I dont get heat for twenty minutes on the highway. Good luck

 

at a 20 degree start up not plugged in you should not have to hold the pedal down for one minute to get it to idle. I would say something is wrong.

if you are going to do a lift pump, I would do the overflow while your hands are dirty (another 40$).

could also be your grid heaters, are you getting alot of white smoke?

also check,

your idle (750 warmed up with ac on in park)

your fuel lines for cracks

your shutoff solenoid

 

I did a overflow valve & lift pump with in a week of each other this fall ,
the 1st symptom was a drop in fuel millage , the next was that it was hard to start when the tank got to about 1/4 , did a fuel pressure test and it was low , about 15-20lbs , I figured that the pump was weak , not able to pull fuel from a low tank , put in new pump , took the old one apart , found that the check valves were coming apart , and then it would start with a low tank , but the millage was a little low , checked the pressure again , still low , I read a lot of posts that stated that if you gave the engine a little more fuel , that a lot of trucks got better millage , so then I replaced the overflow valve and now every thing is good ,
I think you can have some of the symilar symptoms with a maladjusted linkage off the fuel shutoff also ,
Hope some of this helps .

 

I would start with changing the fuel lines, the rubber gets old and allows air to seep in, even though it won't leak fuel out. Make sure you get diesel rated line.
The idle should be 750-800 A/C on in DRIVE.
The fuel pre-heater could be bad, or leaking.
The overflow valve is another possibility.
As are the heater grids.
And yes, check the fuel shutdown solenoid.

 

I left out the fuel line issue , I made a old fuel filler cap and a shader valve , into a way to pressurize the fuel tank about 2-3 lbs , then with a flash lite look for leaks ,tank , lines , hoses , LP , fuel heater , most of this stuff has a vacume , because its on the suction side of the LP , with a little pressure you can see leaks ,

 

Sounds like u could have air in the lines

also if you have to get on the throttle a tad bit to get it to start, the idle might be a little bit low, Still tho, holdin down the pedal for a minute to get it to run right, well it does sound a bit too long, My truck has fired up in 32 degree weather without bein plugged in, and i only had to hold the pedal idling at 1000 for about 30 seconds, and take off and drive slow and it will be good to go (if im in a hurry, if not i let it idle for a few mins before i take off) but its not that cold down here too often..

To see if your LP or OFV are bad you would need a fuel pressure gauge, But it is a good rule of thumb to replace the OFV every 75K miles or do, But if you do manage to hook up a FP gauge, and u know ur feed and return lines are good this is the way to test for a Bad LP or a Bad OFV

Go ahead and pinch the Fuel return line (the one in the rear on my 1996, behind the fuel filter) and watch the FP gauge, if the pressure shoots up quickly, then the LP is good, and u can rule that out of the question, If your idle is low (less than 17-22 psi) then ur OFV is bad, I have replaced both on my truck with the assistance of that gauge... another benefit for that is that when ur FP drops about 5 psi or more from average its time to change out the FF...

As suggested, change out the FF, and the prefilter as well, both are easy and inexpensive changes...


Just for refrence

18-24 psi at idle is normal
17-34 is normal at high throttle and cruising

FYI in mine with a tweaked OFV i see
36-42 psi at idle (40 on average)
24-26 psi at WOT or high throttle
38-42 psi at crusing speed




Hope that this helps..

Rick

 

Appreciate all the help so far. Where would I hook the F.P. up too?

 

Adjust the idle up a bit and problem should dissappear.

 

U have to tap the banjo bolt on the side of the injection pump to do this...

Not a hard procedure really, just a tad time consuming, bout 2-3 hours or so, Look up Infidels photo gallery, he has some good pics on how to tap the banjo bolt to the IP Here the pics below should help you out, they are from his gallery..







Please note the last one serves as sort of a temporary solution or gauge.. But it better shows how to hook up the gauge....

Hope this helps!

Rick

 

My 97 3500 was similar to that when I bought it, I just sdjusted the idle up a little, and its been fine ever since. Is a 5 speed.