Ron Donato

Let me preface this by saying about 3 months ago, I tried my first crack at restoring ANY type of vehicle, let alone a diesel. It took 2 donor trucks but this resource, youtube, etc have gotten me a long way and I just finished up restoring my 1990 5.9 12V. About a week ago after filling my tank, I noticed that it was leaking fuel. After looking further it turns out that the guy just overfilled and it hasn't leaked since I drove her 50 miles. Anyway, I thought to be extra sure, I'd run the tank down. BAD IDEA. I didn't know that you can't run diesels down without potentially ruining the injectors or worse. So, I was helping my buddy move some equipment and all of a sudden at a stop light, complete system shut down. No radio, dash, buzzing, nothing. The only thing that still works is the headlights. The fuel was still reading a little less than 1/4 tank so I figured (and still may think) there was a common wiring problem so I took a piece of 12 gauge wire and bypassed the wiring at the starter but she still won't turn over.
This leads me to believe there's no fuel and I should try to re-prime but I'm still not sure why I'm not getting the radio, dash or anything else. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue and if it is just low fuel, can you walk me through the process to get her back up and running??
Thanks in advance.

oliver foster

Did the battery terminal just loosen up?

If the truck stopped running, but the radio and lights still worked I would, bet your Fuel Shut Off FSS wire fell off.
Or is loose.
Search the 1st gen section or Youtube to find a picture of what I am talking about if needed.