Dan Turner

The other morning, I went to leave for work, and the truck had lost it's fuel prime...didn't start right up, had to crank it a bit. About like it does when I change the fuel filter. Get it started, backed out of the driveway, put it in 2nd gear, ease out clutch, and it stalls. Start it back up, go to pull it back in the driveway, and it stalls again. Finally get it in the driveway, and let it warm up to operating temp. Go to leave again, no more stalling. But it's not making any power either. No boost, no smoke, no *****. Take it back home, and I take the Cherokee to work.

Got home and changed the fuel filter, which was only about 4 month old, and drove it to the gas station. It was low on fuel, a little less than an 1/8 tank. Drove normal to and from the gas station. Problem solved, for now.

About a week later, I'm driving in the local mountains, pulling a grade, shift to 4th gear, and it's getting enough fuel to maintain the speed, but won't accelerate. EGT's at around 900*, 15lbs boost, etc. all pretty normal. So I give it more throttle, and nothing changes, no smoke either. So I keep the throttle down..not matted, but down a fair amount, and all the sudden, the truck spools up, dumps a good puff of black smoke and takes off like it should.

Been pretty normal lately, but every once in a while around town, it does the thing where I give it throttle, with no response, then it wakes up and takes off.

I'm stumped.

Lary Ellis (Top)

Have you cleaned the "strainer" in the pre filter?

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

Dan Turner

I'll give that a try, It's probably been 35K since I cleaned the strainer.

Thanks, I'll post back what I find in there.

Dan Turner

Cleaned the pre filter. there was a little bit of garbage in there, but nothing I thought would restrict any flow. It seems to be running better, though. I have only put about 10 miles on it, but so far it seems to be happy...

-D

infidel

You can throw parts at it or install a fuel pressure gauge.
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/94...-12-valve.html

Dan Turner

Yeah, probably going to do the gauge in the next couple of days. It did the crank a while to start and stall thing this morning.

I've got an electric oil pressure gauge and sender, will that work, or do I need to get a mechanical gauge?

Hodge

Install the gauge, and see what your pressure is when it is not responding or wants to stall.
Mine had similar conditions, and it was gunk in the pickup screen in the tank. It was well worth the 30 minutes or so to pull and clean it. That is where my problem was.

Tate

Sounds like a shutoff solenoid not lifting up very much.

Dan Turner

So I looked at the fuel shut-off. It's been missing the rubber boot for years. When I looked at it last night, the rod was cocked sideways going into the solenoid. I straightened it out, and it seemed ok. Turned the key on, pulled the arm to engage the solenoid. Everything good. with the key still on, I pulled the arm back down, and the push rod came completely out of the solenoid, and swung around on the pivot. Once I put the rod back in place, everything seemed to run well.

Question is, is that rod supposed to be physically attached to the solenoid, and could this be the cause of my fueling issues?

Still planning on getting the parts today to put a fuel pressure gauge in.

Thanks, Dan

patdaly

No, there is a spring pushing it down though, so when you shut off the power, it snaps out. The only physical connection between the 2 is the rubber boot which naturally is disintegrated.

Get a new boot from foster truck, clean it up well, and lube and reinstall. I would bet your problems are gone.

Of course it never hurts to have a fuel pressure gauge on a 12 valve anyway..........

infidel

The boot holds everything together.
Get a new one here> http://www.fostertruck.com/replaceme...solenoids.html

The electric gauge will work but it will fluctuate violently so you won't be able to read it in the short time before the sender self destructs unless you install a gauge snubber or barely opened needle valve.

Dan Turner

Figure I may as well put a new FSS on there, since mine's got over 300K miles. Called Cummins Cal-Pacific, and they want $375. Oh my... So I ordered up the "super solenoid" from Larry B. Should be here in a few days. Also going to install the pressure gauge for good measure.

Thanks for all the suggestions and info. I'll update after I install the parts.

-D

Tate

Should've just bought the boot. The solenoid rarely fails. Removing it completely and taking it for a test drive would've told you if it was your problem.

Dan Turner

So I got the new solenoid put on, and everything is running awesome so far. It even feels a little smoother under power and feels like a little more power as well. Probably just in my head though.

thanks for all the help.

patdaly

Good deal, probably wasn't just in your head though, it probably hadn't been opening all the way for some time before it finally got bad enough to not work well.