well hopefuly you find it before it drives you nuts. my 97 had that too and it turned out to be the fuel filter drain orings letting air in but no sign of a fuel leak.

 

I'm thinkin' in your case, Cummins is on it - inlet check valve in the lift pump is intermittently leaking.

 

So what was the culprit? Mine just started showing the same symptoms...I sometimes have to crank it 5 or 6 times when cold to start it, sometimes when its hot, too...

 

I just went thru this it was solenoid boot was melted on the plunger and was not allowing to come full pull up, cleaned the plunger and light grease problem solved. Ordered a new relay and boot from Larry B's

 

DieselDaze what was the final result/cure ??????

As an administrator and the originator of this thread i have to give you a little he ll for not reporting back the final results.

A lot of people come here to learn and it becomes very frustrating to others that are either following a thread or actively participating in one trying to help when the person asking for help disappears and leaves us hanging.

Not trying to call you out or make it personal as this applies to us all !

I have seen this happen many times just thought i should put it out there for all to see and to help keep this the great site that it is.

Remember the late Paul Harvey we need the rest of the story

 

sounds like you are getting air in the system you could try and pressurized the fuel tank and see if you have a leak I had 1 that was real hard to find ,ended up being the filter drain it did not leak 1 drop but when it got cold let air in to the filter.

 

Well, the truck did not have any additional issues since my last post.
That is, no further issues until I took my wife on our first date in, well, forever.
After having a nice dinner, we get out to the truck and.... no start.
Just cranks.

After cranking, resting, cranking, resting, several times, she started.

I made the decision to go on to our next stop as we had already made the nights arrangements.

When we got back to the truck, again, no start.
I lifted up on the fuel shutoff solenoid and she started right up.
This lead me to think that Id found the problem.

After dropping $300 on a new fuel shutoff solenoid, all seemed well.
Truck started right up for the next few days.

This morning, she wouldn't start.
Sure glad I spent that $300!!!

So, now Im right back where I started.

 

Not really, we now know she isn't lifting the solenoid, and the solenoid wasn't it. I would next swap the fuel heater and start relay at the drivers side cowl area and see if you don't have a relay acting flaky, if that isn't it, we need to post the start/hold circuit for you to track back.

 

My bet is the blue fusible link wire coming off the drivers side battery is corroded.
Many times they corrode under the insulation where you can't see it.
The corroded section of wire can temporarily weld itself back together for a short time when a lot of juice tries to flow though it when cranking the starter.

 

Hmmm... I will certainly check on that this weekend.