It all started out as A nice new day, We were going to take a little road trip into Los Angeles this morning so we all loaded up into the truck, we stopped at my regular Jack in the Box to get breakfast.

So I pull up and talk to Jack and I shut my engine off, I order my food and then give it a crank to get restarted like I do about maybe 6 times a day, but now this time all I heard was crankcrankcrankcrankcrankcrankcrankcrankcrank It would not start and here I am sitting in the long drive up line with a car just pulling up behind me.

I am immediately diagnosing the situation in my mind as my wife it saying put it in park and try it.

They all must have been watching me on the monitor because I opened my door to signal the guy behind me that I was going to push it backwards when from behind the menu came 2 workers from inside and were pushing my truck out the driveway backwards.

We got it out of the drive and pushed it into the parking lot where I could take a look.



I tried it again and it would not start no matter how hard I tried. we ate our breakfast and I checked it out. Did the usual, check the solenoid wire and checked for the click, and then I pulled the solenoid and pulled the plunger and gave another try. Nothing.

I know I had fuel because I just put in $50.00@ 3:00 A.M. this morning in the driving rain.

So I tried and pumped the priming lever and it was laying there limp, bumped the started and still limp???

I pulled off the NEW fuel pump and took a closer look to find the cam lever was just laying there flopping loose, the pin that drives the diaphragm had broken loose from the lever.



Now I was only a few blocks from my house so I figure I would have it towed home where I could fix it and get back on the road.

I call AAA and told them I needed a tow and told them it was a Dodge Dually and mentioned DIESEL, they said it would be about 1 hour, fine so I wait.

The AAA guy shows up with tattoos up his big neck and part of his head in a little 1 ton Ford Powerstroke and says he doesn’t think he can even lift me and he will have to call for a flat bed which will take another hour.

So I called him back and told him to forget it I will not be needing him.

I think I have it off so we will just walk home and I can get the car and go get a pump and drive back to fix it.

I had called ahead to the auto parts and they sent a truck out to get me a new pump and had it waiting when I got there.

On inspection I find the warehouse had sent me a cheap piece of do-do Airtex Fuel Pump, I told them I wanted a Carter,



Here is the new Carter pump that looks like it is assembled by humans.

The Airtex was assembled in Turkey.



Fast forward an hour, I reinstalled the new fuel pump on the block and picked up my tools, I gave the lever about a dozen strokes and then crossed my fingers and toes, After a it cranked for about 10 seconds it came back to life.
Man that is a beautiful sound.

DO not buy AIRTEX…

We still got into Los Angeles only about 4 hours later.
I am glad this did not decide to break at 4:00 A.M. 30 miles from home that could be almost any night, like last night.

Jim

 

This is exactly why I spend the money for quality parts. Ive been burned too many times in the past by buying whatever was cheapest.

 

I am proud that your troubles happened as close to home as they did.

My own truck shut down on me, a few weeks back, due to the screen of the lift-pump getting blocked.

Here is some helpful information that I learned in diagnosing my own situation.

I already knew that the VE pump will draw enough fuel through a dead diaphragm pump to pull the truck.

I had a load of hay and the storm clouds were gathering.

So, since I had had the forethought to replace the rigid hard fuel-lines with flexible rubber ones, I took the lines loose from the lift-pump and connected them together with a straight coupling, therefore by-passing the lift-pump.

With the lift-pump by-passed, I fired the engine and took my load of hay to the barn, unloaded the hay without it getting rained on, and drove the truck back to the house, where I diagnosed and fixed the problem the next day.


As to the defective fuel-pump, I guess it would be possible for a loose piece of the pump to fall into the crank-case, or would it ??

 

Even in disaster-relief mode, you still take better pictures than I do, Jim Glad you got things squared away AND got to go on your outing

 

I've just figured out what's wrong with your truck Jim,

You don't have a coating of semi-conductive "Stuff" on everything there-by negating the homogenizing effect afforded to the karma envelope.



. .. .. . it's too clean.

 

same thing happened to me last winter. I was driving and and the truck was acting like it was gelling up. So i went back home and got my red truck and did what i had to do. Got back and the truck would not start! I noticed the primer lever was not working. So i replaced the lift pump and had to crack all the injector lines and BAM fired right up. I gave 89$ for a lift pump from carquest and it was a new Carter. Is that a normal price? Your right jim, they're is no better sound than it firing up after somthing is wrong!
ez

 

i'm glad you got ur truck back into running shape and thanks for the very nice pics so i know what to get when that happens to me.....

 

Jim,will you please stop wearing your tinfoil hat while next to the camera truck on the freeway,as you are transfering bad karma into your trucks chassis.On another note,good thing you wern't going up the 5 Fri,nite. out of the valley.Nasty mess.

 

When you changed the pump the first time had that one quit or was it routine maintaince ??

 

That is what I would have expected if I had only had to pay $19.95 for the thing but Airtex Part #Air1407 cost me $74.99.

After I showed up at the Auto Parts with the pieces the owner said they have been having a lot of returns and quality problems with this vendor and now they are no longer going to offer their products.

The only reason I wound up with this product was it was late in the afternoon and it was the only thing they had.

Inspecting the insides you can see the difference in the gauge of metal used in the manufacture.

Even compare the pictures and you see the Carter has a heftier look and feel.

Now I am not bad mouthing all of their products but I personally will no longer use them on my vehicle, I must be able to depend on my truck to run at all times.

Jim

 

Thanks for that, I always have my Canon 30D digital camera with me at all times so I can get that "On the spot reporting"..

Guess I am really waiting to see a UFO or get abducted or something.
Jim

 

I have an idea to convert my truck into my own version of the Cummins powered AWACS and be able to fire multi mega joule EMP burst from hidden side and rear facing phase array antennas to distort the perception of my vehicle of it's actual location in relation to the scanners.

That was terrible up there on the I-5, that is about 40 miles North of me.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...la-home-center

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-pileup1...la-home-center

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...la-home-center



Jim

 

Yes it was only routine maintenance, how was I to know I was going to make it less dependable?

Jim

 

I find it interesting that you got food from "Jack in the Box" ,but your truck is in a McDonalds parking lot.

 

Good catch there; I saw the Ms, too.