NJTman

Fill ya in later, when I can write my novel.

Blue Goose

shifting onna hill.....

NJTman

See below:

That's how upsetting it was....

So,

Snow plowing was uneventful all saturday into the wee hours on Sunday.

Sunday rolls around, and finished up a few local residential properties, and all was well. the 5.9 ran like a clock, just as it always does

This morning, I head to one of the commercials that I had to clean up beneath the company trucks parked in the lot during the storm. They guys moved the trucks, I swiped beneath them, and went about my way.

So, being a nice chilly 9*F I started heading away from home figuring I'd check out a site that was taken over by another contractor because of the nepotism that is involved in, well just about everything. I get about a mile away from my commercial, and as I'm driving down the highway at about 55mph, the plastic stick on the floor stops responding to my foot, and the little red light goes on in the dash. The truck died out.

I was lucky, and I guess not nervous enough to pull off the road, and into a recently abandoned Bank that closed the branch there. I was even more lucky to have it had been cleared by the snow contractor who does all TD banks down there. You forget how difficult it is to move these trucks with zero power steering, but soon you remember !

So, I try starting it, and NOTHING. Feels as though the FSS had shut itself off, and now there was nothing but the engine turning over. I check the connections, and try again. Nothing. Just spins over.

So, I get on my cell, and call the wife. She doesn't answer, and by the time it is on my phone, she must be on her way to work.

I call her brother. Ask him if he can come get me and I can come back with tools, and materials and figure out what happened. He's on his way.

By then my buddy who's a diesel mechanic by trade (Class 8 and up) calls and we start talking about what it is. He asks if there was a lot of smoke when it died, and unfortunately, I didn't look in the rearview to find out. Right about a minute into the conversation, the wife calls. I hang up with my buddy, and she said she's almost to where I am, as she got my message, and started heading down the highway. I call her bro, and tell him I'm good.

Wife gets there, and I ask her to turn the ignition switch on when I say so. Feeling the FSS I feel NO CLICK. I didn't have a test light with me, so I pack up the truck, lock it up, and we head home.

At home, I loaded my jerry can of diesel fuel, a new filter, the old FSS I removed two weeks ago that was going bad, a half inch socket, my metrick 1/4" socket set, and an electrical kit in case I need to hotwire the FSS (if that turns out to be the issue. Drive back down.

Get to the truck, and test light the FSS. Got power with the switch..

Next is to pull the linkage off, pull the FSS and replace it back with the 25 year old one I removed previously. Truck won't start

Next is to replace the fuel filter, of which I find that the one on the truck has NO FUEL in it. Pump the manual lever on the lift pump, and after about 7 pumps, fresh, clean fuel drips out of the fuel heater base. Fill the new filter up with diesel, install it, and pump the lift pump up again. Truck won't start

Thinking that I somehow messed up the install of the original FSS, I pull it back out, and try again with the damaged rubber snubber. NO START

Then, I think to myself, lets see if the injectors are getting fuel. Crack the first injector at the front of the engine near the radiator, and have the wife turn the key. Bubbles, then fuel. Truck stumbles, then shuts off.

I crack the second injector and tell the wife to shut it down when I tell her to, as I don't have the linkage back on, and want to make sure all the open injector lines are shut before I get it running. She turns the key, the second injector starts bubbling, the starts spraying me, my plow, the underside of the hood, my glasses, my hat, my shirt, my mustache, and anything else near me with diesel fuel, as it begins to run.

and spray diesel fuel everywhere...

Tell the wife to "turn it off", and she says " I DID ! "

She pulls the key out and starts waving it at me, meanwhile the truck is spraying everything with diesel fuel, and I can't see through my glasses covered with it. I get off my step ladder, and run around my snow plow to the drivers side, and pull the MANUAL shut down lever on the Fuel Injector pump, and NOTHING. IT won't shut off !!

I run back to the step ladder, grab the 17mm wrench and close the injector that was coating everything with fuel, and the truck settles down and continues to run.

Now that the fountain has stopped, and I realize it's not "Running away", I relax and again try the manual shut down lever. NOTHING. It continues to run. Step back and hand my glasses to my wife, as they're useless now. I realized at this point, nothing to do other than to choke out the engine.

I get the top tube hose off at the intake horn, and look in my other pickup truck for something flat. Grab a thick piece of cardboard, and as I get near the intake horn it makes a horrible bang noise. I pull the cardboard away, and luckily it was still attached to the main piece and didn't get sucked into the intake. I look for something else.

I find my salt spreader has a plastic rigid shield on it. I pick that up, slide it in front of the intake, press gently, and the engine goes to sleep.

Now that I can feel the lump of poo in my pants has settled down, I figured I'd take the replacement FSS and put it back in, as it was a fuel problem all along. Must have iced over while driving and starved the engine of fuel.

Pulled the old FSS (which had a broken rubber snubber on it before I installed it), and put the newer replacement one back in. Turned the key, she fired right up, turned the key off, and she turned right off.

Put the truck back together, started her up, drove to the fuel station, put 20 ounces of Power service white bottle in (double the recommended amount), and drove her home. Purred like a kitten the entire ride, and other than smelling like diesel fuel, I was quite happy

So, lesson learned. When it's going to be in the single digits, I'll be putting more PS in, and opening the drain valve on the fuel filter more often as well. No idea why the manual shut down lever is inoperable, but it is. I guess it's something I need to look at someday, but I'll remember to keep an 11mm deep socket and wrench, and an air intake block off plate in the truck, just in case I need to shut it down again.


And...




Yeah, I know, but I just didn't feel like taking any in 10*F weather...


lol

PapeCAT

Wow! I think the manual shutoff lever can be clocked in any position and might need to be advanced a few teeth to really grab and shut off the fuel? Both my current and last truck had inop manual shutoff levers after pump reseal/rebuilds. One of which was from a diesel injection shop.

thrashingcows

I know when I re-seal an injection pump the shut down lever, with it's spring tension usually gives me more of a headache then any other part of the re-seal job.

Glad you got it sorted out T-man.....Think I've been pretty lucky with Ol' Patches this winter. We have been in the -20* to -30*C (-4* to -22*F) alot this winter. Heck I BBQ'd some ribs last night on the deck at -17*C with a wind chill of -28*C.

1320Fastback

Can't remember if the shut down levers orientation is adjustable externally but if the shaft the lever rides on is not installed properly when the pump is apart it will not be able to engage the proper piece to shut the fuel off.

thrashingcows

It's a splined shaft, and I wouldn't recommend trying to adjust it without having the pump apart.

PapeCAT

Mine was working just fine, but after I had it all together, it was leaking from the Oring under the pump shutoff valve, after I replaced it with the pump on the truck, and reinstalled the lever, It must have lost the correct orientation because it no longer shut-off the fuel after I got it back together.

lz_68

I've done it assembled after I forgetting to scribe a mark in the shaft while replacing some seals. It's a major pain but doable with a thin pair of forceps to hold the shaft out far enough for the lever to engage the splines.

thrashingcows

Never thought of a thin pair of forceps....but that is the problem, getting the internal parts to stay in place while adjusting the splines on the lever.

NJTman

Thanks fellas,

I think I'll stick with my "block off plate" for now. Once spring is here, and I can afford to mess around with the truck (downtime), I'll think about playing with it. For now, it runs FINE, and I'm toooooooooo scared to mess with it during the season.

Mucho's appreciadiatoros

jruthven

Managed to service the transmission today. Drained the old oil and replaced it with new valvoline full synthetic oil, as well as some automatic transmission conditioner (ATC) from BG products. I also put hose protector on the lines running to the factory fan cooler in front of the rear wheels. Next up: head gasket replacement

j.fonder

Finally finished my nv4500 swap.
4x4 getrag to nv4500 swap - Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum

Jim Lane

A 5# carbon dioxide (co2) fire extinguisher discharged into the intake will also shut down your engine.
But not sure how a co2 extinguisher will act in minus degree temperatures if it will even discharge.

diesel402004

Glad you got going there. Thoughts on the "double dosing" of PS: I had a near gelling (or icing) incident recently(-20 F) with dubious #2 and plenty of PS. First time ever in the 20+yrs of these rigs in extreme cold conditions. This got me to researching and reading about winter effects on diesel, and reading, and reading etc.
One of the huh? things I read was that a heavier dose of anti-gel can actually raise the cfpp--cold filter pour point--and actually cause gelling. It seems that most "winter blends" have a cfpp of -20 c to -40 c and adding PS can raise it. Or adding too much anti-gel to normal #2 can cause gelling itself. Also of note is that once gelled fuel never completly "ungells" in the filter element thus being restricted and more prone to re-gelling.
Another scenario is water in fuel is different then gelling, but the ice crystals can contribute to gelling, or cause restriction in the filter/lp area too. (I actually think this was my issue). Just some things to ponder....