I drove my truck to a late night diner this evening. There it sat for about 1.5 hours in 55-60* weather. When i returned to the truck and tried to crank it...nothing....I mean the ingnition and starter were working...I could tell because the engine was trying to turn over..it sounded like it was getting no fuel. I looked around in the engine bay...nothing seemed amiss..several more tries along with pumping the go pedal finally convinced it to turn over. I have never had a starting problem with this truck...after starting it, and driving it home, I cut it off, waited a few moments, and tried to start it again...cranked up fine...what is going on? Any advice is appreciated.

BigWhite

 

Sounds like you may be losing prime. I'm not too good with this stuff, but maybe you can try and pump the lever on the lift pump a few times after it's been sitting for awhile. This should prime it up and if it doesn't, your lift pump may be bad. I'm sure others will chime in on what else to do.

 

I never had starting problem either....then suddenly that same thing you describe. The second time, I had to jazz the pedal to get started and it ran rough on a short trip. Got back home. The third time it would not start. So I decided to take off the fuel filter and hand pump the lever on the fuel pump and got no fuel at all. I replaced the pump and filter, reprimed and now running fine. The pump was probably original with 116,000 miles on it. I got the new one at NAPPA.

 

I had the same problem. I cured it by installing a new NAPA lift pump. Very easy job and not very expensive.
Mike

 

thanks guys!..im gonna look into it right away..any idea how much the pump and labor would be?

BigWhite

 

Can't remember how much the pump costs. If you change the pump yourself, it'll only take you 5 to 10 minutes tops so it's definately not worth having a mechanic do it (unless you hate the smell of diesel ). A couple bolts and a couple of lines. Thats it!

 

my old lift pumps lever was bent and would be pushed down causing the fuel to leak out and loose prime. Just something to consider if you havent looked yet. instead of buying a stocker i got the high pressure lift pump and glad I did. runs great

 

I agree on the high pressure pump. The old pump was starving my VE for fuel, which is not good for the pump. I tossed a piston pump in and wow, it sure shut that pump up good!

 

some guys call them high pressure lift pumps or piston pumps. Where do you get them and is it true 1st gens. have one pump and newer gens have more than one. Should I have NOT used a stock replacement from NAPPA. Thanks

 

With stock injectors the stock lift pump is adequate.

In hindsight I don't think the piston pump was worth the money. A Walbro setup like I put on recently cost about $50 more than the piston pump and line from Cummins. With the piston pump I could drag the fuel pressure down to 5 psi. I can't get the Walbro under 15 psi. Which seems like the better value?

 

If the stock pump normally supplies 5psi, what advatage is there to having 15? Pressure and flow are two different things. I think the VE will pump the same amount of fuel through the injectors at any given throttle position whether it has 5psi or 15psi in front of it.

 

Same thing here no prime, so start, new napa lift pump and a quick R&R and I was on my way.

 

Tell us more about this Walbro set-up.

Is it electric??

Also, though I am no expert , an injection pump needs a large volume of fuel circling through it, returning back to the tank to make the cycle again; this unburnt fuel serves to cool and lubricate the injection pump.

To give an example of just how much fuel goes through an injection pump and returns to the tank, I have a large auxilliary tank that I can draw from, while letting the return-line re-fill one of the stock tanks.

I can run a stock twenty gallon tank to near empty, switch to the auxilliary, and the return-line will have the empty tank full in about thirty miles of Interstate driving.

I have often used this feature as an indication of fuel-filter blockage and lift-pump health.

When it starts taking an inordinate amount of time to refill a tank, I suspect that the fuel-filter is in need of a change.

If a new filter doesn't speed up the process, then I check out the health of the lift-pump.

 

Yes, it's electric. Which was why I resisted doing it for so long.

More info is in the install thread, feel free to ask questions there rather than cluttering this thread with semi-off topic posts.

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=120066

 

So i have been driving the truck for the last few days..not a single start-up malfunction...cranks first time every time ....so i am just gonna leave it alone. Thanks for the advice!

BigWhite