GTSDave

Update!

Well the batteries cured it. It had enough current to turn over the engine, but the voltage dropped enough to mess with the computers.

Will it cure it long term? Who knows. For now it is starting like it should. Normally after my 24 mile drive into work, when I would try to start it up for lunch it would take forever to light. Now it starts instantly, just like it used to. Who would have thought...

-Dave

sdun

My truck has been doing this for about a year, IF I don't put a quart of tranny fluid in the diesel every 2 weeks or so in the summer and once a month in the winter. The truck will tell me when it needs the oil. It always starts nearly instantly, when it turns over 3 or 4 times to start you better not kill it before you put oil in the fuel or it will not start untill it cools down(several hours). If you put a quart in it you can go a quarter mile and kill it and it will start instantly. 230k on the truck, '01. I always thoutht the vp was on it's last leg. You might try the oil, its not a fix but it works.

GTSDave

New update,

The hard starting is back. I was down to 1/4 tank when I changed out the batteries. Well after I filled it up it went right back to the hard starting issue. It starts fine cold, but after my drive into work, and it sitting for a few hours, it is a bear to get to light off.

Back to the drawing board.

-Dave

sdun

did you put a quart of tranny fluid in the fuel? It's worked on 2 of my trucks.

RickCJ

If the engine is cranking over as fast as normal it isn't a battery/starter problem.
Cranking it over for 10 minutes sure wouldn't indicate bad batteries.
Diesel needs fuel and air to run which don't you have?
Whats your fuel psi when you try to start hot?

Junk Man

Yeah, and my hard start was cured by installing rat sh **** in the lines between the VP & injectors.

sdun

Whatevery makes you happy, i'm telling you if I don't have a little oil in the fuel my truck WILL NOT start when it is hot. You can turn it over until you kill the batterys or ruin the starter and it will not start. Let it sit until it's cool and/or overnight and it starts instantly. Another thing,at all fuel filter changes in everything from our trucks, Kubota tractors, up to the Cat equipment (D8,D6,623, etc) gets tranny fluid in the new filter when it goes on. Motors start right up and the pump gets lubed. We had a pump built on a dozer in the early 80s/late 70s and the builter told us to put oil in the filter and we have been doing it ever since. I would think that with the low sulpher fuel we have now that this would be even more beneficial.

Junk Man

works. Perhaps it is hear say or based on too small a sample size or no longer relevant or is plain wrong. You are correct, it is your truck. Do as you like. We all know that the VP has high tolerances and will happily process any fluid that you want to run through it. Yeah...if it lubes good enough for a tranny, it will help anything else especially the VP. Also, transmission fluid burns better than diesel and will correct a hard start situation. AND, adding transmission fluid qualifies as a proper repair because "it just works".

sdun

I have also used 2-cycle oil like in the test with the same results as the tranny fluid. The tranny fluid is just cheaper.

sdun

I am not trying to be an ***, just trying to help someone delay having to buy a $1200.00 vp pump for maby a year or more.

Junk Man

I'm not trying to be an *** either, just noting one experiment that purports to measure lubricity concludes that many "additives" that are promoted don't have any measurable effect on lubricity which is supposedly kills VPs.

Much incorrect information gets parroted on forums. If it doesn't work, the person feels good but is actually wasting money. For example, one of the rebuilders says that AirDog & FASS are over kill & that the VP only needs 5# of pressure.

I used to think that plenty of fuel (I bought AirDog & have 13-15# solid) would save the VP. Nope...I just installed my (2nd within a month) MWFI reman. MWFI says their 1st VP & by implication the prior one was killed by gas in my tank.

I'm told by a friend of mine who owns a fuel distribution business that diesel will separate from gas & water if left undisturbed in a container. I have no separation in any of the fuel samples. I only have bought fuel from 2 busy stations within the recent past & have samples from both of them and from my tank which was supposedly contaminated.

So, did MWFI mess up on the 1st pump? I can't prove it but only know the 0216 code reappeared several times after it was cleared with a scanner. Did I get bad fuel? Can't prove it as nothing separates out and an actual fuel test is expensive. Does AirDog save a VP? Perhaps, perhaps not. Will lubricity save it? Perhaps, perhaps not. We know for sure that snake oil that doesn't enhance lubricity has NO chance of helping and in fact would hurt because it wastes money & gives a false sense of security.