My 98 12V quit Friday night on I81 near Winchester,Va for no apparant reason. Was running along with traffic 70-75 MPH and seemed to "run out of fuel" going downgrade .Had to have her towed off interstate next morning and towing driver does only minor repairs.Any suggestions as to what to tell him to check as I am 4 hours from him.I'm thinking fuel pump but got no check engine lights either. If anyone can suggest what I might tell him to check it might save a little grief later!! Thanx in advance

 

Welcome to DTR vacarman02,

The 12 valve engines dont have an electric "Lift Pump". However, bolted on the side of the injection pump is a fuel shutoff solenoid.
Perhaps that went out stopping the fuel from reaching the injection pump.

This is just a guess because Im not sure that a fuel shutoff solenoid would have that effect upon failure or not.

Have you checked the obvious things such as fuel leaks, dirty fuel filter, etc?

Good luck.

 

How bout the other obvious, you actually ran out of fuel?

You could also have some fuel in the tank,
but you are sucking air due to a crack or hole in the fuel pickup above the level of the fuel in the tank.
Fuel senders/pickups are notorious for either not registering the correct level of fuel, or springing leaks.


phox

 

I would have him check for fuel at the fliter and then i would check the fuel shut off solenoid to make sure its picking up. Other than that I would look at the electrical system.



Good Luck

Jason

 

Thanx for the input .Here's what happened next!! Called towing service in Winchester only to find out he had not gotten around to checking anything.Decided to use a freind's truck and trailer to pick it up and upon arrival was informed truck was running again! I asked what they had found and he said all they did was change the filter! Paid up and took off thinking why would filter cause this problem only 1000 miles old?? anyway truck ran fine (good power..etc) for about 40 miles headed home on I81 and then just quit again!!! Same thing all over again!!! Any more thoughts out there cause this doesn't make a lot of sense!! Thanx again vacarman02

 

fuel shutoff solenoid

 

A quick check to see if it the fuel shut is to turn the key to the run position, open the hood and lift up on the fuel solenoid arm. If it stays up, it should start. If it doesn't stay then it may be a relay or a loose connection.

Good luck!!

 

Probably the blue wire that supplies solenoid power coming off the driver's side battery is corroded and has an intermittent short that was accidentally"repaired" by the mechanic moving the wire around while changing the filter.

 

If its not an electrical issue, check the fuel filter again. Maybe you've got a bad batch of fuel that contaminated the tank and filled it with chunkies that need to be cleaned out.

 

Chunkies ??

 

Your truck is about the right age to be experiencing some problems with the starter contacts. They get burned and worn, and can bounce a bit and cause the fuel solenoid to shut down from a temporary short. Then when you try to restart, the solenoid will not lift in the start cycles.

Go to http://www.fostertruck.com/ and click on the Dodge link, and get some of their heavy duty contacts. They are very inexpensive and a snap to install.

The other things to check are the overflow valve on the injection pump (make sure everything is spotlessly clean and then pull the small bolt and check the spring to be sure it is not broken), the suction hose in the fuel tank, the wire connector to the fuel heater (they crack and leak air), the screen in the fuel heater (it is absolutely amazing how many guys forget to clean or change that part, ever), the fuel hoses from the tank to the frame and from the frame to the engine (if they are OEM, change them), and the O-ring on the primer plunger that sticks out of the lift pump (if the bulb is wet, pull the top and get a 5 cent O-ring from NAPA and fix the leak).

Another common problem is someone forgetting to properly tighten the water detector on the fuel primary filter, or leaving the drain valve just open enough to draw a bit of air.

 

Even though the starter contacts should be replaced about every 100k before they fail and cause expendsive damage they only feed the initial lift up coil of the shut down solenoid. Once the engine is running the contacts won't effect anything.

 

You might have algea in the tank. Try some Biocide from a diesel shop. And keep changing the filter!

 

Chunkies!!
Is it possible to have algea bloom in October? (in Winchester? - got pretty chilly the weekend earlier watching a football game there). I didn't think it would be warm enough. Concur on changing the filter(s).

 

Ok,Thanx again to everyones input again! The shut down is lifting but I removed the filter and found the "middle" O ring is stretched not even snug around the top of the cartridge.I was just charged for towing and a new filter after breaking down.Does it make sense that maybe the canister is not fitting right???The shop I had it at said all they did was change the filter and it cranked up!! any new ideas out there??? thanx vacarman02