Background:

1994 Dodge 3500 CTD, 4x4, 112,000 on the clock, auto.

Ran awesome. I drove it home from school (200 mi) for the weekend. I get there, park, and the next morning my dad needs to move it. Grabs the keys, goes outside, doesnt bother warming the glow plugs after a cold night, but just starts it. Naturally, it dies, so he tries again (i can hear this). Then it dies, tries again...this time, he revs the hell out of it to try to get it to stay on, then backs it up...and it dies, starts it again, revs to the **** moon, and moves the truck, gets out and is done. FF to a few hours later. I get in the truck, warm the plugs, start it, wait for a minute and get out of the driveway...start going up a hill in my neighborhood, and this thing does NOT want to go. It barely makes it to 1200 RPM, so I stop and let it sit for a sec, wondering what the hell is going on. I rev it and white smoke is pooring out of the exhaust. So I limp it back home, pop the hood, and proceed to check it out. I take the intake hose off the turbo (b/c it was running poorly I was wondering if the turbo was even spooling..I couldnt hear it) Nope, turbo is fine. The air filter in the box was horrible looking, so I replaced it, but again, not the problem here. So I let it run for a few more, rev it by hand in the engine bay, and it seems to be ok. I drove it around, no problems, the rest of the day...same response, same power, no more smoke, idles fine...everything seems ok. Drove it all the way back last night, no worries. 80 mph the whole way, all is good. This morning I get in, warm up the plugs, and BAM, same thing...bad running, white smoke, pittiful...warm it up for a few, then it runs fine. I have no idea whats going on....anyone? Did my Dad mess up my truck?

 

Oh, and oil press and engine temp seem fine all the time....

 

Your dad killed it. Make him buy you a new one. You had a mega Cab, right?

 

are you serious, or no? If not, youre not cool...ha ha. But for real, are you joking or what?

(standard cab...94) I want a mega cab tho...

 

This is a Cummins, right? No glow plugs. Can't blame it on your dad. Did you check your fuel filter? How about the overflow valve. Does it make noise when you manually pump the fuel pump? Has it ever been changed?

Glow Plugs

 

How cold are we talking here? It may be possible that your fuel is starting to gel up. I would throw a bottle of "Diesel 911" in and change the fuel filter, as GAmes suggested. This would be a great start and the problems should go away...

 

sorry about that...as you can tell Im def. new to diesels, let alone Cummins. Then what is the "wait to start" light for?

I havent checked those things though...if someone would be cool enough to give a few pointers like where this stuff is....I just got the truck a couple months ago, so Im not sure about the replacement of stuff. I just changed the oil and air filter (which was nasty) this past weekend, but Im not sure about the other stuff. My next task is the fuel/water separator, but its kinda on there and in a difficult spot, so Im workin on it...and I dont know how to disconnect it to keep the fuel from goin everywhere. Any help appreciated, and sorry for the newb-ness.

Ill try some of that 911 stuff...thanks for the help.

Otto

 

nah, it wasnt that cold. Just cool, as in the 40s or so...it has seen a lot colder (from WI) and not only that, Ive had it in a lot colder..like high 20's and have never had this problem with it...it was just after he started it...Im not blaming him, im just curious if he might have done something....

 

Hey otto some guys around here liking poking the new guys with the term glow plugs-yes the dodges have something similar and does heat up thats what the wait to start light is for. Its referred to as a grid heater and is located on the air horn-the air delivery piece going into the motor next to the injection lines you cant miss it. So instead of a plug for every piston this is just like one big toaster and heats the air.

 

aaaahhh...I know the piece youre talkin about..Thanks.

Any more help on the afore mentioned things would be awesome...

Thanks! Otto

 

i have done about the same thing,
i think when you kill the engine like that you leave unburned fuel in the combustion chambers and when it starts again the unburned fuel has to clear out before it will run good (sounds good to me)

 

The water/fuel seperator is where the fuel filter is located. I'm not sure if a 94 is the same as a 99. You will need to reprime the fuel system. Deisels will not run at all with any air in the fuel system. Before you open that seperator unit up, get you some instructions about bleeding the system, plus make sure you have the tools to do it.

Also, stay away from cheap filtes like Phram, etc. I recomend Fleetgaurd from Genos.

http://www.genosgarage.com/default.asp

Get you a book on your truck. Even if it's the crappy Haynes book from Autozone. It's enough to get you through most of the do it yourselfer stuff. Also do some research on the KDP issue. Killer dowel pin. Make sure yours has been taken care of. It's a dowel pin under the timing cover that tends to work itself loose and fall into the crankshaft timing gears. Not a good thing when it happens. It breaks alot of expensive parts.

I was kidding about him killing your truck, unles you think you can get him to buy you a brand new one. And if that's the case, I think he killed mine too

 

Thanks for the help guys...if ya'll have anything else...lemme know!

 

when you change the fuel filter out refill the new one with diesel fuel or ATF then prime the pump below that using the priming plunger. pump it maybe 25 times or so, dont think i even had to pump mine that much tho. should start right up w/no problems then.

 

is the plunger like a bulp type pump that you squeeze or what?