03 5.9 no start

[cycletech]

I have a 03 2500 5. 9. . It has 281K miles on it... It would not start this morning with temp. around 45 outside. . I checked fuel pressure by pulling fuel filter housing off and turning vehicle over, of course diesel went everywhere. I checked for codes, nothing shows up. Has anybody heard of torque tubes, or fuel tubes, do they come loose and need to be retorqued to 37lbs? I read somewhere that if not torqued can cause excessive fuel to return to tank and not create rail pressure? I checked rail pressure with my bullydog outlook monitor, only shows 1200 to 1500 when cranking. . I have no programmer installed, only use monitor. .

 

[sag2]

Tubes are a great free place to start. Torque them and see if the cranking pressure comes up. I'm assuming the filter is new? You need at least 3500 psi to get it started. If you need to get it running before, you can use propane or worst case ether, but be very careful.

I was playing around today with a 6. 7 and while running if one connector tube was cracked the engine would die. From tight to die was less than 3/4 inch of travel on the end of 24mm end wrench (approx 12" long). So it does not take much to make them leak, especially when the rail pressure was up above 10,000.

 

[Slow Six]

You could also have leaky injector(s). There is a ton of info on this site. Do a search.

 

[rbattelle]

Could also be a bad rail pressure relief valve, I think. Possibly even a bad fuel control actuator, although I suspect that's less likely than a problem downstream of the CP-3 in this case.

Ryan

 

[JJPage]

rbattelle may be correct about your FCA,(fuel control actuator). It is located on the back of you CP3 injection pump, the only device with a wire harness attatched to it.



Unplug it, and then try to start your truck. It will ramp your rail pressure up to 26/27k at idle, and will rattle like crazy if it starts, so do not drive it that way. A new FCA is around $100 at Cummins.



However that still could be masking underlying problems, like leaky cross tubes and or injectors.

 

[cycletech]

I got to truck to start. I took fuel lines off and re-torqued tubes, and put back together and truck started. Dont know if that was problem but has ran for two days now. thanks for all input...

 

[SandyHelton]

I am having a similar issue and am not sure what the proper next steps are to diagnosing the issue. I only drive the truck on weekends for the most part, so when I tried to start it last Saturday morning for a trip from San Jose to Carson City, NV, it was very hard starting and took several minutes of periodic cranking before it started. I had no other issues on the trip with the truck and was even able to start it the next morning in Carson to leave and go back to San Jose. On Tuesday, I went to drive it and it would not start at all. I have changed the fuel filter - the old one was only a few weeks old, so I didn't really think that it was an issue. I drained the filter housing to examine it for water - none there. I have at least 9 PSI of fuel pressure at the filter after it has been primed. I also check the air filter and it looks fine.

do I start disassembling the fuel lines to the high pressure pump and then at the CR?

 

[SandyHelton]

Thanks Andres, I knew the basics but this was a great explanation. I'll get one of the caps to cap off the injectors and see if I can isolate the injector. When I do that, I assume that I should cap off the output port of the fuel rail. Do I need to fully remove each tube to ensure that it is out of the way without bending them?

 

[SandyHelton]

I was wondering how people torque down a tube fitting. Are there special crows feet for tube applications?

 

['strokeThis_'07]

My 03 hadnt been starting for my dad... 6 new injectors and it runs like a champ. He was smelling fuel so atleast one was likely leaking