'2003 no start

[LRoy]

Filled with fuel last night on the way home. Ran fine for the 6-7 miles after fillup but does not start / will start but not continue running) today.



Over night low was around 15F, high temp now is mid 20's. Truck was not plugged in. Pretty sure it's "just" a bad batch of fuel, maybe water in it? No codes set.



Changed fuel filter, drained out everything in the bowl. Filter was pretty dark, but no worse then I remember the previous filter being (7-8K ago).



I added a treatment of Chevron Delo diesel stuff (only thing available in this area on a Sunday) to the tank, but that obviously can't do any good if it doesn't get circulated around. If I let it sit for a bit it will try to start, sometimes even runs for 20-30 seconds, then stalls.



What are the options to thaw this thing out? Have no inside parking available. My only thought is to go out an buy a couple heat guns and park them under the tank and fuel lines for a few hours. Or maybe a 500watt flood light?

 

[Blakers]

We've thawed out dozers many times by putting a big torpedo heater blowing under the front. Put hay bales or something similar along the sides to keep the heat in and wind out. Don't get them near the heater's flame. Should warm up in a couple hours.

 

[rbattelle]

What a PITA. Where'd you buy the fuel?

 

[Casey Balvert]

The same thing happened to our EMS response truck recently. The dealer said there were codes and it was the lift pump. The little one on the side of the fuel filter canister. However I suspected a low battery as they had run them down the day before by leaving all the radios on.



The dealer charged the batteries and replaced the lift pump. Not sure which solved the problem though. Worth trying to charge the batteries fully and check alternator output to see what happens.



Casey

 

[LRoy]

Thanks for the advise.



What worked for me was to go out and buy a pair of brooder lights and 250watt infrared bulbs (under $30 all together). I set these under the fuel tank for about 1. 5-2 hours. It had also had the block heater running for the past 15-20 hours, but I doubt that helped much.



After that, it took a couple cranking cycles to get it going - I suspect that the lift pump needed some running to get the filter assembly filled back up.



Have some Primrose Flowmaster 409 additive on order and will start using that in the winter I think.



The fuel stop was a local "XTRA MART" - I've been using them since they are where the local tow trucks and rollbacks fill up, and also closest, cheapest, and 24hr.



Leonard

 

[mbaston]

Power Service 911

 

[LightmanE300]

Lroy, primrose is great stuff, Ive been using it for almost 2 yrs now(used to live way up north). Used with every fillup, you will not have gelling problems. If you are totally gelled up, something like powerservice 911 in the filter housing and tank will help get you started.

 

[jelag]

I have a few thoughts I'd like to share with you... .



1- all fuel should be good down to zero based on a conversation I had with my fuel distributor... . so your problem should be water/ice or a mechanical problem that has just developed.....



2 - if I thought it was the fuel... . IOW water... . I'd go back to the station and get a gallon of fuel and just pour it out into a pie pan... any water would end up in the bottom of the pan... .



3 - water is heavier than fuel and should be at the bottom of the tank... a simple test would be to remove the line in front of the filter... . put a rag in the tank and add some air from a compressor... . if the system is not iced up... . fuel should be forced from the disconnected port at the fuel filter... . it should pass through the one way valves in the pump with no restriction... . REMEMBER that only about 2-5 lbs of air pressure is needed to move the fuel through the system... . no fuel a chance of ice... .



4 - I posted a thread about the treatment of fuel on this board, both in the 3G area and 2G area because I thought the information was important and it came from a very large distributor... . If you wish I'd be happy to do it again... . but my thoughts are that you don't have a fuel problem... if your buying fuel from a station that moves 100K gal a month or so... the care and quality of the fuel today just means it shouldn't be geting dirt or water in the fuel..... the transportation system is just too good...



each of our trucks are high mileage trucks that are worked... we've added an extra fuel tank to each and a additional filter... one that is a fraction of the price of the factory filter... and about 2

x's the size... we usually change the filters once a year heading into the fall weather... some of these trucks see's 80 - 100 K miles a year... . and we don't seem to have fuel filter problems or water in the fuel.....



anyway. . just my thoughts.....

 

[rbattelle]

Originally posted by jelag

each of our trucks are high mileage trucks that are worked... we've added an extra fuel tank to each and a additional filter... one that is a fraction of the price of the factory filter... and about 2

x's the size...

Which aftermarket filter do you use?

 

[RCoers]

Filled mine with gasoline once and it ran for 6 or 7 miles before dying. Learned that the "Green" handle does not mean diesel fuel at all stations. Might check the smell of the fuel