Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Crank No Start....

[BorderCat]

Okay, here goes...I have a 2000 Ram with a 5.9L 24 valve with a GDP mechanical lift pump off the crank pulley (lift pump delete kit). I was towing a Toy hauler and ran it low on fuel to the point that the fuel light came on, pulled into a truck stop and shut it off. Truck started and as soon as I put it into gear it died and will not start. No codes. I cracked all the lines and it did have air in them....I have bled all the injectors the best I can and still won't start. Do you think I could have burned the VP44 out of it?? Truck only has 85K on the clock. What are your thoughts??

 

[JR]

Maybe you need to bleed it more? You are cracking the high pressure lines and cranking the engine?

 

[BorderCat]

I've bled the crap out of it...I think. Bled it at the back of IP and at the injectors til straight fuel came out.

 

[JR]

Should be doing it at the valve cover, which is the highest point.

Are you getting good spurts of fuel at each injector? Should be a healthy amount.

Should also be getting a healthy amount of fuel at the lift pump, if it ran out you need to start there (inlet to the VP) bleed it and then go to the injectors.

 

[BorderCat]

JR,
Yeah, started at the LP then went to the VP then to the injectors(except#2)had good amount of fuel from all injectors.

 

[JR]

Very odd it ran when you shut it down. Do you have a fuel pressure gauge on the low pressure side? Did you pull the filter to verify its not plugged off? At this point it may be time to locate a good scanner. The key trick doesn't always produce all codes.

 

[BorderCat]

Have not been able to get a pressure gauge on it yet. Replaced the fuel filter. Had a Snap-On scanner and had no codes. Not sure what's going on at this point.

 

[JR]

I would suggest doing a flow test since you don't have a fuel pressure gauge but since you have a mechanical pump I don't think it will be very accurate. How do you prime a mechanical pump anyway? Just crank the engine until the air is bled out of the low pressure side?

I'm sorry I can't be of much help to you, the lack of codes from a Snap On scanner would leave me to believe you still have some air somewhere in the line but that is merely speculation.

 

[BorderCat]

I've never ran into one that was so stubborn to bleed. It will fire off when I feed it some starting fluid so I know its got to be starved for fuel. All you do to prime this system is crank it and I talked to the guys at GDP and they said many of their customers run this pump without any assist from an electric LP.

 

[Joe Mc]

Wow, this seems like a tough one. Usually I can cracking 1, 3 and 5 @ the head crank till fuel is present shut 3 and 5 leaving 1 cracked as someone is cranking and poof it'll fire. On occasion I've had to hold pedal to floor while cranking to get it to fire, but if you try this don't crank for more than 30 seconds at a time and allow 2 or 3 mins for wires to cool down between crank sessions. Good luck brother.

 

[gtwitch]

It surley has air on the low pressure (feed) side of things, get a guage on the lift pump side and get the air out to the VP 44 and then go on to the bleed of the high pressure side

gtwitch in wyoming

 

[RustyJC]

You can often help a truck that's lost its prime with an air hose and a tennis ball or rag to seal it off on the filler neck of the fuel tank to push the fuel up to the lift pump.

Rusty

 

[KATOOM]

I've never ran into one that was so stubborn to bleed. It will fire off when I feed it some starting fluid so I know its got to be starved for fuel. All you do to prime this system is crank it and I talked to the guys at GDP and they said many of their customers run this pump without any assist from an electric LP.

You can get it to fire with starting fluid but it wont continue to run? Thats not right because if you properly bled three of the six lines then it doesnt take that much before the engine will start. Are you POSITIVE the amount of fuel coming out the injector lines is correct. Just because you see fuel doesnt mean its a working VP. If its dribbling then thats not right, but if its spurting like it wants to squirt out then thats more correct. Sometimes its hard to tell as the amount of fuel coming from the VP is very high pressure but low in volume.

You didnt touch ANYTHING else while messing around under the hood did you?

 

[BorderCat]

Went through BlueChips diag. on the VP and found it to be bad...replaced the VP this weekend and truck is back up and running. Thanks guys for all the help. TJ

 

[KATOOM]

That sure is a bummer, but I'm glad you got it figured out. On a side note, the OEM factory VP's were very fragile units. Not only was quality control very poor but some of the materials used were inferior. They just couldnt handle much. Which is why most of those only lasted generally 100k miles at best. A quality aftermarket VP with a new computer will be far more robust and if supplied fuel properly, will probably be the last one you ever need. Hopefully.....