Archived Help !!! Not Gettig Fuel

[Dave Remillard]

My 95 Ram died Saturday evening and I had to have it towed home. After checking things out I confirmed it wasn't getting fuel. The primer on the transfer pump was leaking, so I replaced it (transfer Pmp. ). I have pushed the new primer 300+ times, cracked a injector nut to bleed air, and had the wife turn it over a few times while I watched for fuel to appear. Still nothing, so I loosened the banjo nut on the top of the fuel filter housing, and still no sign of fuel when the wife turned the engine over. I've inspected the fuel lines to the tank, the rubber lines for fuel in and fuel return and all appears to be ok. I don't believe it's a timing issue because of no fuel getting to the injectors. I'm lost and need to get this fixed. I've already lost two days at work. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[BV]

Long time ago we had a tractor with a bad fuel pump that we replaced and could not get to prime. We ended up using the air compressor to gently push the fuel in the tank up to the pump and injectors.



I'm in Beavercreek if you need a hand

 

[DavidC]

You could try putting fuel in the tank. Just kidding. Maybe something happened to the pickup tube in the tank. You could try blowing air in the line to the tank and see if you can hear bubbles verifying that the pickup tube is indeed immersed in fuel. Another consideration may be to hook up a hose to the lift pump and stick the other end in a 5 gallon can of diesel and see if it will start. Good luck and hope this helps.



Dave

 

[Dave Remillard]

BV

I'm certainly willing to try that, but I need to be more clear. I take it I should remove the fuel tank cap, and do my best to pump air in to tank and create some forward pressure towards the tranfer pump. Is this correct, or am I missing something?

 

[Boldt's Wagon]

One other thing to check. Other people have had the fuel sender in the tank fail, showing fuel, and were actually out of fuel while they were fighting getting the fuel to flow from the empty tank.

 

[Dave Remillard]

My fuel sender has been broken for some time now. When the truck died, under normal times, I had about 100 miles of fuel left. I went ahead and added 10 gallons just for good measure, but still can't get it going. I'll give yhese first couple of ideas a try, then check back on this board for any other ideas. THANKS

 

[BV]

Correct - We took the cap off the tank, wrapped a shop rag around the air compressor nozzel and held it tight to the filler neck and giving the tank short blasts of air which forced the fuel up to the pump and injectors.

 

[Dave Remillard]

It's Running

Thanks to all for the help. The underlying message was not enough prime. Went out and added a couple hundred more strokes to the primer and finally got fuel to the injectors. It ran rough for a few seconds, but smoothed out and is back to what I hope is better than normal. Thanks guys... a little nudge in the right direction helps a bunch. Regards to you and yours. Dave

 

[Evan A. Beck]

Be sure to check the fuel pressure with the new pump installed... 16-18 psi at idle, and 22-25 psi under load @ 2,000 RPM.

 

[Extreme1]

According to the FSM, there is a position that the engine can stop at that will render the primer on the lift pump useless. I have to pump a couple hundred strokes to see fuel come out when it's not in the wrong spot. What I do to keep from wasting too much time is pump about 20 strokes and pull the fuel drain to see if I did any good. I've only had the engine stop in this position once.