Archived Ran out of fuel won't start

[mchelius]

Ran out of fuel Sunday but the fuel guage said 1/4 tank. Anyway the engine won't start and not sure where to bleed the system of air. I searched the forums and they say to losen injector fittings. Are they the ones below the valve cover? Just wan't to make sure. Any other tips? Truck is a 2002.



Thanks

 

[fox]

You do not have to remove the valvecover. The lines go into the head.

 

[JLandry]

First, change the fuel filter if you haven't in awhile.



Next, bump the starter without starting the engine. This will trigger the lift pump to run for about 25 seconds to fill the fuel filter housing... you should be able to hear it run. Do this starter-bump-don't-start three times total.



Try starting the engine. If it catches, don't press on the throttle. Just let it idle (it'll rattle like hell) for 30 seconds and then gently give it some throttle. It'll take a couple of minutes to purge all the air out of the injector lines and smooth out.



If it still won't start after priming the fuel filter housing by bumping the starter, then you'll have to crack open 2 or 3 injector lines to help bleed some of the air out. These are the (going from memory) 17mm fittings where the injector lines go into the side of the cylinder head just below the valve cover. Loosen 2 or 3 and crank the engine until you see good squirts of fuel coming from the fittings. The engine may start while doing this. You may wish to loosely wrap some rags around the loosened fittings to catch the diesel. In all cases keep your skin away from the squirts of diesel coming from the loosened injector lines as it's under very higher pressure and can cause injury.



If it still won't start after all that, then you may have damaged the VP44 injection pump from the fuel starvation.



Good luck and let us know how things work out.



John L.

 

[icman95]

I find that filling the fuel filter housing by hand with diesel works pretty well. In other words, I pour some in from a gas can, etc. and the engine almost always starts right up. I do this after a filter change. Don't give up too soon. Sometimes this takes a while to get it to catch.

 

[JLandry]

I find that filling the fuel filter housing by hand with diesel works pretty well. In other words, I pour some in from a gas can...

Ken,



I've done this myself in the past, but recently I've been reading about how this is a bad idea.



Pouring diesel directly into the filter housing could introduce nearly invisible contaminates from the fuel can... or could stir up contaminates from the bottom of the filter housing. As anal retentive as this whole thing sounds (I can picture people rolling their eyes), if you think about it carefully, it makes a lot of sense. I mean, why would we bother fussing over having a 5 to 25 micron fuel filter to protect our expensive VP44's if we're just going to go and bypass it completely by pouring unfiltered fuel into the filter housing?



Instead, bumping the starter to let the lift pump do it's job to fill the filter housing and the VP44 is probably the wisest way to tackle the problem, and as a side benefit, you get to avoid the whole mess of pouring diesel anyway!



Best regards,



John L.

 

[icman95]

You know, I've never thought about it in that way. Good point. I am due for a filter change soon anyway and might change the way I do things because of this.



Thanks!

 

[mchelius]

Thanks Guys, Cracked threee lines and she started right up!

 

[upsyes]

Absolutely Correct!!! Do NOT pour diesel in the filter housing! You will introduce particles into the fuel system POST FILTER. Not good! ALWAYS use the starter bump method. It works! (unless your lift pump is toast) This is when you will find out if your lift pump is non-functional and your VP44 is sucking fuel thereby guaranteeing future failure of your VP44. A good lift pump will SPEW tons of fuel from a cracked line. Eric

 

[icman95]

In my own defense, I got the idea from a friend who has been doing it for 10+ years on his truck with no ill effects. He's been through lift pumps and has put on a FASS years ago, but no vp44 failures. Just luck, or not as dangerous as it would see to be?

 

[upsyes]

It's faster, cleaner and quicker with the key and besides, for me, I just don't like to find out the hard way. : )

 

[billmac1]

In my own defense, I got the idea from a friend who has been doing it for 10+ years on his truck with no ill effects. He's been through lift pumps and has put on a FASS years ago, but no vp44 failures. Just luck, or not as dangerous as it would see to be?

When I change the fuel filter in my truck, I always clean inside the filter housing using lint free ( I hope) cloths. Then, I pour filtered diesel fuel into the housing to wash out any pieces of lint if there are any - of course the drain is still open. I close the drain, refill with filtered diesel about a third full then I install the new filter. I usually keep a 2 gallon container of diesel on hand. When I prepare for a filter change, I use brown #4 cone coffee filters to filter a couple of 16oz. jars of fuel for the process. It sound likes a lot of work, but it really doesn't take long. Of course, I go through about a dozen coffee filters - they plug up fairly quick. The truck always starts and I don't have to bump the starter to cycle the LP several times.