Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Tell Me That Didnt Just Happen To My Truck !!!!!

[DieselMinded]

Was going up the hill to my house in 4x4 kind of easy and then .....



motor just flat out DIED !!!!!! turbo flutter and all !!!!!!!



My heart went in my socks



I put it in park turned the key off and set the e-brake and slid out and looked under the truck for anything BAD... . Nothing !



Poped the hood ... LOOKED GOOD TO ME !!!







I got back in and fliped the key 3 times NO CODES !!!!!







She started right back up and drove the rest the way to the house fine .



I HAVE 1/4 tanks of fuel is it possible that at a steep inlcline it would run out ?????



FP is 15# at schrader NOW ... ... I wasnt looking at it when she died.



Oil pressure good



Whisle Sounded Normal



IT WAS NOTHING LIKE RIGHT NOW >>>NO SPUDDER NO NOTHING>>> ITS LIKE SOMEONE JUST TURNED THE KEY OFF???????



IT IS RAINING





HELP



DM

 

[DieselMinded]

Couldnt stand the suspence so I went out and took er' for a ride A_O_K



I fueled and added what PS I had in my bed $45 to fill it up.



Ran fine home Then i accended my hill in 4x4 no problem what so ever I stoped in the middle and it was running fine >



Being Anal Retentive I had to do something Proactive. .



I drained my Filter / Water Seperator and threw in a new Stratapore.



You know i figgered with the pusher pump just 1 good cycle and the filter canister would fill ... . NOT... ... crank crank crank... ..... let pumps cycle... . crank crank ... let pumps cycle... . same old BS ...



I dont understand why the carter dont fill the canister when its pushing ????



Anyway she fired up and seems to be runing normal



I went through the Comp settings and gave er' some good fueling techniques and she is SMOOTH.



How ever Fp is still 15# with a new filter I had 18# so somethings up.



My question



WILL THE CARTER PUSH THROUGH A DEAD LP !!!



I know the LP wont pull through a dead Carter .



I have lost 3 psi somewhere maybe the carters ware has lightend its pushing power ... like I said new Carter was 18# @ schrader the carter and gauge were new together so it may have air in the Fp gauge.



Any Idea's

or

Guess's





DM

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"WILL THE CARTER PUSH THROUGH A DEAD LP !!!



I know the LP wont pull through a dead Carter . "



It depends a lot on the position of the pump rotor when one of the pumps dies, and whether the vanes get stuck against the walls of the pump. Worse case scenario, fuel flow MIGHT be greatly restricted - but it's entirely possible that nearly full flow MIGHT get thru - pretty hard to predict.



That's one reason I installed a home-made bypass line/valve AROUND my Carter pusher - tested it, and it works GREAT!



#ad




But of coures, one is needed on the stock LP as well for maximum safety in case IT fails...

 

[CHardin]

Seems like I read a post somewhere about fuel line leak problems inside the tank on long bed pickups. These would cause fuel starvation with partially empty tanks when the fuel level fell below the break or leak. You might do a search on that. Charlie.

 

[DieselMinded]

I concidered that case



I have a short bed not sure if that will matter. .



If this was the issue then how would it just fire right back up on the hill in the same place it died???? This must not be the problem area.



Gary , I have looked at your design about 50 times The problem is On a short bed there is not room for that contraption ... I couldnt even mount my carter on the inside of the frame... I had to mount it on the outside and build a steal shield to cover it from road debris.



up to 16 psi Now it must just be the gauge.



Just drove about 20 miles NO PROBLEMS



Now even if it never happens again I still want to know what fixed it



ADDING FUEL

DRAINING WATER SEPERATOR

CHANGING FUEL FILTER

PRAYING



DM

 

[GKinney]

no fuel

Could be your fuel tank module like most of them has the slots wore enough on the sides of it not letting it drop down towards the bottom of the tank when it is low on fuel. Not sure what year your truck is, but my 98. 5 had the slots wore in the module when I pulled the tank last fall. I now have an independent 1/2" suction pipe so really don't worry about the junk module. Just a thought.

 

[TractorNut]

We had one a few months ago... guys leaving a TDR meeting. . calls and says. . it just died... we figured the VP went out. . it showed 1/4 on the gauged... but he had no fuel at the valve at the VP... added 5gal. . and bled it. . and its been going good... he never did pull the tank to see if he has a problem. . just never lets it get low...

Bryan

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

At a 1/4 tank and a steep incline you can easily run out of fuel. Happened to member Lsfarm on his farm. I try to not run my tank at less than 1/2 tank.

 

[DieselMinded]

WHEW



thanks guys



Thats what Im going to chalk it up as----- Ran out of fuel for a split second .



It was accutally on the line above the 1/4.



Not sure why it just fired right back up THO



And I usually dont let it run down that low,,, but I have went up that hill a bazillion times And I know Ive had to go up it with that much or less fuel but maybe not.



But thats really the only way to explain it .



DM

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

I try to not run my tank at less than 1/2 tank.

Shoot Steve there's your excuse to get rid of that big ol klunky 36 gallon unit and get yourself a nice race ready 18 gallon unit instead. :-laf

 

[dougs455]

I too suffered a problem close to yours before.



Built a new dirt circle track car. Went out for hot laps and motor died in the corner like no fuel. Cranked and pumped the gas till my battery was dead. Got back to the pits, charged battery (fuel tank still full) and it fired right up. No miss, no leaks, 7200 rpm.



Went back out for heat race... same thing happend. Couldn't figure it out. Had at least 5-6 people look at it. Changed carb and went out again for "B" feature. Ran just fine till it got a little crazy in the corner. (I was racing on an 1/4 mile track with 19 other cars... you can imagine how tight and nerveracking that is)

What I was doing was hitting the distributor kill switch with my elbow mounted to my right on the cage. I ended up doing it AGAIN the same night.



Car has since been torn down with new body, better cage, and DASH mounted switches.

#ad






Dumb question: Are you sure you didnt hit the key by accident?

 

[DieselMinded]

I WISH I DID as a matter of fact I may just convince my self thats what happened !!!!



I hope I could turn back time and had the radio down and been watching my Fp gauge and all that jazz... .



Im a nervious wreck driving now hopeing it dont just DIE on me... .



what to do what to do..... I think I just need to get over it ... It never happened



DM



been about 300 miles no problems

 

[I-6DZL]

Dougs455 i remember those days, just a year ago. Don't even want to look at another street stocker in my life. But please tell me you have door bars to put in yet!!!!!!! You have a 455 in that thing or what ? We were running a 383 on a 3/8's high bank dirt oval.



Sorry to hijack thread, just a safety concern in the above pic.



Curtis

 

[dougs455]

I WISH I DID as a matter of fact I may just convince my self thats what happened !!!!



I hope I could turn back time and had the radio down and been watching my Fp gauge and all that jazz... .



Im a nervious wreck driving now hopeing it dont just DIE on me... .



what to do what to do..... I think I just need to get over it ... It never happened



DM



been about 300 miles no problems

Glad to hear no more problems

 

[DPelletier]

DM, I submit for your consideration that it may have had nothing to do with your fuel system at all.



Flashback to three years ago, I'm driving my 2001. 5 24v down the road at a pretty good clip (late for a site meeting), when all of a sudden my truck just dies. No sputtering, no hesitation, no nothing; just immediately dead as though someone turned off the key.

I pulled over to the side of the road and unfortunately in the heat of the moment, I didn't check to see if just the motor died or all electrical systems died. I cycled the key all the way off and then started the truck up like normal.

Very mystifying.

The truck did it once more in the year following (in the same area) and I had the dealership check it out. I made a big fuss because of the safety issues related to the truck dying in an inappropriate time. Final analysis was that electronic interference may have shut down the ECM. The road I was driving on has a powerful radio transmission facility.

Take this for what its worth, I have no idea if this is even possible, but it's what I was told and thought you might like to know.



What keeps bugging me is that I know what running out of fuel feels like or even a failed lift pump or other fuel system restriction and they never were as sudden as this electrical shutdown.



Cheers,

Dave

 

[DieselMinded]

I with you DP



exactly



I was also pondering the fact that I never noticed if my electrical system failed or if I shut the thing off when I turned off the key ??? I had Tenatious D pounding so for me to hear the flutter the Radio must of stopped also ... but I just cant remember !!!!



This is my drive way Im sure if it was UNDER A UFO Super tecno Highway I would of noticed it before.



Maybe its just the cummins gods telling us something ??? LOL



BUt seriously I too have been a nervious wreck about it dieing up the ON ramp or around a big corner...



I agree if it was my fuel system why did it just fire right back up ??? and why didnt it spudder at first ?? IT WAS RUNNING 100% one second and 0% the next NO SINGS OF ANYTHING thats why I was a deer in the headlights when it happened !!!



and still I cant be sure it wont do it with my family in the truck. .



I guess I could go to a dealer and get charged a few hundred bucks for dianosis just to have them tell me theres nothing wrong ?!?!?!?!



Ive even been told ... "WELL WERE NOT PICKING ANYTHING UP >>> IT MUST BE ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT IT WILL HAVE TO BE DOING RIGHT NOW FOR US TO KNOW WHAT IT IS" . . what a crock !



and Im figgering thats what a dealer would say about this ... NO CODES !! the dealer cant do JACK !! No warning signs SO i cant do anything either... WONDEFUL. !!!



I just realized I now have a 10 gallon fuel tank !!!! now I have to stop every other day to fill up ... $20 !!!! ridiculous !!! Im running her low... way low and Im parking on that hill... at least I will rule out the fueling > if it dies then ... THERE I GO !



DM

 

[Timbeaux38]

Chad,

Did you cycle the key 3 times to check for codes?

 

[DieselMinded]

YES



PCM DONE



Is what it said



Im pretty sure that means no codes .



Either that or my PCM is DONE !!!!!!!



LOL



DM

 

[Timbeaux38]

that is funky- Mine did the same thing when the VP crapped out- only mine did not start back up ... .....

 

[TJany]

DM,

I had a chevy 6. 5 that would do the exact same thing your describing, turns out there is an ECM on the fuel injection pump on those things that can give you an intermittent problem. there is also a fuel shutoff valve on the chevys that does can do the same thing. i don't know if our trucks have anything remotely close the items i just mentioned, but that might be something to look into as well