Sigh...Ran out of fuel and can't get truck to start now!

[MarkR]

Well there is fuel in the fuel bowl (I opened the valve) and I'm getting white smoke out the exhaust when attempting to start it. I've cycled the key/pump for about 10 minutes. It sounds like it wants to start but not enough juice in the battery I dont think. Hopefullly after charging for a bit it will do the trick.

[dieseldan2005]

Originally Posted by szyd

If you poure fuel in bowl you still have 10' of empty fuel line.

Your right, but you are eliminating having to fill up the bowl if oyu prime it there. but yes cycling the key will also prime the rest of the line. We always filled our fuel filters up on the semi's when they ran out of fuel. It just reduces the amount of cranking necessary to make it fire.

[MarkR]

Now I have 8 gallons of fuel in the truck but it just keeps turning over and not firing. I am getting lots of white smoke (unburned fuel?) out of the exhaust. This is a P.I.T.A

[bigcountrysg]

Are you sure you do not have another problem. Whitesmoke is usually from fuel starvation or cold firing.

If your truck is equipped with a block warmer plug it in. Also check fuse number 22 to see if it blown. If it is blown replace it. Fuse 22 powers the fuel heater in the fuel bowl. If the fuse blows again then the fuel heater is no good.

If the truck starts after having the block heater plugged in for 3 hours then you have a cold start issue that needs to be looked at. Either glow plugs are bad or glow plug relay.

There is no way to prime the fuel system other then cranking the engine over. I have been told this by several techs on here.

You need a minimal of 5 gallons of fuel in order to fire the truck up after you run out of fuel. Don't ask me why I do not know why this is.

[thesmokinstroke02]

im interested in all this too. subscribed

[elibenson]

Diesel rule #1: Don't run out of fuel.
Diesel rule #2: If you do run out of fuel, it's going to suck to get started again.

I would soak a rag with gasoline and have a buddy place it near the air intake and let it "sniff" it while you crank. Don't hold it too long while cranking, because you don't want to over-rev your engine. It will run a little rough on gasoline vapors, but it will help get a cold, un-primed, un-charged, air-filled-fuel-system truck running again.

This is way more relevant for the older trucks with mechanical (either diaphragm or camshaft driven) fuel pumps. Those things only produce pressure when being turned, so having the engine running (poorly) on gasoline vapors gets it going much faster.

It should still help you purge that air in the system in a newer truck too.

[szyd]

Originally Posted by elibenson

Diesel rule #1: Don't run out of fuel.
Diesel rule #2: If you do run out of fuel, it's going to suck to get started again.

I would soak a rag with gasoline and have a buddy place it near the air intake and let it "sniff" it while you crank. Don't hold it too long while cranking, because you don't want to over-rev your engine. It will run a little rough on gasoline vapors, but it will help get a cold, un-primed, un-charged, air-filled-fuel-system truck running again.

This is way more relevant for the older trucks with mechanical (either diaphragm or camshaft driven) fuel pumps. Those things only produce pressure when being turned, so having the engine running (poorly) on gasoline vapors gets it going much faster.

It should still help you purge that air in the system in a newer truck too.

Cooll never heard thatone before.

[kinghawg98]

not sure if it applies, but on a 6.0L the engine will turn over,but not start if thie voltage is too low.

Again, not sure if it applies.

When I ran out of fuel, I took off the fuel cap and then put the key to the run position until it filled back up with fuel, put the cap on and viola.

Again, its a 6.0, but maybe somewhat relevant?

[cchase]

the 7.3 has an automatic prime. You cant do it on your own. You have to crank and crank put it on a charger because your batterys probley wont sustain the cranking it needs.

[elibenson]

Oh yeah, and if you feel like using ether ("starting fluid"), forget it. It will probably destroy your glow plugs. Even if it does manage to get your truck running, it is very bad on the upper cylinders, valves, turbos, etc. It is very "dry" which means that it lacks any type of lubricative properties at all.

On a hot engine, it won't work at all anyway. The heat vaporizes the ether, and makes it even harder to turn over than with out it.

On the ambulances I work on, they have (or had until I got a hold of them) resonating chambers on their intakes. If you use ether, the ether builds up vapors in the chambers and when the engine backfires it blows them all to hell. There will be pieces of brittle "Bakelite" plastic all over the top of the engine, on the ground, in your eyes/teeth. It's really cool.

So,
Diesel rule #3: Don't use ether. Use a gasoline soaked rag to hep you start a stubborn engine.

Also, DW40 will work in a pinch too. I don't think it is the liquid part of the WD40, I think it is the gas propellant in the cans that is flammable, but it does work.