Posted by Eric B. on Friday, August 16, 2002 at 2:48AM :
I went out for a drive in my 97 Dodge with the 12V Cummins yesterday, and when I went to start it it started hard, it felt like I had air in the system. Once it started it ran fine for about 6 blocks, then it started running funny.
Now I was pushing the truck a bit, the fuel warning light had been on for three days(took just a couple short 2-3 mile trips though).
Well I let it idle for a minute, and then it died, and did not want to restart.
I borrowed a car, and went to get fuel, added three gallons, and tried it again. I opened all the lines to the injectors, and it started, ran for a minute, but then died.
I went and got another three gallons, and filled the fuel filter. This got the engine running after about 20min of cranking, and waiting, repeat until tired.
At this point I am jumping the truck off the borrowed car, and things are looking grim when the truck dies again.
Well, I figured I had to many injector lines open, so I closed three, and tried again with a newly filled fuel filter. I was in luck! It ran great, I tightened all the rest of the injectors( a hard thing to do when your glasses are covered in fuel fog), and the truck ran fine.
2 min later it died, the truck was tached up to 2,000RPM, and it just died.
So I refilled the fuel filter, figuring I had done a real number on the fuel line with my fuel economy trials, and I would try again. I refilled the fuel filter, cracked another injector line, and cranked it over.
It started in a minute, and ran well, for 2 min, then it died again.
I got the same result on my last try, and now the truck is sitting where it died, and I smell way to much of diesel fuel. It is 1:44 in the morning, and I need the truck tomorrow.
Any thoughts on what it might be? If there are any tricks, like the fuel pump in the tank shutting off when you run out of fuel, then that would be nice to know.
Otherwise, I am forced to have it towed somewhere, where they might get to it my the end of the month.
Any thoughts? I would like have a few guesses when I get to the mechanic, as all I can think of is, bad pump before the fuel filter, and a clogged line.
Thanks for any ideas!
Eric
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