Had a friend in a duramax run out of diesel. Had a hard time restarting his engine. Just wondering how hard is it to start back up for a psd? Just curious.

 

I know some of the older diesel engines 80's-90's, the fuel lines had to be bleed and the system primed. I understand it was such a pain, that most people went to the dealer to fix the problem. I am not sure about todays diesels. Have always been hesitant about running low on diesel as opposed to gassers. Good Luck.

 

I ran my old ( pre PSD) diesel truck out several times. I just sprayed WD40 into the intake a few times while cranking and it fired right up. I'm not sure about the PSD. I would also like to know just in case.

 

Well... Think about it. When you change the fuel filters, just about all static fuel in the lines drains. If you change it with a full tank, you'll have a lot of fuel draining out the HFCM when you open it up. I prefer to drain it and change that filter when the tank is near empty. So, the only question is how well the fuel pump in the tank primes the system to the high pressure pump.

I would say that if you ran it bone dry, (not a great idea since this wears on the pumps and other components), then put enough fuel in the tank to be picked up, and make the system "wet", then cycling the key a few times while listening for the pump and pressure relief, you should be able to prime the system sufficient to start the engine. I would not just turn the key and expect it to start, but these new systems are much more forgiving than early fuel injected Diesels.

-Steve

 

ive done it before on my 6.0L just crack one of the injectors till fuel gets there and should go.

 

When my buddy ran out he told me he some kind of lever he needed to pump under the hood. he did it, and was still unable to do it. it was like midnight. he tried all night until the morning. Another buddy brang some starting fluid or something like that and sprayed it in to start.

 

Starting fluid / glow plugs = possible disaster

 

I, rather foolishly, ran my PSD dry about a half mile from home one night. Had to get back to the kids and to take the sitter home. I put about 3 gallons in the tank and then cycled the key 3-4 times. Then it started up, coughed and sputtered a bit and died. Cycled the key 3-4 more times and started it up again. It did ok this time but ran "funny" for a minute. The water in fuel light came on for that minute too. I didn't think to drain the separator but apparently it was ok because the light went off. After that minute, the truck ran just fine. Not sure what my reasoning was but I didn't drive her real hard for the next 20 miles or so. I have not had any apparent problems since.

My brother is an engineer for Cummins and I asked him the implicactions behind running a diesel dry and he basically said the fuel lubricates the injectors and that is the biggest potential risk. Fuel pump too but that is not as big of a deal to repair as the injectors.

 

It shouldn't have been that hard to get it restarted, every moron GM salesman I ran into while shopping for a new truck had to tell me about the manual pump/prime feature they come with.

 

I have not run out of fuel in my truck yet. But my truckdrivers and Hi-Lo operators seem to do it every now and then.

Re-Starting is much easier if you or your driver does not try to restart the engine after it stalls. I agree with the other posts. Put some fuel in the tank, cycle the key a few times and see if it will start. If it still does not start, crack an injector line and cycle the ignition untill fuel leaks out. Then re-tighten the injector line and crank it over again.

I do not recommend using starting fluid or WD-40, period.

 

There aren't any injector lines on the 6.0 as there is no injection pump, but bleeding the air out of the system would most likely be a good idea. The banjo fuel fittings connecting the fuel lines to the front of the cylinder heads would be a good place to start.

 

I can't say anything for the 6.0's, but the 7.3's are pretty easy to restart. I have had to do several in our company fleet and it takes only a minute or two. Once you put some more diesel in the tank, open the water drain in the side of the fuel bowl. With the drain open, crank the engine till diesel starts to come out (shouldn't take more than a few seconds). Stop cranking, close the drain, rinse the diesel in the engine compartment out, and it should fire up within another 5 seconds or so. I know it is a little messy, but it takes a a lot longer if you have to run all the air in the fuel lines and bowl out through the injectors. This way gets 99% of the air out of the system licketty split.

I haven't seen any observable damage to the our vehicles, but I have heard of fuel pump failure where there was prolonged cranking with no fuel.

Ditto on starting fluid and WD-40 being bad. I would never recommend it unless the Glow plug system is disabled.