My father recently bought a 6.9 powered 350. Thinks he ran out of fuel no start.
He was told to "pressurize" the tanks by blowing air in the schrader valve....
was he mislead and what exactly are the uses of the valve besides testing pressure with a gauge? What shall we do now that he has run air in?
He is on the way to pick me up so any fast replies win!
Brent

 

The valve is to let air out as the pump sucks the fuel from the fuel tanks, and sends it up to the filter. If you have one of those little tools that unscrews the guts of the valve, take that and remove the guts from the valve,(or unscrew the whole valve out of the block) and then crank the engine till you get fuel coming out of the valve. Stop and replace the valve, and then a few more tries it should start sputtering and will start eventually. Make sure to give the starter a rest between tries.

 

Thanx so very much!!! That is how I thought they were to be used but one old trucker telling another trucker "I think...." and my dad is as hard headed as they come!
Brent

 

A guy told me that same thing too. I knew it was wrong and told him but no, hed beun makanikin longer then Iv been alive.... and took it personal. I just said OK and walked off. Can't argue with a tree. Ok, hes half right... about the age.

 

Aaah, the good old let's blow the lines clean, diesels start faster on just air... Like you said MegaCab, can't argue with a tree.

 

the best thing to do is get rid of the stock pump and put in an electric.makes clearing lines of air so much easier and easier on your truck as well and its fairly inexpensive to do.easier to start if you have a air leak issue as well

 

I have this big Husquvarna saw, where is the tree you can't argue with?

We can take care of that in a short.

 

Well after getting there and getting charger on the batts, I had him crank it a few times 'tween resting the starter and re-upping the juice each time with the valve core opened. I cracked loose fittings to determine the lift pump was working... My dad even said "Lift pump? I thought the *fuel pump* did that..." I cracked the nut at the 2 rear most injectors and had him crank it until they were damp. Well I finally got hold of the handy dandy hand vac pump and brake bleeder kit. Sucked fuel a total of 8 ounces or so from the schrader until no bubbles and soaked some up on a clean rag much to pop's chagrin as he was SURE I was going to hydra lock his motor and as he cranked it I piddled a bit til she fired off! He asked why not just purge each injector then crank it... My reply was since his batteries were far from full and his starter would not survive long with low juice and cranking it was just the way I was going to do it! Now to convince the hard headed cuss that he NEEDS NEW BATTERIES and may as well put the starter money aside too!
Truck runs...
Brent

 

the lift pump is the fuel pump.i took mine off and used a chevy big block block off plate to cover the hole and put the electric pump in front of my selector valve.in my opinion a way better set up