Maual primer on fuel pump?
 

So, I'm grinding my 94 IDI turbo this morning and she won't start. (Has been running fine) After a while my neighbor came down and said sounds like you lost your prime - where's the manual primer on your fuel pump. Understand - I just got this truck and I'm new to Fords, and I had been asking myself the same thing, having had a Toyota diesel in the past with such a thing. Neither he nor I nor my manuals nor my searching on FTE has revealed that my rig has a manual primer - sure can't see one, if it there!
So, tell me, am I blind, or what? And, if there isn't one, then what do you do? I finally took the filter off (was going to change it anyway), changed it and filled it with some Diesel Kleen and now I'm waiting for my batteries to charge up again (yup, I ran them down pretty low). Can you folks confirm or not re: manual primer on the fuel pump?
Thanks, in advance, for the great help. I love this site!

No primer. You have to crank it on the starter. It helps if you crack open the hard lines at a couple of the injectors to bleed the air out quicker.

Thanks Lazy, I'll give it a try. Appreciate the confirmation!

I wish these pumps did have a manual primer. It would certainly save some battery and starters!!

If your trucks a manual, you can pull start it and save on the starting system.

After the filter change and battery re-charge, I got her started right away. Wish I knew why she refused to start this morning though. Thanks for the help! She's an automatic, so towing would be a definite challenge!

Brad,many of us have ditched the stock lift pumps,blocked them off,and installed an electric fuel pump down by the tanks(fuel selector valve.)
for us,all we do is turn the key forward,and it self primes.regardless of air leaks,either now or in the future,the e-pump is going to self prime before the WTS light goes out.

in the morning,unscrew your fuel filter.if it's not full right to the very top,then you have air intrusion.there are many places to look for it/them,but the most common,is the injector install kit lines(return lines) up on the engine.

next,you may not have a fuel related problem.you may have a glow plug problem.
testing them is quite easy.all you need is a test light to at least find the completely dead ones.

great looking truck! congrats! and welcome to the world of FORD and the classic IDI! :-X22

You don't have to ditch your old pump. You can do like I did as follows:

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:-drink E8012S from AdvanceAutoParts, $41.99. It will supply all the fuel you need and you could leave it in place forever as long as you hook up an Oil pressure safety switch to shut it off in case of a mishap. You can leave the E8012S in place and use it as an auxiliary pump. The OLD Mech Pump will push the fuel through the EP. Summit Racing SUM-G1438 - Summit Racing® Oil Pressure Safety Switch - Overview - SummitRacing.com $16.95 + S&H :-partybud

PS. I don't have the safety switch since I only use it when I have a fuel event.

Marianna,
i like your setup too.
i probably asked,but forgot;
why keep a mechanical at all?
(i do recall you stating it was tested for a very,very,very long time before the testers just stopped.)
i know where you mounted it,makes it pull so it may burn it out.but i mean,why not just mount it on the frame rail and forget about it?

Thanks for the help, Ford and Marianna (awesome photo work too!). So, now to decide which route to take - the electric or the add-on auxiliary pump. OK, so what's an electronic fuel pump run, and what are the best ones (and ones to avoid!)?

Here is another idea, I put a racor filter/seperator with integral primer pump on the suction side of the mechanical pump. I rarely have to use the primer but it is handy when changing filters etc.. A word on the installation of electric pumps. They should have an inertia switch in the circuit to prevent fuel spill, fire etc. in the event of a wreck.

We have a retired truck driver that does the ramdom delivery for us. He used to deliver IH bus chassis and he told me they had manual primers on them. He was sure that they had 6.9"s in them as well. I wonder if we could use those for our trucks? I still have the intank pump in mine So it is not an issue for me.

There is a version of the DB2 that has a manual priming pump, but I did not read enough to know what all would be involved in installing one.

And last night I also read about a manual control DB2 fuel shut off, but it did require removing the FSS solenoid and a different top cover going back to that post a while back.
So with that swap, if you had a manual tranny and a couple strategically located hills for starting, you could operate an IDI with no electricity at all involved.

Where do you read that about the manual shut off Dave? I would like to check it out.

FORD, I found out that my truck ran out of fuel @ 1/4 tank the hard way. I was on the side of the road when I installed the pump on my 85 6.9. The pump was designed to go on the back of the engine, so I thought the location I chose was OK as well as convenient. I'll move this pump for multiple uses.

I've read some bad reports on the Mr Gasket type EP. This one I know is a good one.