After the 3rd day of having basically no trouble with the truck, i went to start the truck up (it was about 20 degrees) and it turned over hard for a few seconds, and then fired up, soon after it cut back off. (91 F350 Crew Cab 7.3 L IDI Diesel)

So I plugged the engine block heater up(Which yes i know i shouldve done to start with but my damn dad was pressuring me to give it a shot with out so i did) and let it sit for about 2 hours, i went back out to start it up and it would turn over, but not turn on.... Frustrating.

So i let it sit with the Engine block heater left plugged up and a couple hours later i came back and tried it again, this time with some starter spray, after a few squirts she started going, and i left it going for about 15mins, then i took off down the road.

Its about a mile from the place i live to Route 11 and the truck ran fine, when i pulled on to route 11 i got it up to like 55miles per hours and all of a sudden, it just died! I was like oh damn and of course i was thinking alternator isnt working and that it had to have been running on full battery and that now the batteries died. I soon found out this was not the case.

So i started looking under the hood and saw how ****ty the lines were running to the battery terminals litterally like 4 peices of copper are touching...found out one of the belts connected to the alternator is only a couple hours away from breaking and so on and so forth...

Regardless an old ford buddy stopped and because i dont really know what he did im going to say "jumped it" by running a flat head between the 2 studs on the starter solenoid and also pushed in the pin where the water/fuel separator is and when he did that she fired right up and ran to the gas station where i fueled up and then another mile or so home with no problem (Take note i did not cut it off at the fuel station)

I still dont know why, she cut off while i was going down the road... it doesnt make any since to me. And if you guys could tell me exactly what the guy did to help me get it started that would also help, i asked him but honestly he seemed like he knew how to fix stuff not how to explain to people how to fix stuff haha. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

how full was your tank when it cut off pryor to getting mor diesel?

 

A little less than 3/8's of a tank.

 

if your looking for a truck that will fire up inside a second or two down to zero degrees without a block heater i would start by resolving the issue of "turning over hard" meaning it turned over real slow?
start by focusing on diagnosing the starting system;
starter/batteries/cables/terminals/cleanliness of all contact points.
the first thing you want when trying to get a diesel engine to start easy when cold,is to get them to turn over as fast and strong as possible.
then id move forward diagnosing why she stalls after she fires up.

 

While i do appreciate that very much, i dont want to risk driving it with out having some idea as to why it just died on me, btw, this is an automatic. And i just copied down the list and it is the first thing i will do tomorrow morning.

 

yeah vfelix has your back there.im just suggesting the required maintenance before your actual issue at hand (stalling.)
kinda side tracking ya lol.

 

Not knowing the truck history, I would also suggest some fuel conditioner, as if it has summer fuel in it, there could be some gelling happening.

Does it have a recent history of starting then dying? If it does, you may be suffering from air intrusion too.

 

lol i would do all the eletrical work first .... if its crap then u should start there ... the PO who had my truck did one hell of a hack job ... and it cause a fire underth my dash one night while i was driveing it was a night mare so i redid all of the electrical and havent had a problem since... the reason i asked about how much fuel in the tank is because u may have fuel pick up tube problems.... on the sending unit in the tank but start with electrical first...

 

BINGO!!!! i bet you ran out of fuel.
these trucks have a bad habit of breaking the fuel tank pickup tube around the 1/4 tank mark. i never let my fuel gauge go under 1/2 tank.

 

So the list that FORDF250HDXLT called out: starter, batteries, cables, terminals, cleanliness of all contact points, is a good place to start and i will and most of that list seems like something i could do however...

The starter how should i go about checking this? Any tips?

 

Fuel pick up tube? Im guessing that is the tube in the tank that is picking up the fuel?

Secondly could this be the case if once i got it going it went nearly 1 and 1/2 miles to the fuel station?

Thanks in advance!

 

yes, the tube in the tank that sucks fuel from the bottom and sends it to the top of the tank

 

I wouldn't used start spray these engine.

 

Yes this is what i have heard, but i didn't know what to do to get the thing started, and that worked.

 

Okay so I have a feeling this topic is starting to go the wrong way.

..And now i have new questions.

First off to recap on the Fuel pick up tube idea, is this reason plausible? Could this be the case seeings how i made it another mile and a half to a gas station?

And the next day - after leaving it sit for about 24 hours, i went to start it again... this time she turned over but wouldn't start(It was hooked up to the engine block heater). The WTS light comes on for 8-10 secs - I turn it over but it wont start. I hear it cycling through after all this but again, it will not start. What is the next step toward getting this thing running?