IF I TOLD YOU MY BUDDY RAN HIS 7.3 OUT OF FUEL YOU WOULD SAY YA RIGHT YOUR BUDDY! HE REALLY DID. AND TO TOP IT OFF HE TRIED TO START IT A MANY TIMES AFTER THAT. WE PUT FUEL IN IT BUT IT JUST WILL NOT FIRE. CAN YOU HELP US? THANKS

 

Your friend ran all the fuel out. there is air in the lines. It's going to be a bitch to start. Then when it dose start it will run like crap untill he drives it about 20 miles to purge the air out of the system. when i ran mine out, i had to give it a quick shot of ether WITH MOTOR NOT RUNNING. Its not good to do it that way because the motor can run away. JUST ONE QUICK SHOT ! NOT SPRAY, IN THE INTAKE TUBE UP THE TURBO SIDE THEN TURN THE KEY > DO NOT SPARY IT IN THE TUBE WITH THE MOTOR RUNNING . you may have to repeat this once or twice. Remember NOT to spray it in with the motor running..

Im sure others on here may have a better way to start it. as it trys to start, it will run one cylnder and will pick up the others as the fuel pushes the air out .

 

Step 1. Stop trying to start it. You're just draining the batteries.

How much fuel did you add to the tank? Most of the time the fuel pump loses it's prime and adding 5 or 10 gallons isn't enough to get the pump to pull the fuel out of the tank.

Some things to try are, fill the fuel bowl full of fuel, replace the lid, and then turn the key to on (not start). The electric fuel pump will turn on for 20 seconds. The fuel in the bowl will hopefully be forced back into the tank and create enough back pressure along the way to cause the fuel pump to pull some fuel out of the tank. You can try that a few times to see if the fuel bowl starts to re-fill on it's own with the lid off and the key turned on.

You can also try blowing some compressed air or forced air from a blower inside the tank to help force the fuel into the lines, but remember it's a plastic tank and too much pressure can cause something to break.

The easy way is usually to put more fuel in it. Between half a tank and 3/4 will usually be enough to get gravity on your side when getting the pump primed.

Just cycle the key on for 20 seconds and then back off again until you know you've got good fuel flowing. It would be wise to disconnect the glow plugs during this process so you don't kill the batteries if they're not already low. Having a set of jumper cables hooked up while doing this would also be helpful.

 

If you open the fuel bowl drain with the key on it will purge the air up to that point anyway, like said it will run like crap for a while.

 

What Chris and John said. Also, pay attention to battery condition and level of charge while attempting many starts. Chris' advice about disconnecting Glow Plugs is important ! Be careful not to leave the "hot" wire flagging around to touch ground somewhere. You wont want to do that but one time !!!

Good luck and hope you guys get her fired up.

 

I've used SILICON SPRAY or WD-40, saves time of disconncting stuff, and will not detonate in the cylinders. But that's a last resort, I've always just filled the fuel bowl and that'll get her running. But like the other guys said, it'll need at least 5 gals to get it primed. I run a 55 gal tank, and it took me damn near 20 gals to get it primed!

 

I just did my hutch and harpoon mods to my tank. I had 5 gallons or less in it when I did it. To get the system primed, I had the fuel line disconnected from the input side of the fuel pump. I had an old RV water pump that had a broken outlet tube so it wouldn't be used for water again. I screwed a bard fitting on it and connected it to my fuel line going to the tank. It took about 3 minutes to get fuel shutting into my gas can. I then just connected the fuel line back to the truck fuel pump and it started right up and ran fine.

I know you have other issues since you have air in the engine also but you can try using an alternate pump like I did if the stock pump isn't picking up its prime.

 

Removing the small wire (control signal) will make this much safer. Just wrap the loose wire with tape or a Ziplock bag while you try to prime.