89 7.3l idi N/A

hi its cold up here in red deer alberta, this isn't the first time ive been in this situation, but it finally made me turn to the internet.

yesterday my truck ran perfectly fine, and started well too. ive been using anti-gel, and howes meaner power cleaner in the truck all winter to make sure my fuel is good.

this morning when i tried starting her up she fired on all eight cylinders but then quit. i tried cranking for another 20 minutes with breaks between to make sure i didn't burn the starter out but only got the excitement here and their like their was going to be fuel through the system(it was turning more rapidly, but not firiing yet)

ive heard its my fuel running backwards in my fuel system over night.

i don't have another fuel filter, or many tools here at home because all of mine are at the shop.

any ideas? like i said, she fired properly on all 8 injectors when i tried her the first time, then quit and no fire so far.

 

How long did it run after it fired up? With air intrusion, the truck will usually only run for a second or two before stalling. How cold is it? Do you have any no. 1 fuel in your tanks? I know you are running anti-gel, but if it isn't mixed strong enough the fuel will still gell. Are you getting fuel at the schrader valve on the filter head?

 

Sounds like it could be air in the system. Hold the shrader valve open while cranking until you get a good solid stream of fuel. That should get any air out of the filter. Then loosen several lines at the injectors (5/8 or 16mm wrench) about 1/2 turn. crank until you get spurts of fuel at the lines, tighten one by one as they bleed. Hopefully she'll start for you then. If you can plug in the block heater, that will help also.

 

And through a battery charger on it to make sure they aren't getting low from all the cranking.

 

when i had air intrusion problems, i had your same game of start for 2 seconds and die. i learned that the easiest way to get it going after that was to lay on the starter for 30 seconds solid, walk away for a full 5 minutes to let things cool down, then turn the key without waiting for the plugs to warm up and just crank on it for another 30 seconds. at the end of this second round, the batteries would be starting to slow down, but it would fire right up with only a little power left in them. i learned to do it this way after running the batteries dead by allowing the GPs to run more frequently in the midst of all this, before i knew it was air intrusion.

to get it working right, you need to find where air is leaking into the system, which only sometimes shows up in the form of fuel leaking out. as a result, many of us just hang parts till we get lucky. return line kit (caps, hoses, hose clamps, o-rings) is a good place to start, but we also have the "olives" (rubber compression fittings) on the steel return lines, which are often neglected, and as a result are a common problem.

to avoid all this diagnosing of tiny leaks, many of us have changed out the lift pump in favor of an electric pump, so the system primes itself before you ever start cranking. with this all set up, i never have to crank for more than a second when cold, its beautiful!

 

Thanks for all the info guys. The electric pump would be wicked! She started up right after I made this thread and I was off to work lol.

If it only ran for the 2 seconds was that the fuel left in the injectors? It sat for about 30 hours.

My best option here is to inspect the fuel system, but a friend offered to put a check valve on the supply line for the fuel filter. I had no fuel in my filter. Good idea?

Ill have to pickup a shraeder tool ASAP

It was about -25 Celsius.

 

a check valve where you described won't help any. but some people have put a check valve in the return hose leaving the engine, and reported good results with that.
when air intrudes in the system, it leaks in from one of the return lines, and starts a siphon that drains fuel down the return lines back to the tank. a check valve on the supply side won't touch the issue - there's already one inside the lift pump. but having one on the return line side will require about 1PSI of pressure to flow any fuel back to the tank, and that pressure is easily supplied when the engine is running, but not when the engine is off and the air wants to sneak in. just make sure the check valve is facing the right direction, or you'll pressurize the return lines until it loses a hose

 

No need for a tool, hold the shrader valve open with the tip of your finger and jump the starter relay with your other hand (in neutral!)