So I let my truck sit for two days. Ran great when I parked it. It's been down in low teens with chills in the single digits. Plug the truck in for about 2 hours get in and start it. Run kinda rough for bout ten min then shuts down. It tries to start up but only if I cycle the key a million times to heat up the fuel. What could this be? I through 911 to her. She started and then did the same thing. Thanks in advance

 

You need to get it scanned to see what is going on. It may be a fuel issue or it could be other things. Too low oil pressure min. 500psi ICP; too low battery voltage during crank, below 11 vlt FICM may not work; 45vlt min 48 desired. No sync etc.

You suspect fuel pull the filters and look for sludge. Pressure test the fuel 40psi min. 60-65 psi desired. you could even have combustion gasses pushing fuel back out of the fuel rails. Read the sticky for testing procedures.

 

I had the jelled fuel experience once. Symptoms were just like you described.

Recommend removing the primary filter and doing a visual check on it. The 911 may not have made it from your tank and to the filter. A filter changeout should fix this.

If the filter is clear, then everything else needs to be checked. Hopefully a filter swap will fix things. Recommend placing a battery charger on the batteries for a few hours. All of that cranking might have drained them to the point where the engine will not spin fast enough to start.

Lou Braun

 

911 is really to be used on the filter and not so much in the tank.

You remove the filter and pour 911 in it and let it sit so it can dissolve the waxy build up. Reinstall the filter and run it.

Ours is a little different with a cartridge filter that is mounted horizontally versus a canister filter that is mounted vertically. With a canister fuel filter you can top it off with 911.

When you deal with heavy equipment and OTR trucks that use $150-400 set of filters 911 is a bank account saver. With our trucks, replacing the filter is the easiest.

Josh

 

I got plenty of pressure. Took readings via SGII. I'm gonna try to soak the filter. Work is short on the farm right now so can't afford filters at this time. The filter on the engine looked fine. But haven't checked the frame rail one. I'll do that after this evenings milking and post an update

 

While we are on the subject of cold weather and gelled fuel, is it bad for the engine to leave it plugged in for extened periods of time? Should it only be plugged in for a little while before you start it?

 

Leaving the heater plugged in will only increase your electric bill. The heater draws 1000 watts.

Lou Braun

 

X2 the block heater only impacts your pocket book.

We routinely have trucks plugged in multiple days in a row when they are not in use at work.

Josh

 

Just pulled the primary filter. This didn't happen before but towards the end of the fuel emptying out of it there was like white foamy looking bubbles that came out then it cleared up with very little left draining out. My batteries are shot. Gonna do the walk of shame and have my buddy with a 600hp cummins jump me when I'm ready. But also didn't really notice any sludge or anything on the filter. Still looked fairly new. I got it soaking in 911 anyways. Any ideas? Hoop pressure is good. Ipr and icon reading are fine as well as ficm. I'm stumped here

 

White foam was likely the ice crystals. It doesn't take too much for those to dam up the fuel lines.

Couldn't hurt to pour a splash of the 911 into the upper filter too.

Add some diesel power white bottle to the tank.

Then you'll have the white bottle in the tank, and 2 911 soaked filters.


Josh

 

Put 911 in up top last night. I'm gonna let the primary soak till I get a jump to start it

 

Just remember... only use enough Powerservice 911 to get the job done and get you moving again... it has zero lubrication properties and is hard on your fuel system.... but it works when you need it.

Personally, I double-dose (treat) my fuel at every fill-up with the Powerservice in the white bottle regardless if the fuel I am buying is "winterized" or not per the service station selling it to me.

You never know if they treated it properly, if the distributor treated it properly or if you or they had any moisture in their tanks... this is also why it is a good ide to always keep one's fuel tanks as full as you can to prevent condensation from forming (I personally never let mine get below 1/4 of a tank if not 1/2 of a tank in the winter time.

The extra work and hassle is worth the peace of mind for me... and the extra expense of double-treating with the white bottle (anti-gel) from Powerservice is again just piece of mind (for me)!!!

Ambient temps is all you have to worry about... "wind-chill" has no effect on non-living things (only people and animals worry about wind-chills).

Plugging in your block heater works great and I use a heavy duty outdoor timer rated at 1,000+ watts to run mine on (in my garage)... so it comes on 3 hours prior to me leaving in the morning (that is all the time you need). Maybe 4 hours if really cold and the wind is blowing and cooling off the heat your generating as it blows through the front grill of your truck... but either way... the collant will be warm inside the block (as well as the glow plugs)!!!

 

So checked my batteries today. I'm at 9 volts on both so got them on a trickle charger. Primary filter has been in 911 since yesterday so gonna pull it out tomorrow after the batteries are good. God I hope I can get red back on the road. Lost 400 bucks this weekend cause she is sick and not runnin

 

Dead batteries need more than a trickle charger. A trickle charger just tops off a charged healthy battery and won't bring back deeply discharged or dead batteries.

If they are really at 9 volts each they might be toast now.

Josh

 

9 volts on those batteries means that they are essentially totally discharged. Get those critters charged to where they read 12.5 or more before starting your truck!

Lou Braun