I parked my truck, running great. Get in it the next day and it won't turn over. I tried to jump it and it still will not turn over. It acts like it is vapor locked. The starter will engage but it is not able to turn it over the first compression stroke. Do you all have any tips to try or known causes for this?

Thanks for the help.

 

what is the voltage on the batteries?

Could be a bad cell. I had a bad cell in one of my batteries, and the van wouldn't start for anything. But it at least turned over.

 

It could be a bad battery, but should crank a little with a jump..

Did it rain? If there is no cowl seal water drips right onto the filter and can get into the motor locking it up. But would likely crank a few turns.

My guess would be a bad electrical connection to the starter, enough to draw the solonoid but not enough to turn the motor.

If electrical looks OK, look to see the starter tooth hasn't gone too far and wedged on the flywheel.

Looks OK, then use a pry bar to turn the flywheel by the teeth underneath.. If it turns okay, try to start now..
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No crank still? Then you know you have an electrical - battery - starter problem .

Check volts and jump.. Okay? Then look at that starter.

 

Not necessarily. When I had a bad cell, it wouldn't even start with a good jump. I tried the neighbor's minivan, and after that wouldn't jump it, I pulled my dad's full size truck out of the garage and that wouldn't jump it. That one cell would drain all the cranking power of anything aiding the vehicle.

 

I isolated the batteries one at a time with no change in the truck. I replaced the starter with a new starter, the autozone worker tested the starter and said that it was bad. The truck is still doing the same thing. I pulled the intake cover and there is water sitting on top of the engine. Is there a way to get the water out of the cylinder. I know how to do it on a gas engine I guess the same concept on a diesel.

 

Found the issue. Took the intake off and water is sitting in my manifold.

 

So I pulled all of the glow plugs, blew out all of the cylinders. Put the glow plugs back in and the truck fired right up.

 

Glad it all worked out -
keep em' burnin' & turnin'

 

Got lucky, most of the time they bend the rods when they hydrolock.