first time diesel owner here, bought the truck yesterday, got a mile from the house and ran out of fuel on a hill (no big deal, roll down hill, get diesel, bleed injectors, finish the drive without issue)

I went to fire up the old girl this evening, it fired and ran quite rough for 2-3 second then died and would not restart, could not hold throttle half open as per the instructions due to it being a manual, parked on a hill and the parking brake not working
im assuming it still has air in the fuel system, I put about 4 gallons in the rear tank to get it home, supposedly its a 19 gallon tank, so that puts it at a around 1/4 tank, should be picking fuel up, right? ive heard of these fords not picking fuel up below 1/4 tank, and found out first hand at 1/8th tank going up that last hill to the house

should I throw another 4-5 gallons in, and re-bleed the injectors? truck ran fine for a few hours at the owners house and on the trip home till it ran dry

thanks
dont drag me im new lol

 

Sounds like a classic return line problem, but could also still be low on fuel.
You should be able to heel the brake and toe the gas pedal with some practice. The real fun is starting a vehicle with a floor starter on a hill (4 pedals, 2 feet.... ) That takes some foot skill.

 

I havent really looked at the return lines since getting the truck, from what ive heard that is by far the most common issue with the IDI's

im going to be doing a coolant flush later, and put more diesel in the rear tank, will take a look at those lines while im at it
the truck has water in it, looks to be zero coolant or SCA, I got 4 gallons of fleet and 12 gallons distilled water to wash it out and mix the fleet stuff (I got non-50/50)

what should I look for with the return lines? just diesel pissing all over the engine?

 

first thing i would do is add AT LEAST another 5 gallons fuel. if you have a good electric fuel pump on it, it should prime itself. so it sounds like it is still low on fuel and sucking air in tank.
second thing i would do is invest in either a chunk of 6X6, or a wheel chock to use as a parking brake.

 

ive got a ton of firewood split, gonna throw a piece behind the seat for when I need it
no electric pump on this, stock mechanical injection pump (is there a second pump to lift from the tanks? never dealt with a idi before)

gonna put 5 more gallons in, and bleed the injectors again, run it for half an hour while im flushing the coolant system, and hope that gets the air out 100%

 

also, I am going to stick a 5/8"? wrench in one of the pockets on my seat cover, for bleeding injectors (5/8" is correct right? when I did it was in the dark on the side of the road with an adjustable)
I never want to have to call a friend when I get air in there lol, hope I never get air in it again but a wrench is cheap insurance

 

injector pump is on top of engine, mechanical lift pump (fuel pump) is on lower front passenger side of block.
a lot of people bypass the lift pump when it dies and replace it with a facet duralift e-pump.

 

Here is a good over view of the fuel system by genscriptor. It is of a Van, but same fuel system.
https://www.nickpisca.com/diesel/fue...diesel-engine/

You can buy a new Fuel Return line kit, around $40 + -, has new plastic caps, spring clamps, hose sections, "O" Rings and
8 new copper washers. They go on the bottoms of the Fuel Injectors if they are removed and replaced. You won`t be doing
that for the return lines. Keep them for a later use.

Do one side at a time, put together all 4 caps and hoses with clamps. Use a pick to pull off the old "O" Rings from the Injectors.
I use some Carb Cleaner to blow off the Injector to clean it up. Use some grease for the top of the injector grooves, grease the
"O" Ring and slip it onto the first groove. Then roll the 2nd one over the top one, this way there isn`t the possibility of nicking the
ring.
Then place all 4 new caps as an assembly and snap them down into place. There is a cross over hose from pass side to the
drivers side also.
As I remember there is a rubber section that goes down the back of the engine that may be as old as the truck. Probably 5/16".

Be careful you do not bend the fuel hard lines when you remove them to do the caps. Also there are 4 clamps, 2 on ea side to
keep the hard lines from vibrating. Make sure they are on there.

At the Fuel lift pump on the lower right side is a short 3/8" rubber curly Q hose, it can be a source of air intrusion if old.

From the Lift Pump to the spin on filter is the Hard line, it has a seal on each end refered to as "Olives". Then from the Filter to
the Injection Pump is another Hard line that also has the "Olives".
Not saying this is your problem now, just a heads up.

When ever you change out the Fuel Filter, be sure to fill it up before screwing it on. This way you are not putting air into the
system, and also you don`t have to crank on the starter to fill it up. There is a bleed valve (Tire Valve) refered to as the Shrader
valve to bleed off any air. I usually fill the filter with ATF, that way it is coming out of a clean bottle.

I had an air intrusion problem a month or so back, turned out to be the Lift Pump, it was all wet on the bottom, but was not
dripping onto the ground. Took me a while to figure this one out.
Replaced the Pump and Curly Q hose and all good. Must have been weak for a while, all of a sudden the old engine has more get
up and go.
I replaced the hard line to the filter with a 3/8" hose and 2 brass barb fittings, thus eliminating the "Olive" problem.

Remember, cost less to always to keep the top 1/2 of the tank filled.

Hope this helps you out.

There is a drain plug on each lower side of the Engine Block to drain the coolant also. One is just forward of the Starter.
Both are 9/16" brass plugs.
You will never drain out all of the old coolant, there are places it hides, so what you put back in will,be less than the 8 Gallons
it holds. I put in the 4 gal of coolant then topped it off with the Distilled water.
Be sure to wash out your Over Flow Bottle. Amazing the crap build up in it.


Charlie

 

when you first saw the truck, was the engine already running or hot when you got there or did you start it cold ?

many times with return line issues people selling trucks will have them hot or primed so the buyer can hop in and turn the key with no issues, it's always advisable when looking at an IDI to feel the temp of the engine and try to start it cold,

I've ran out of a fuel a couple times (had the 1/4 tank fuel pick up issue) and never had to bleed the injectors,

You should check the Schrader valve at the fuel filter to see if it's producing fuel,

my bet would be you just need more fuel in the tank, you may also have return line issues but after a few cranks that should work itself out,

don't over crank the engine or you will burn the starter up, the standard comment is about 5 seconds of cranking, 1 minute of cooling,

If it's been cranked hard you may also have a bad starter / battery combination, it takes alot of umpfff to get it started,

one issue not properly addressed can easily lead to multiple components failing,

 

very good point.
i have two short videos up in the stickies in the how to tell a bad starter thread. one is a bad starter at 70 degrees,, and one is a new starter at 40 degrees..

 

engine was cold, sat over a year (moving from house to shop a mile or so away), last registered in 2012, I grabbed the exhaust manifold to make sure it was cold

 

I'd suspect that you picked up some crud from the bottom of the tank when you ran out, and now it's plugging up your fuel filter. You might check that... Especially if the vehicle has been sitting for a long time.

 

got some good news, did the coolant flush (took 4 gallons of fleet and 2 water, I put 2 jugs of distilled water in the cab so as it gets low I can top it off)
I also decided to do an oil change since the oil was atleast 10 years old, replaced the stock filter with a napa powerstroke filter, tight squeeze with some wiring and stuff, but it works good
had to bleed the injectors and throw the charger on it but I got it to start, and warm up so the thermostat would open so I could get the rest of the coolant in (still only 6 gallons, can see flow in the rad, wont take any more, maybe I didnt get all the old coolant out? either way im happier than I was)

I didnt realize how nasty the whole oil change process is, on a gas its easy to clean off, whatever oil was in that thing was terrible to wash off (10 shop rags, some tubotowels, and an hour long shower, and my hands are still partly black)

and I gotta fill up the trans, someone robbed the pto off it and replaced with some janky homemade blockoff plate, I suspect that is my leak and why the trans is empty/syncro's making funny noises on the drive home

 

Sounds like you are on the right track.
Yes, diesels collect just a wee bit of soot in the oil... Jet black oil is the norm, helps to wear gloves.

Hopefully the trans hasn't been running dry, that would wreck the bearings and syncros fast!

 

a trick after oil change.
wash your hands with clean oil before using soap. the fresh oil will clean all the nasty stuff off.