Hi folks, I'm new to this but I need your help. I ran my early '99 F250 dry last friday, at least I think that's the problem. After a cold start I made it for about 1 1/2 miles when it started to loose power and became a little louder till it finally stalled. The display showed, I had 49 mls left to empty.I had a can with about 3 gal with me and filled it in. It would not start and I cranked the batteries empty. Had it towed the next day and I started fooling with it. first I thougt it was the GPR and I changed it as well as the relay. Fuses are all good. Still no start. Than I took the fuel filter out ( the bowl was still full) and checked if there is fuel coming out while I turned the ignition on. The pump was running for about 10 sec. and only air bubbles came out the line. Than I thought it was the fuel pump itself. I took it out and checked it on the bench, pump is running. I pressure checked the line from the pump to the filter and it's free and no leaks. I checked the line from the pump to the tank and it sounded like there is air escaping so I took the tank out. Turned out, there was a pressure relieve on top of the tank. It looked like the pick up tube in the tank has a little diafragm about 2 inches above ground and so I put everything back together and filled five more gal. in. To be sure, I drained the fuel out of the filter, left the valve open and cranked the engine for a moment. Nowthere was a solid stream of diesel coming out the drainpipe. Sounds good so far but since than I was cranking the engine for more than an hour and a half while charging the batteries with my loyal old '97 F150. Not a single fire! Desperately I disconnected the intercooler duct at the intake manifold and poored a few ounces of diesel in it and put it back together before I cranked again- nothing but 1-2 weak fires and thats it. IT WILL NOT START!!! What do I do wrong? Please help. Thanks -Sven

 

Your batteries are likely too low to start the truck. Even jumping from the other truck. Don't put any more fuel in the intake, waste of time. Put the batteries on a charger and make sure all is buttoned up. When a full charge is reached, crank it up. The truck will not fire without 10.5 volts for the PCM. It will crank with less than that and seem OK but will not fire.

 

Thanks Mike. I'm going to put them on a charger overnight, maybee that's it. But the engine cranked actually with pretty high rpm's, the oil pressure went all up and even the speedo moved a little. But anyway, I didn't check the voltage on the batteries, might be a good point. Thanks again for the quick response -Sven

 

Welcome to FTE.

As Mike said, you will not crank the truck without having 2 good batteries. You can crank on it all you want, but it will not start without 10.5 + volts. I went through the same thing a couple years ago. Changed batteries and start, start, start. Test the bats or change them if they are a few years old.

Good luck.

 

You've got air in the rails now so even when you get it started it will run bad till you get the air out. I'd add some more diesel to the tank. There is a plug on each head on the valley side. One is in the front, the other in the back. Loosen the plug and turn the key to the on position to cycle the fuel pump until you start to see diesel come out the plug. The fuel pump only stays on for about 20 seconds so you might need to cycle the key a few times to get the fuel to show. Once you've got fuel at both plugs, and you've got your batteries charged back up, hood a set of jumper cables up and try to start it again.

You won't get all the air out, and it will probably still run rough for a while but this should help. You might also put some additive in your tank to keep the injectors lubricated while your trying to get it started.

Good luck.

 

Oh, my bad, welcome to FTE. A few things folks don't know, or at least think about, when you turn the key to WTS, the voltage will drop to 11.something as the GPs heat up depending on battery health. From there, when you engage the starter, there is another drop. Below 10.5 is a no go. A lot of times there will be a clicking under the dash which accompanies this. Good luck, and let us know what you find.

 

Chris, truck will start with air in the fuel, just won't be happy and will be loud until air is out.

 

You had two problems. When you run these trucks out of fuel, it will take a while and probably more than 3 gallons in the tank to get the pump primed. That is, unless you've done the in-tank mods. You'll be sucking *A LOT* of air and will probably have problems getting the fuel pump primed. If you run it out of fuel again, turn the key to run & back to off when the fuel pump stops several times. Also might help to fill the fuel filter bowl with diesel as well if it's not filling itself.

The BEST solution is to just do the in-tank mods (Hutch/Harpoon) and be done with it. If you ever run it out of fuel after that, it will prime much easier, and you probably won't run the batts dead priming/cranking.

 

Thanks to you all and thanks for having me here. I just put the charger on the batterie on the driver side, i believe that will charge both. And as for Chris, I was hoping that there were some plugs but couldn't find them today. The Haynes manual says, there are some at the end of the fuel rail under the valve cover, but that sounds a bit to much efford .Where are the ones you mentioned exactly? Thanks -Sven

 

There are no fuel galley plugs under the VCs. They are at each ends of each head and on the rear of the driver side head and front of passenger side on a stock truck. It is a square head NPT plug. Don't bother with it unless you just want the extra work. I could post a pic with some effort, but again, why bother.

If you have not pulled an injector or disconnected a fuel line, there will be fuel in the head. Just cycle the key several times for about 20 seconds while still on the charger. Then set about to cranking it to start it. Make sure to observe the tailpipe for signs of smoke.

Haynes manuals are OK for most things. Not the best for our trucks.

 

Whoops, my bad. Could have explained that a bit better. The heads are identical, just reversed. They feed from one end, the other end has a plug. Follow your fuel lines and you will get an idea where the plug is on the other head. If you want to purge your lines, this is where you would do it although the driver side will likely just drain fuel before ever purging because it is lower.

There is also a drain plug on both ends of the heads where the head was machined for the fuel galley. I have never messed with those plugs. Too hard to get to.

Again, cycle the key several times and make sure the fuel pump is running. 20 seconds a piece. Then start cranking to fire it.

 

Thanks Mike, no I didn't play with the injectors or their lines so I will leave them alone, at least for now. It's too late and to cold already to try the truck, I'll try to crank it tomorrow. What would be a good manual for that truck? Thanks -Sven

 

same thing happened to me last weekend and I killed the CPS. I had the exact same symptoms you are having. I changed out the CPS....and it ran fine for 3 days, now I"m getting codes and it won't start AT ALL. Have you pulled the codes on your truck? Mine is throwing a P0603 and won't start.

 

Actually, FTE is about your best manual aside from the factory one. I bought mine on Ebay several years ago. It's on DVD. I'm sure someone has purchased that lately and might chime in as the guy I bought mine from no longer sells it. Well, at least under the same name.

 

Thanks guys, I thought about the CPS and I had it disconnected as well as connected while cranking- no difference. But I forgot to mention that I checked for codes several times and it still says "no codes". I guess, it has to run first to create a code. But I like the idea, can't hurt to try a new CPS, looks like they run for about 15 to 20 bucks. And Mike, Thanks, I'll try ebay, good advice. Thanks again -Sven