Ran out of fuel today. Put in 1/2 tank of fuel and now truck won't crank. Turns over like a champ but will not crank. Fuel filter on top is ok and pump seems to be pumping. What should I try first? Thanks for any help.

 

I think by keeping on cranking in spurts you will prime the system again. When it does start, you will see white smoke and very eratic engine idle. Let it idle for a while. Don't crank to long though, you will burn out the starter. Good luck.

 

I'll give this a try. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

Yep, do what Mike suggested. You might also want to check you're fuel filter to see if you sucked any trash up in there as you got those last drops of fuel.

Make sure the fuel bowl is full. You can do this by cycling the key a few times without cranking the motor.

 

Put some diesel in a jerry can and fill your fuel bowl. Then turn the key, wait for the light to go out of course, then crank it. It should start after a little bit. It'll run really rough for a few miles until you get the air out of the system, then it'll smooth out like nothing happened. Uh, it was a friend who ran out, that's how I know this.

 

After I did my in-tank mods (fuel lines were completely opened & bowl was emptied), it primed right up after three cycles of the key. And that was with only 6 gallons in the tank from bone dry. I did have the CCK already installed though -- that probably helped quite a bit too. Put the Hutch/Harpoon on your mods to-do list.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. This site has helped me everytime I visited.
Again, I can't thank you enough.

 

Did it work?

 

Well, did that help you??? Also, welcome to FTE.

 

I had a fun experience of running out of fuel last week 5 miles short of Flying J on the interstate (didnt think it was possible to get as bad of mileage as I did on that run!!). Got 5 gallons of fuel in her, cycled the key several times and cranked. She fired once, but wouldnt go. When I went to open the fuel filter a bunch of air came out, closed it back up and she fired up and ran fine after a few minutes of idling.

 

Good point Marc. It's nice that we have the capacity to bleed the system on the fly. Comes in handy.

 

It's hard to get a diesel started once the system has gone dry. Easiest way is with some engine start spray but not too much, a little will do on a diesel. Once it's running it will fill up the fuel bowl easily on it's own.

 

"Negative ghost rider, the pattern is full."

Never use ether on a glow plug equipped diesel. A little WD-40 if you must......no ether.