Appreciate all the good info posted here. Has kept me going for the last couple years so far, but now having a diagnostic problem.

Ok, here it goes, 1994 E350 7.3 IDI, NON turbo. 300k miles.
Had the classic start, run for 2 seconds then die symptoms for a while, then if it sat a couple days, realy difficult to start. so air in the lines appeared to be the culprit.

Van sat for a week with no starting before I got around to working on it, then replaced the rubber return lines, caps and o rings above the injectors. When cranked motor to purge air from high pressure metal lines before tightening the caps back down on the injectors, only get a dribble of fuel. Now, no start at all. Cracked the fuel line into the filter, cranked the motor, plenty of fuel splashing out. Replaced fuel filter in case clogged, still just a dribble of fuel at high pressure metal line to top of injector connection. BTW, kept the batts fully charged and block heater on. so not that problem.

Bad inj. pump? Cost more to replace than van is worth at this point....
Bad fuel shut off solenoid? Not sure how to check?
Other?

Thank you for any and all replies.

 

to check the shut off solenoid you can unplug it turn the key to the start position and plug it back in and listen for a click it is the plug on the front of the ip on the drivers side closest to the fan.if it clicks your good.another thing you can do is get out a multimeter and make sure its getting atleast 9 volts.as farb as a bad ip it maybe clogged i heard something about pulling the top off and looking for build up but not sure about the procedure.oh another thing you could do is run a jumper from the battery to the shut off solenoid and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the reply and great picture for reference.

Solenoid "clicks" when plugged/unplugged with key on. Appears to be ok then.

hmmm??

 

try running a jumper wire.if that dont work sounds like the ip is plugged up.how cold is it where your at?is it possible your fuel is gelled?last i heard oil companies were putting anti-gel in the fuel though.but that could be a crock too

 

DO you have fuel at all of the injection lines?

With the throttle closed while cranking the amount of fuel that comes out of the lines seams very small, but it don't take much fuel to run the engine at idle.

When the injection lines are tight, the pressure is high, but the fuel volume is very low.

 

Rupejosh: temps were around mid 40's yesterday, in central Ohio. Run diesel kleen every fill up. "should" be ok with jellin of fuel, etc. problems.

Dave: thank you for being a helpfull expert around here. just reading posts has helped me out a lot. Right now, good info on amount of fuel to look for. But still no starting.

Maybe another issue holding me up at this point. Bad starter?
I know not to run the starter more than 20 secs. and let cool down couple minutes. Usualy easy, as this diesel starts right up every time, smokes like hell in the morning, but starts right up.

I replaced the starter about 7-8 months ago, turning very slow. Lasted 3 months, then locked up, no spin. Replaced under warranty. Now with my constant on/off attempts to start even with charged batts, it has started to just click the solenoid, no turn. Still under warranty thank god. Burning up starters even being carefull, maybe have a corroded battery line? Connectors at batts and at starter look good. read one post, where a guy sliced the insulation off the main positive line and was completely corroded inside, hmmm?

Thanks