new to diesel bombers!!!!!i live in sa tx and we rarely get temps below 30 degrees. two weeks ago we had a cold front aka freeze and and some snow, truck was plugged in over night i started it and she started fine then after 45 seconds of being started she started sputtering and continued it until u gave it a little peddle, not much at all. let her warm up for 20 minutes before i drove to work, came out at lunch and started again and sputtered and died, started her again with a little peddle then wamed her up and went to eat, i worked late that night, temps never reached above freezing that day, at 8pm she started and sputtered out and hasnt started since, she cranks just fine, but its like shes not getting any fuel, i replaced my lift pump after some research, i primed it by turning the key forward and off about ten times to get the pump bringing fuel up, i even checked the pressure side of the lift pump and fuel was flowin out. i cracked injectors 1&3&4 and tried cranking again they all spit fuel out but the truck will not start. im not a mechanic but i m ok at the easy stuff. any suggestions on what the prob might be??? thanks zac

 

Sounds like you might be jelling up some. change the fuel filter?

 

How much fuel is in your tank? If you have room in it, it would be a good idea to add some winter fuel additive and throw 4 or 5 gallons of diesel in after that to help it mix in. You can make you lift pump run for 20 to 25 seconds by turning the key on and bumping the starter. This should push fuel into your filter and injection pump that has the conditioner in it. It may not hurt to pour a little in your fuel filter housing either, just to get it up there a little faster.

 

First things first, I would verify what fuel is in the truck. Most all diesel fuel in the US has a VERY low pour , gel and wax points. We have customers come in all the time thinking their gelled and 90% of the time thats not the case. I would verify starting RPM, Intank fuel quality, fuel pressure and fuel volume first if I had it in the shop. Once I verified the fuel system was in correct working order and I had adequate starting amperage and voltage I would open all injector side lines and start the truck 4 times for 30 seconds with about 5-10 minutes in between cranking periods to cool the starter. I would then close all but 3 lines and begin the priming process again, turning over 5 times, 30 seconds each with 5-10 minutes in between. Now I will say that I've had trucks that we've done VP-44 swaps on that evidently had large plumes of air stuck inside and regardless of the fact I didnt want to, the truck required more starting time. You may have to spend more cranking time on the starter than you like! Now as you may imagine having customers drop trucks off at the shop, with sustained temps below 10F in our area at times and the customers are unable to plug the trucks up. With that said, I've NEVER had a 24V truck that had adequate starting power and a functioning fuel system not start, Always cycle the switch 5-10 times and allow the grids to heat multiple times before starting in sub 20F weather.

 

Really? I started my truck the last two days up here, and each day was -11 - -14F. I let the grids cycle fully once, and it fired up within 5 seconds of cranking.

 

Thats why that PSD is unreliable . These trucks seem to start just fine regardless. I always tell my customers to cycle multiple times for the simple fact if the trucks in poor shape (weak batteries, poor fuel or water in the fuel) it's much easier on the electrical system to cycle the grids more than once than spending longer durations cranking!
But as you said a well maintained truck shouldnt have any trouble starting as it was designed too.
Luckily it's only been down to those temps 5 or 6 times this year and for no real duration.

 

I found that once i got more engine level again (motor mount bolt broke) it seems to like starting easier in the cold

 

i only let my heating grid cycle once and it takes right off whether its -10f or 20 above kind of pointless to cycle it that many times.

 

Thats why we work on these trucks everyday and you dont.
One truck dosent make the mold and obviously you dont have much experience with these trucks. I'll take a video to demonstrate next time we have cold weather.
Or better yet, I'll send you some old sub 500CCA Batteries and let you try again dumba&&

 

this is true, mine will start with only one cycle of the grid heaters everytime regardless of temp it seems, my buddies who is exact same year and everything he has to cycle it 4-8 times depending on the temps outside. but on a side note i am a mechanic on heavy equipment and i like to keep my stuf running good, he takes it to walmart for oil changes and thats about it, so it all depends on how you take care of the vehicle.