Ran my 250 out of fuel. Help Please

[eldgenb]

I was farting around with my new toy and cracked a hard line, it only ran long enough to suck all of the fuel out of the fuel filter before it left me stranded. Now to the repair, it is missing the other tank and I don't plan on replacing it so I removed the diverter valve and got rid of all of the hardline south of the fuel filter since all of the soft lines needed replaced anyways with one long rubber line. Now I cannot get the truck to start, I have already run the battery's down one and killed a can of either. I cracked the fuel line at the IP and pressurized the tank till fuel came out of the line. What am I not doing to get this thing to fire off? any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[APM215]

Crack each injector line and crank until you get clean fuel then tighten the lines

 

[glcaines]

Ditto

 

[papabear]

I think the system is full of air. As stated...crack each line and bleed out the air.

Just to be sure...you didn't pull the engine kill cable did you? If so you will have to manually reset it under the hood.

 

[70deuce]

Cummins 250?? Injectors are fed internally in the head cavity if if thats the engine you are talking about. Do a search for posts that suggest pressuring the tank with a few PSI of air. I am going to run a soft line from the fuel filter to the tank bypassing the selector valve like it sounds you are going to do. Easy on the either.

 

[Gamagoat1]

This is from TM9-2320-260-10
This will fill the filter housing and the pump on the IP. It takes a lot of pumping but you will know for sure when the system is full. I'd recomend filling the fuel filter housing manually before closing up. This will limit the use of the primer greatly

f. Priming Fuel System.
(1) It is necessary to prime the fuel system whenever the fuel filter/water separator
element is replaced, and/or after a complete draining operation.
(5) Place a container under air purge draincock (4). Operate hand primer pump (5)
to remove fuel from the fuel injection pump reservoir. Continue pumping until the flow
stops, all air is expelled, and fuel begins to flow again. This requires approximately 90
seconds. Stop hand primer pump (5) operation and close air purge draincock (4). Dispose
of waste fuel properly.

 

[Irv]

The easiest way I've found is to gravity feed fuel forward using a jerry can up high (in the bed of a 813, for instance). Remove the fuel line from the fuel tank and adapt it to a line going up to the jerry can. I used a drop tube from a generator set to get fuel flowing down the tube. Crack open the line at the injector pump I think it was and bleed until done. Should start. Irv

 

[simoncrk]

Be CAREFUL with the ETHER!!!!!!!!!! Thats stuff is hard on diesel engines. If its a manual pump there should be a fuel shut off screw on the back of the Inj. pump. make sure its screwed out.

 

[simoncrk]

Be CAREFUL with the ETHER!!!!!!!!!! Thats stuff is hard on diesel engines. If its a manual pump there should be a fuel shut off screw on the back of the Inj. pump. make sure its screwed out.

Thats if its a Cummins.

 

[jwaller]

remove the filter and fill it with fuel. then use the hand primer pump to get good pressure and then crack it over till it starts.

 

[WillWagner]

If it is a Cummins, the F/P is a positive displacement gear pump and will pick the fuel up by itself. If you are having issues getting it to pick up, there is a problem somewhere in the system. TAKE IT EASY ON THE STARTING FLUID, unless you want to re ring it! Fill the filter, crank it and hold the throttle wide open or use the air in the tank method. The air method is the fastest way to get it lit off. Use short bursts of air, don't just push and hold the button down, you'll burst the tank.

One last thought, you didn't by chance pull the manual shut down cable did you? o look at the little lever on the outlet fuel line on the pump, it should be pushed toward the front of the engine.

 

[atankersdad]

Last year we were recovering my 818 and we ran one tank empty. We tried everything listed above and could not get it primed.We had to flat tow it home. Once we got it home I tried everything listed above and nothing worked. So here is how I got it primed in less than 5 minutes. I disconnected the line into the lift pump. I put this line under a suction using a small diaphram pump (air supplied from my deuce) and recirculated fuel bask into the tank I was pulling it from. This primed the line. I shut off the pump and reconnected the line to the lift pump. It fired right up.

 

[eldgenb]

thank you all for the advice, I tried the hand pump method and pressurized the tank, I think the next step is to add fuel to the ip directly through the screw in the top and I am going to hook the tow bar to my dodge and drag the bi&^h untill it starts I am tired of pulling all the battery's to charge them one at a time, If that doesn't work I will swap in a big cam 400 and be done with it. (last part was just a wild dream, cannot afford to do that anyways right now.)

 

[Gamagoat1]

Just for the heck of it check the engine shut off valve again. Make sure it's all the way forward.

 

[Hammer]

Also check to make sure the electric solenoid is even working! It should click when you turn the ignition on.
Easy way to check, and something you should try anyways, screw the knob in on the cutoff solenoid.

 

[eldgenb]

well after going through all of the recommendations again I had a lot more air in the system than I thought, the final resolve was to unscrew the cap on top of the ip and pressurize the tank till fuel ran out of the ip. Then since the battery's were still dead a 300 meter drag behind my dodge whipped her into running. Ran her for two hours and plugged in the block heater and she is a happy gal. Thanks for all of the advice.