First Start Issue

Tried to start the C350 today after many months of changes, donor engine, rebuilt IP to 110cc, stage 1 injectors, new fuel lines from tank to injectors, new holly pump, among several other modifications.
I have a mechanical fuel gauge just in front of the ip and it's showing 5psi.
The lines are primed to the ip.
I loosened all the lines at the injectors, stuffed towels around each one, and did four "starts" about three to five seconds each.
All new battery cables, 2/0 positive, 1/0 negative, new batteries, fully charged.
The glow plug controller cycles and does it's happy clicking.
After four cycles the towels at the injectors are still dry.
Nothing at any of them.
The engine turns easily, the oil pressure gauge reads in the middle of the range after about 2 seconds.
After the four attempts to bleed the lines I turned the ignition to on and waited for the glow plugs to cycle, then with the key on grabbed a meter and checked the two connectors at the ip.
Neither one was hot, both showed 12v when I put the negative lead on each connector and the positive lead on the battery, which tells me whatever enables the ip solenoid isn't sending the signal.
FYI, this is my first ever diesel project, and I'm still pretty much a newb.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks

You could try hot wiring it, run a new wire to the ip fuel solenoid and see if the solenoid clicks?

Kdo58 said:

Sensor on top of the motor near the fuel filter, would be my guess.

Click to expand...

I thought that was just the high idle solenoid control.
Even with that open it should still get fuel through the lines, just not as much.

divemaster5734 said:

both showed 12v when I put the negative lead on each connector and the positive lead on the battery,

Click to expand...

Which post on the battery are you using for this test...?

I think that you should try checking if you have 12vdc to the fuel shut off solenoid when the key is in the 'run' position...

If you do not, and....

if it were me...and I just wanted it to start and wait to check the key-to-solenoid connection later...I would run a fused hot wire from the battery positive directly to the fuel solenoid to open the fuel path and let the fuel flow through the IP. Just be ready to yank the wire when you want to shut it off.

Listen for an audible click when you energize the fuel solenoid...

One other thing...although this might be unlikely...be ready to cut off incoming air flow just in case yanking the wire does not shut it down...

If you indeed have fuel flow into and out of the IP...it could be that the four cranking times just did not push the fuel all of the way through the hard lines..more cranking might fix that...



Good luck on it...

I have stopped replying to these threads where these engines will not run after my last episode with my truck. I have found I just do not know enough about it.

Mine got to where it would run for about a minute and then quit. I tried and tried to get it going, I had fuel at the schrader valve at the filter head. But no smoke out of the exhaust, so no fuel to the engine. I would walk away, come back the next day after the batteries were charged back up, mess with it, started getting smoke out of the exhaust, hit the glow plugs, it would fire up. Run a minute or so and just die again. No fuel to the engine.

After messing around for a couple of weeks, I came to the conclusion I had IP problems. That's when I found out how expensive it was to get one rebuilt. It was going to be tough spending around $1500 on a truck I did not use very much.

Doing more research, I tested the solenoid, it was clicking. I then read about the return, and how something can come apart in the IP and clog a little glass ball in the return outlet. But found out I have a little bit later IP that doesn't have this part that falls apart. But I went ahead and took the return line off and blew air through it. Initially it blew back at me, then I could hear it bubbling in the tank. After that, I got it primed and it has been running ever since.

It scared me that my truck that always ran, would not run. It would have been really bad to spend $1500 on it and it still have the same problem.

I think you just didn't crank it long enough. It takes a while to bleed these trucks. I always keep my foot on the floor while cranking. I think its crank for 20-30 seconds then wait 2 minutes for the starter to cool down. It could take several rounds of that for fuel to finally start coming through. also make sure you have a way to keep the batteries charged during this. If they get low, they cant spin the engine over fast enough and it will never fire.

XOLATEM said:

Which post on the battery are you using for this test...?

I think that you should try checking if you have 12vdc to the fuel shut off solenoid when the key is in the 'run' position...

If you do not, and....

if it were me...and I just wanted it to start and wait to check the key-to-solenoid connection later...I would run a fused hot wire from the battery positive directly to the fuel solenoid to open the fuel path and let the fuel flow through the IP. Just be ready to yank the wire when you want to shut it off.

Listen for an audible click when you energize the fuel solenoid...

One other thing...although this might be unlikely...be ready to cut off incoming air flow just in case yanking the wire does not shut it down...

If you indeed have fuel flow into and out of the IP...it could be that the four cranking times just did not push the fuel all of the way through the hard lines..more cranking might fix that...



Good luck on it...

Click to expand...

I assume the hot lead to the ip solenoid is the red/green connector at the insulated terminal on the ip?
Will verify it's operational with a jumper before diving into the wiring nightmare left by others.
All the return lines are new up to the splitter that runs the 5/16" line to the tank.
Is a brand new starter installed yesterday, and I was probably being too cautious about crank times after reading about all the smoked starters from extended cranking.
Reading the schematic it looks like that shutoff valve is a constant hot whenever the ignition is in start or run?
Thanks

asmith said:

I think you just didn't crank it long enough. It takes a while to bleed these trucks. I always keep my foot on the floor while cranking. I think its crank for 20-30 seconds then wait 2 minutes for the starter to cool down. It could take several rounds of that for fuel to finally start coming through.

Click to expand...

divemaster5734 said:

I thought that was just the high idle solenoid control.
Even with that open it should still get fuel through the lines, just not as much.

Click to expand...

It's the high idle and the timing advance.
Asmith, I agree. It needs WAY more than 4-5 seconds of cranking with the starter to get the lines bled. I do wait longer than two minutes between times though. Last Saturday, I had to use five cranking cycles to bleed out my lines and the engine had been running when I shut it off. Then it still took two more times to get the engine running after tightening the line nuts back up. That may have been partly because I was too stubborn to loosen all eight lines. Instead I just loosened five.

It turned out to be the rd/gn wire somewhere in the harness loom.
I put a jumper on the solenoid and attached it to the gp relay.
With the holly pump the lines primed on the first 10 second crank.
Put the lines back into the injectors and she fired right up.
Today was the first time that truck has run since June, 2011.
Thank you everyone!