1998 Dodge Cummins 24 Valve

[kerley]

I need a little help. Some times my truck starts right up and other times it may take four to five cranks to start. Cranking is not the problem. Could it be injectors. We recently replaced the injector and lift pumps and fuel filter. It sounds like it is not getting fuel, kind of like the fuel is siphoned back to the fuel tank. Is there a fuel pump in the tank or outside the tank between the tank and the lift pump. I am also getting poor fuel mileage. The truck has 190,000 miles and as far as I am aware is in good condition. Could it possibly need an upgraded power chip. I am stumped and any advice would be appreciated.
~Tom.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Have you had the valves ran on it ??

 

[c farmer]

If it has been cold down there maybe your air intake heater isnt working.

 

[Cowboy 2.0]

Sounds like your inijectors are loosing prime and leaking into the cylinders. Do you get a puff of white smoke when its hard starting? At 190,000 miles it's definately time for some injectors.

These guys can help you out better though.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/

 

[cowsrus]

My '99 1T used to be the same way, sometimes it would take several short cranks to start. I never could figure out why, I tried several start methods like holding the pedal down just a bit. Nothing seemed to help, but now it's doing pretty good without me doing anything.

 

[diesel1]

I can help. go to my website and shoot me an email http://www.griffindiesel.com

 

[kerley]

I finally found one reason why my Dodge Cummins was not starting and giving very poor fuel mileage. We found a cracked fuel line between the fuel filter and the fuel injector pump, next to the banjo fitting at the pump. When not running the fuel line would drain. When driving the fuel line leak would be under pressure and spray diesel down to the ground.

QUESTION... Is the line noted above under pressure, and approx how much pressure. Would it be a high pressure line ?

Thank you

~Tom

 

[dieselbeef]

between the filter hsg and the pump the line is under press only when its running..about 5-20 psi depending on whether its a stl lift pump or the in tank or an after mrkt....

bump yer key and listen for the lift pump to run for 5 sec or so...open the btm of the fuel canister and bump the key and fuel should pour out. if it dont then ya got problems with the pump on the side of the blk..unless its got the worst ever dodge repair of the intank..ut it will still pump alot out of the cansiter if its werkin soon as ya bump the key..i sir am a 24v dodge dummy..note my avatar

 

[kerley]

between the filter hsg and the pump the line is under press only when its running..about 5-20 psi depending on whether its a stl lift pump or the in tank or an after mrkt....

bump yer key and listen for the lift pump to run for 5 sec or so...open the btm of the fuel canister and bump the key and fuel should pour out. if it dont then ya got problems with the pump on the side of the blk..unless its got the worst ever dodge repair of the intank..ut it will still pump alot out of the cansiter if its werkin soon as ya bump the key..i sir am a 24v dodge dummy..note my avatar

Dieselbeef, Thanks for the info, and you are far from being a dummy. I checked the vin.# with Dodge and I have a fuel pump in tank, also a lift pump just below the fuel filter. I left the battery charger on all night. This morning I followed the starting instructions from the owners manuel, on the third try it started. I could hear the lift pump working. We found the leak while idleing. Went to the local fuel stop and the truck ran fine. I am the Dodge dummy but I figgured that when engine is off the fuel leaks from the line and when I try to start there is no readily available fuel until the lift pump refills the line. Also the leak accounts for the low mileage.
~Tom

 

[dieselbeef]

codes can be checked by flipping the key on 3 times w/o starting it and reading the odometer..may be a low fuel press code or something..maybe not...

so many different reasons why its hard starting...could be the bypass valve in the back of the ip...altho they rarely go bad...yer truck has a low press warning lite??

batteries on this truck are very imp..it might seem like its cranking fast enuff but if its cold or if its just a little too slo itll be a bear to start....even tho ya had it charging one bad batt and one weak one will do it.
once it starts does it smoke white?? if it does its an inj but they almost never go bad in a 24v truck..theyre all mech and very durable, im sure you have changed the fuel filter since you bought it??

if the lift pump is in the tank im pretty sure they take the one off the block under the fuel canister...and then install the low press lite also..

i was kidding bout the dummy..i own a very highly modified 24v myself..an 02...not much left stock on it cept the short block...

gary

 

[kerley]

codes can be checked by flipping the key on 3 times w/o starting it and reading the odometer..may be a low fuel press code or something..maybe not...

so many different reasons why its hard starting...could be the bypass valve in the back of the ip...altho they rarely go bad...yer truck has a low press warning lite??

batteries on this truck are very imp..it might seem like its cranking fast enuff but if its cold or if its just a little too slo itll be a bear to start....even tho ya had it charging one bad batt and one weak one will do it.
once it starts does it smoke white?? if it does its an inj but they almost never go bad in a 24v truck..theyre all mech and very durable, im sure you have changed the fuel filter since you bought it??

if the lift pump is in the tank im pretty sure they take the one off the block under the fuel canister...and then install the low press lite also..

i was kidding bout the dummy..i own a very highly modified 24v myself..an 02...not much left stock on it cept the short block...

gary

Gary, I recently had the Injector, Lift pump, and fuel filter replaced. Dodge says I have the fuel pump in tank and lift pump under filter. The batteries are two years old and still 100% replacement free. Is there a company that sells flexable fuel lines with banjo fittings? Dealer parts are soooooo expensive.~Tom

 

[killingtime]

Not sure if you've got your problem figured out or not but I've got a buddy who has a truck like yours and he had a problem that sounds very similiar to yours. His ended up being the relay to the fuel shutoff solenoid. Whenever you shut the truck off this solenoid activates and starves the engine of fuel, shutting it off. His wasn't tripping back so when he went to start the truck it wasn't getting any fuel. If thats the problem you should be able to get someone under the truck and lift up on the linkage to it, it's on the right side of the engine, while you turn the starter over. If that's the problem it'll crank when you reset it. Could be the relay or the actual solenoid is bad.

 

[dieselbeef]

im not sure what yer tryin to do with the fuel line thing but vulcan sells retro fit kits. my truck is highly modified. i took the line off the top of the tank and replaced it all with 3/8 pushloc. i took the quik connector off and slid it over the fitting. clamped it on top of the tank line. at the hard line it hooks to the fuel canister with i slid it over and clamped it. i run a holley black pump off a relay under the truck to the lift pump under the fuel canister. i havent upgraded my banjo's to bigger sizes but there is so much aftermarket stuff avail its not poss to git into it all

cummins forum is good and so is competition diesel. both of those are huge sites full of everything you ever wanna know about yer truck. im on there with the same screen name. i posted links to them here somewhere before..maybe search my posts to find them...

ifi git a nother minute ill look into yer problem on those sites for ya also...it could also be a apps reset(throttle pos sensor)

my truck so so far from stock anymore ican hardly remember what a stk truk is like...

gary

 

[kerley]

I found a severe fuel leak between the lift pump and the injector pump supply line. Replaceing that line may solve my problem.
Thanks DB.~Tom

 

[dieselbeef]

good luck wit it lemme know