So I am sitting here at Istate Diesel in Missoula, MT. One of the younger shop guys changed my oil and fuel filters earlier in the day.
This afternoon (about 4 hours later) one of the older guys comes buy to take a look at it. We look at the turbo and he decides that there really is nothing the turbo would be doing to contribute to the issues that i am having. After that he tells me to go ahead and start up the bus. So I turn the key on and go to the back of the bus to start it. We start it up and the engine sounds like its losing fuel and after a minute we realize that the young guy who replaced the fuel filters left the valve open for the fuel priming pump and the engine was sucking air through the home made fuel primer into the filter and the engine.
Now the bus wont start. We have pumped 4 gallons of diesel through the priming pump and it still wont start.
Stressed out. Hoping this guy can figure it out.
Wish I was at a bus rally. We'd have been done with this already :)
-Sean
Good old Interstate if it's not broke we will break it,surely someone is smart enough to crimp off the return line and pressure the system
Quote from: luvrbus on September 01, 2015, 03:42:23 PM
Good old Interstate if it's not broke we will break it
Thanks Cliff. I feel so much better now. ;D
They will get you running just keep a close eye on the meter or you will be paying for their screw up
i think i'd get assurance that the clock doesn't start till it is running again... ???
Hopefully they won't burn up the starter in the process.
Guy's ,Iknow this is a dumb thing to ask,but are you still trying to start it from the back?If not check the switch setting.
It's turning over...just not firing cause it sounds like he lost prime. Shanks, once they lose prime, it can be drama to get them started again....keep at it.
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My non-edumacated guess is he over fueled the engine. He kept trying till the batts ran down. I probably should have said something but the guy was off at 5 and I figured it would sit overnight. He threw me a 20 amp plug to plug the bus in and we will go at it again in the morning. Ill make sure to let the shop manager know I ain't paying for anything that happened after the oil change until the bus starts up again.
Quote from: bigred on September 01, 2015, 05:00:55 PMGuy's ,Iknow this is a dumb thing to ask,but are you still trying to start it from the back?If not check the switch setting.
Yes. We start it from the back. And the key was in the run position.
One more thing...how many gallons of fuel does it take to prime the engine? He went through 4 gallons of fuel.
Less than a gal on a dry engine with the filters full,he bypassing some where could be the check valve
Quote from: luvrbus on September 01, 2015, 07:31:30 PM
Less than a gal on a dry engine with the filters full,he bypassing some where could be the check valve
I am not a built in electric primer type guy...
A full filter and a few quarts at most (actually less gets used out of a red fuel jug) is all that I have ever needed. seriously.and an old Cummins hand pump.
something is loose, has to be a filter.
Or the dingbat boy who changed the fuel filters used the wrong filter so that it is sucking air. Good Luck, TomC
Engine stop lever isn't stuck right?
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these are what i call monkey problems... look where the last monkey, monkeyed ???
I've had two occasions to be educated on running out of fuel. One was not even a fuel issue. The emergency shutdown butterfly closed following a failure in the mechanism that holds it open. The second I ran it totally dry in both filters. I refilled them, squirted a little fuel into the blower intake, and it fired right up. I also have a check valve on the supply line which keeps it from draining back into the tank. The bus also came with an extra copper line teed into the line from the secondary filter to the injectors. This line is about 8" long, bent like an upside down "J", and has a half turn valve. I can open that valve and pump fuel from the tank all the way past the secondary filter with a marine fuel primer bulb.
Sorry you're having trouble, Sean. Most of us know what that's like.
We once spent three days at a fairground in PA where I had played music while two "professionals" messed with the shaft that drives the fuel pump on a 6v92. Turned out that the bus was sitting at too steep an angle sideways for the fuel pickup to work. It was sucking air the whole time.
You'll be in our thoughts and prayers. Hope you're up and going early this morning.
Jim H.
The fuel is going into to the tank by using 4 gals if had a bad filter gasket or leak it would show up on the floor if not going into the oil pan jmo a electric priming pump will run a DD
Quote from: eagle19952 on September 01, 2015, 09:23:43 PM
these are what i call monkey problems... look where the last monkey, monkeyed ???
Isn't that the truth
First post hope it works and helps. I just bought THE BUS and had a problem like this on my first service. If your using that much fuel it can only be going back to the tank . My return check valve was stuck open I took it apart and found rubber jammed inside holding it open. Cleaned and fixed it only to have it happen again. My lines are all hard copper except right above the tank there is two flex lines for what I assume is for being able to drop the tank. I took those off and bought two new ones after I deemed them hard brittle and falling apart from the inside out. Put it all back together and primed it with a make shift hand pressurized hand pump. Fired right up and been on the road for the last month and a half touring around bc.with zero fuel issues. Darn power steering is a whole different story . Kind of thinking my lines there might be the same story. Heading back to vancouver so I can really tear into it before I head up north and finish my trip before it snows. Hope this helps you out.cheers . George.