Broke down on side of road......fuel issue

[airmech3839]

I am in need of assistance...if I cannot get her running where she sits I need a tow home...only about 5 miles from where she sits. I have been running cooking oil mixed with WMO and some gas. She has run fine till today. She was very hard to crank this afternoon on my way to work but once running she was fine....till I got close to work...she hesitated a little just before i got to work..... so once at work I let her idle a little...say 5-6 minutes...then shut accessory swicth off to make sure engine pump is able to keep her going...she fluttered slightly once but kept running for 2 minutes...then I shut her down....since it was cold and wet today....(cold for here) I went out about 2hrs later and fired her up to keep block warm and ran it about 10 min,,,then shut down....went out at lunch 2 hrs later and fired her up for probably 20min.... then went out 4 hrs later and fired her up and let her run about 15 before leaving for home... got on road and about 10 miles down the road she conked out on interstate...got out and left flashers on (so pump in tank was still on) found that the dirt dobber that had occupied the drain valve on primary fuel filter had blown out and fuel from a slightly open valve was pouring out....closed drain and she fired up....went about a mile and she shut off again..... made it to shoulder.....opened drain valve and she flowed for a min and I closed it and she fired up.....a co-worker that lives nearby followed me since he saw me stop second time.....it shut down about a 1/2mile later and never to start again.... no smoke at all from stack while cranking....so I am thinkig fuel filters right...gotta be....I had them in the back.....so I changed the primary..... let tank pump run a minute....can hear it running so it should be working is my thought at this point......lets face it it is 34 degrees and drizzling and I am in shorts and a jacket!!! anyway so i let it pump a little....try cranking and holding drain valve open to let out air....close valve when fluid...very little comes out....stop cranking and let tank pump prime bowl....try cranking...nothing not even a puff.........so onto secondary filters we go...happened to have them too.....changed...primed...or so i thought...and still nothing....!!!!!!! time to call it a night...its now 2am and we are making no headway...my butt is soaked and cold....I need some better advice and guidence and a hot shower...collect tools and lock up truck as best as I can...and head home with my buddy.... so here i am with my truck on the side of the road in the cold....and sick!! The primary line goes to the IP and secondarys go to tank right or do they then go to injectors then back to tank? could in tank pump be making noise but not working?? could it be the IP???(Lord I hope not!!!) I have been filtering most of my alternative fuel but I have been allowing a gallon or two to go in only screened and not filtered!

Oh and for those that dont think it is easy to change the primary filter.. You all are wusses cause I did it in 5 minutes in the dark and cold so stop your whinning about an easier way to change it!!!


If there is anyone in the Augusta area that has a tow bar and a truck that could pull me I would love a helping hand...otherwise I am gonna be making trips to it with tool bags and working on the side of the road... any helpful tips or suggesations would be great.....

I was thinking of first pulling in tank pump and checking to make sure it isnt clogged or not pumping...then I am gonna move forward from there I guess.... till I have done it all!! TM's here I come!!!

 

[mdmorgan]

Sorry to hear your having trouble, i'de love to help but i don't get off work till 0630 and your 3 hrs away, i hope you get it fixed.

 

[Goose2448]

Try it in the morning. Maybe too much fuel. IDK Then try the other things we talked about.

 

[airmech3839]

Will try...may have to pull batts and take home to charge before cranking to much more.... I hope it is simple and cheap....I have blown all my paycheck on Christmas and the mortgage...none left for parts!!! at least not till after Christmas....

 

[airmech3839]

I am thinking that if I pull the pressure side of tank pump I should be able to tell if I am getting pressure out of tank pump...then that would tell me if I have a clogged line somewhere further downstream...right??

 

[Divemaster920]

I would check the fuel cutoff lever.

Sorry....I see you took care of that last month.

 

[cranetruck]

I'm with divemaster, check the fuel cut-off lever on the IP, it may be sticking if you have no smoke (=no fuel).
My deuce is currently running 100% biodiesel and there is a difference in starting performance at temps below 50°F, don't even want to try starting it at freezing temps, too hard on the starter, so I'm switching to diesel now for the Winter.
WVO will clog up filters in a hurry when it's cold. Sample your fuel by draining some from the tank and change to #1 diesel for the season.

The primary filter should be 40 micron, which will help your intank pump get the fuel to the boost pump on the IP, the NAPA sub often shown on the site is more like 10 micron...

 

[airmech3839]

Well to top this all off...i get home by way of a coworker and get a hot shower and get on here and read up and get my head on for troubleshooting in the morning. Go to bed...it is now say 3:30am..........at 4:30am my phone starts ringing...The sherriff wants to know if I had a preference as to which wreaker service I wanted to have tow my truck out of the turn lane......to a BAR that is not open and is only open a couple days a week.....it is no where near a turn around....but GA law says it cant be parked there..... so I crawl out of bed...I tell cop as nice as I can that I cannot afford it and is there anyway I can keep it from being towed....I was planning on working on it at daylight anyway but oh well....He says if i could get it into the bar parking lot I am good......ok one problem...nobody I know has a big truck to tow it that is awake or answering the phone... call cop back and ask if I am with the truck will they tow it...he said no as long as I am there working on it I am good....so go get all dressed up and load up tools and a cup of coffee and away I go...I stop by gas station and pick up 5gal to throw in tank just in case pick up is out of wack and needs a inch more fuel... i get there and cop is a little kid...nice country boy...he was sorry to get me outa bed to move it but his suprivisor lives down this road and if he came by in the am to work and saw it he would want to know why it didnt get towed. Anyway I started working on it. pump in tank was good...broke line on top loose and had good flow. hooked it up and then went to primary filter.....oh boys what do we have here....the solid copper pipe is kinked right at the b-nut at filter...crap!! so I take it loose and as I do the cop flags down a duelly to pull me into lot...it happens to be a neighbor on his way to work...didn't recognize him but he knew my truck...so she is pulled off the road...then i try and mess with line a little and she starts to flow a little with me prying the kink out GENTLY so as not to break it. I figure I better leave it till daylight and a little more warmth...temp had dropped to 33F and wind was whipping.... Batterys were very low from all the cranking so I pulled them and brought them home to charge. Now if I can get some sleep and the bar guy doesnt have my truck towed before I get there in the morning we should be ok.... I will post pics when I get to truck tomorrow.

 

[airmech3839]

I got my filters from OD Iron> not quite same as came out but should do the trick...no clue on micron....most stuff coming out of line was the whitish WVO sludging up the line.

At least that is what it looked like!

 

[cranetruck]

A kinked fuel line will do it, good find and good luck!

 

[dittle]

Glad to hear that the LEO would work with you on the situation. No need in making it any harder on you than it already is. Hope the kink is the fix for you. Now to find out why the line kinked in the first place (if that is the root cause of the issue). If you have a butane torch or something to put a little heat on the line it might help you bend it with the temps you're fighting out there.

 

[Stretch44875]

I didn't see where you mentioned it, but any time you change a filter, you have to bleed the air out with the bleeder on top of the secondary filters(two filters mounted on driver side of engine). With the in tank pump on, opening the bleeder until you get a solid stream of fuel, at least 10 sec of it, will get the air out. Then hold the throttle down will starting, and it usually will start after a little cranking. I've changed the primary on the side of the road a couple of times (always carry a spare), and this has got me back on the road.

Dennis

 

[jwaller]

if it wont run you can use the starter to move it. have you tried opening the drain on each filer to see if your getting fuel to the ip? you can also listen with the fuel cap removed to see if the tank pump is actually moving fuel.

 

[doghead]

Do any of you guys running straight veggie oils, use fuel additives like 911 or sea foam, in with it? I don't know if it would help, but its a thought. It really sounds like his problem is the cold temperature and veggie oil.

It might be an easy roadside fix to drain the tank, refill with diesel, and replace the filters once more. That should be a sure way to get it running again.

 

[cranetruck]

Do any of you guys running straight veggie oils, use fuel additives like 911 or sea foam, in with it? I don't know if it would help, but its a though. It really sounds like his problem is the cold temperature and veggie oil.

It might be an easy roadside fix to drain the tank, refill with diesel, and replace the filters once more. That should be a sure way to get it running again.

No additives Eric, other than kero, diesel or gasoline. That's why there are so many solutions involving heating the fuel, filters and fuel lines including the dual tank system on the my deuce.
The Elsbett 100% veggie oil conversion for Mercedes cars is only good to a few degrees below freezing and they suggest mixing with diesel in an ever increasing proportion as the temp drops. They also will not permit any other than virgin VO for their system (no Waste VO).
The dual tank system is best IMHO, but the "flushing" part still leaves a residue on the filters on the deuce, where the filters are shared or the same for both fuels.

 

[jfnemt1ff1]

My guess is the fuel is to thick because of the cold weather. I had this happen to me back in Michigan. Drained the tank put fresh fuel and run it all the way to the ip along the way changing the fuel filters along the way. Cracked line at pump last till I got fresh fuel. Then I stop useing wvo in the winter. Hope this works.
John

 

[airmech3839]

I had tried bleeding the air out of the system as described above at the petcocks. I was not getting anything due to a kink in the line between tank and primary pump....little bit of sludge in the line....I have the fuel thinned now down to about 75% desiel to oil....I am headed out to the truck in a minute and will try and finish what I started.

 

[wreckerman893]

Just in case it is thickened fuel take a couple gallons of gas out with you on the recovery.
Pour it in and it should thin out your mix.

And the do bleed the lines using the screws on top of the secondarys. That is most likely the prob...air in the lines.

You should not drain the primary with the engine running....it will suck air to the secondarys and on to the pump. Ask me how I know.

With the engine off open the petcock, drain the filter into a glass jar and you can tell what kind of crud is in the primary.

Once you have her running again you should bleed the injectors to get all air out of the system.

You do this with a 9/16ths brake line wrench. Crack the nut where the line goes into the injector on the head. Turn the nut till fuel squirts out from the fitting...when noting but fuel comes out the air is bled out. Try to do all six injectors.

Another method to prime a fuel system is to force the fuel through using air pressure. That is why I have a fuel cap with a valve stem fitted in it.
A field expiedient method is to wrap a rag around an air hose to seal the filler neck and blow air into the tank while your buddy turns the engine over.

Last resort is ether......used very carefully least you blow a head off.

Hope all goes well.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

Good luck

 

[gimpyrobb]

I used wvo ONCE. I will stick with atf, wmo, and hydraulic. That wvo REALLY turds up the fuel system.