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M813 Recovery Problem! Help

rumplecat

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Down in Mount Olive,Ms my 813 is sitting outside the wire DOA. Got there 8:30am this morning, pulled all pms on the truck, replaced the missing oil pressure sensor. Fueled her up, turned the switch , third roll of the engine sprang to life like it had been sitting for two days instead of two years! Purred like a kitten for about three minutes and went dead, used up the fuel in the filter bowl? Filled the bowl back up ran three min. or so, went dead. Over the next two hours same effect, finally used one min. of the three min window to move it to the facility shop air line, had two min. to spare. Blew out fuel line, bubbled in the tank, applied pressure to the tank via the fuel line, fuel poured out to the line, due to tank pressure. Filled the bowl, secured the bowl, made sure gasket was right. Cranked her up ran great for about three minutes! I applied pressure to the line no leaks? I am moving this truck tomorrow, even if I have to put a boat tank in the cab and plumb a line to the filter bowl!!!! Any ideas, I have run out!
 

rumplecat

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No lift pump, just the IP. I didn't look at that side of the system since is was pulling the fuel out of the bowl so well. I will check it in the morning, after the three hour drive there! I hope it is that easy, I am still taking the boat tank as a backup!
 

area52

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San Bernardino CA
Sounds like you might have some junk clogging up the fuel pickup in the tank. When you blow it out with air, the junk moves away from the pickup for a little while til it clogs back up again.

Put the aux tank in the bed and run a temp fuel line to the filter, prime the line and run it home til you can drop the tank and clean it.
 

ranchhopper

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south elgin illinois
I ran a rubber fuel line from the fuel tank to the filter bypassing the selector switch to get mine home the rubber lines are bad or the selector switch its self is bad.
 

Ferroequinologist

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Liberty Hill, SC
My m818 was hard starting and I could tell it was getting air in the lines somewhere. Everyone said replace the lines on the selector switch, but mine were new. I checked all the lines, nothing. Stumped me. Then I noticed a drip from the bottom of the IP pump- the line that comes off and runs to the cab primer pump was way loose. There was my air leak. If the seals are worn in the primer pump, it could be sucking in air that way too. you could get the truck to run, shut it right back down, then quickly plug the primer line and start it back up- if it stays running, that was the source of your air leak. Diesel's don't like air in the fuel at all.

Or there is crud in the tank. You could disconnect the suction line off the top of the tank, and slip a hose over it, and put it in a jerry can. If the truck runs fine off that, the tank line is clogging. If it still is giving you a problem, I would say air in the lines.
 

poppop

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Brooklet, Ga
My 813 did the same thing. When we put air in the tank to prime it heard a pop under the hood. A dirt dauber had stopped up the end of the tank vent under the hood. Ran a little and pulled a vaccum on the tank and quit running. Once vent was clear ran fine.
 

doghead

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Try manually opening the fuel shut off valve. Maybe it's bad.

Guys, no tank selector valve on an M813.

Try running with the fuel tank cap off.
 

rumplecat

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North West Arkansas
Guys, thanks for all the help, I made to my brothers house with no problems at all, Westech wins the prize! I pulled the fuel line between the IP and the filter bowl ran to Napa and $47.50 later the problem was solved! Even though the first time I filled the bowl with diesel and tried to run it after the repair it went dead as before! I ran through the line from tank to IP and found one of the forestry employees was trying to help and had turned off the fuel shutoff valve, second try and she purred like a kitten. 2000 rpm =50mph with 2200 rpm= 55mph on the speedo, my brother in the chase car swears I was doing 60 when I was showing 55 so we will have do some experimenting when I get her home. Again thanks for all the advice, I was stumped and two 340 mile round trips was enough for this recovery!!!
 

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rumplecat

Well-known member
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North West Arkansas
Thanks Armada, it was the last vehicle on my wish list, well kinda, it shows a little over 10k miles and I think that may be original, the truck shows very little ware, so it has done some sitting since 1970! I was just glad to get a 5 ton cargo, Memphis Equipment had beaten me out on the last four I have wanted, they did get both M35A3s and the 900 series truck that was there so I feel fortunate in a couple of ways.
 

rumplecat

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North West Arkansas
The battery is toast in my GPS so I am going to have to have someone pace me to get the real speed, the truck has good power and no strange noises and cruises nice even at the higher rpms, got to work on the throttle my right leg is sore, everything on the truck is tight, which is a good sign to me!
 

clinto

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Glad you made it home, rc.

That Westy guy, I'd be careful taking his advice. It worked this time but you never know when he'll tell you to use engine blocks as weights for lawn tractors with snow plows or to follow the GPS on the way to the Ga. Rally.

:p
 

Armada

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That Westy guy, I'd be careful taking his advice. It worked this time but you never know when he'll tell you to use engine blocks as weights for lawn tractors with snow plows
I had totally forgotten about that..... until now! rofl
IIRC it worked too! Seems there were even a couple pictures? :)
 

EMD567

Driver for the Ga Mafia
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Aiken SC
My 814 has a hunting problem at idle. I was guessing that the primer pump is sucking air, but now I might replace the rubber line between the filter and IP also.
 
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