Last night I was watching some TV, when my neighbor (Rod Ryan) came over and knocked on my door. He needed help because his Dodge 2500 24 valve cummins would not start. I went over and here is what he had done.
He changed the fuel filter, then went to start his truck, it ran for a few seconds and died. He tried restarting and nothing. He opened the fuel filter housing and found it had no diesel in it. He poured diesel into it. Put the cap back on and tried to start it again. It would not start, not even a pop. This is when he got me.
I took my fuel pressure gauge over, which has a vent button on it. I put the gauge on the schrader (spelling) after the filter and had him try to crank. No pressure built up at all. I had him crank for like 30 seconds with the vent open, no diesel came out at all.
I then started looking for fuses, etc... I always thought the Cummins had a manual lift pump on the block and then the injector pump. What I found was a small electric fuel pump just before the filter. The fuse panels and relays were labled with the most generic labels ever (such labels as "Engine" "Ignition FD" "I.O.D." and "Fuel System Relay")
I then read his owner's manual. It does not clarify what the fuses do. His owners manual did say that after changing a fuel filter, put the truck in the on position and the electric fuel pump will run for 25 seconds. If more air is in the line than this, a manual fuel purge must be performed. It also said to consult the maintenance manual on how to do a manual fuel purge.
So here are my questions:
1) How do you perform a manual fuel purge on this truck, I know some vehicles require a certain amount of gas to prime the pump, the truck has 3/4 of a tank, I would think that is enough
2) What fuse/relay controls the electric lift pump?
3) Should I see pressure after the lift pump, if so how much?
4) Any other advice on starting this truck?