Crank-no start problem; happened suddenly then went away

[m-keith]

It happenened when I went to leave my parent's house this past Sunday. Truck wasn't dead cold but was well below operating temp. My wife & mom had driven the truck on a short trip to visit someone in the neighborhood about an hour or so before we left. The glows worked fine & the SES light came on with the key in the run position. It cranked fine but would not start. The batteries & starter are each a few months old. I checked for fuel at the filter housing drain while someone else cranked the motor. After 5 to 10 cranks, I only had enough fuel to fill the bottom of a pickle jar, which didn't seem right to me. However, I'm still quite new to diesels; so I was dead in the water without my factory manual. So, my mom took us home, & I had it towed to my house on Monday evening.

After the tow truck dropped it off, I tried to start it, & it fired right up as if nothing had happened. Drove it to the gas station to fill it up just to make sure. It took about a half tank. Drove it around some more, took it to work today, & I even went to the parking lot to start it a couple of times. So far, it hasn't missed a beat. It exhibited no symptoms (stalling, stuttering, etc) before or after the problem occurred, & the SES light has not come on. The trouble shooting guide states that this is not a common occurance & that a crank-no start condition is usually preceeded by other symptoms. An archive search didn't turn up much either. How much fuel should flow from the drain valve when cranking the motor; the same amount that is listed as the flow spec at the lift pump?

Truck is a '95 Burb, engine code F with about 136K. I bought it in Feb, & it was basically a wholesale piece. I don't have service history on it other than the warranty history I had pulled at a dealer. It shows the FSD to be around 3 years old. It doesn't show that the IP was replaced under warranty, but it does have a green label pump on it. I can't remember if it shows a lift pump replacement.

I'll tear into this weekend (unless it dies before then). Any suggestions much appreciated.

[ucdavis]

Fuel req'mt during crank is same as static.
The Stalling article on Member's Area page is the best diagnostic for this condition (its acting like an FSD from your description, but for '95 could also be OPS/lift pump trouble which doesn't set a code).
See: http://www.thedieselpage.com/members/tt99-9.htm
for stalling, & http://www.thedieselpage.com/members/trblcode.htm for reading codes (its easy to do & gives you good info; no code implies lift pump circuit or FSD).

[m-keith]

Thanks for the info. I suspect an FSD as well, but I don't want to start jumping to conclusions & throwing parts at it. I ruled out the OPS because the problem occurs while cranking. Once it's running, it runs fine. Because of that, I was thinking that it might be the relay that powers the lift pump when cranking if not the lift pump itself. That said, I don't know when/if the OPS has been replaced; so it might not be a bad idea to replace it anyway.

[Jon P.]

I had the same problem Saturday night. Crank but no fire after it had been sitting for about an hour. I was about 600 miles away in Atlanta. Fortunately, after a few minutes, it fired up, and ran all the way back to D.C. on Sunday. Today it stalled 5 times while my wife was driving it on the hightway. I called the dealer, and suggested it was the lift pump/OPS. Dealer said it was likely the injection pump (or, I'm assuming, FSD). They apparently do a lot of truck work, so hopefully they know their way around the engine. I'm waiting on the tow truck now. It'll start and run, but I don't want to be on the beltway in D.C. traffic and have it stall. Hopefully yours is just the OPS.

Mine is a 99 Suburban with about 72,000 miles.

[m-keith]

I wish it were just the OPS, but I doubt it because the problem only occurs while cranking. I don't have problems with it stalling out once it's running....yet :rolleyes: As I understand it, the OPS doesn't come into play until the engine is running. Is that not correct?

By the way, I tried to pull DTC codes, but the results were a bit weird. I connected the jumper wire per the instructions in the article, turned the ignition switch to the on position, & then watched for codes. According to the article, I should have gotten code 12 three times (flash, pause, flash, flash) & then it should show each code 3 times. All I got was a code 13 (flash, pause, flash, flash, flash) that repeated indefinately. I didn't get a code 12 at the begining. I'm not sure if this means that I did something wrong, it's not giving codes correctly, or I really do have a code 13. I'm not comfortable concluding that I have a code 13 because I didn't get my three 12's at the begining.

[goodmonkey]

As already stated, it does sound like the PMD, or FSD, which ever you want to call it. I bought my 95 a year ago with 160k, which has a green tagged pump on it, and it wasn't long before I started to have simular problems. It would start up with no problem cold, I could drive it around all day, but when I turned the engine off, I couldn't restart it. It would turn over, but would not fire. Occasionally it would fire and run for about 5 seconds, but then shut off. And there was nothing I could do until the engine cooled down. Sometimes it would start warm, but others it wouldn't, until it got to the point where it wouldn't start warm at all. I got stranded a few times in town and decided to look a little more into it. Ruled out the lift pump and oil pressure switch, so my eyes turned to the injection pump. I don't have access to a TECH 1 Scan Tool, so when I suspected the FSD, here's what I did. I drove it around locally, letting it warm up, and got it to do it's thing. From there I got a ziplock bag full of ice and slid it next to the FSD, to help speed the cooling. Where I might would have sit there for as much as two hours before getting it to start, I cut that time down to 25 minutes. From there I spared no time ordering a new FSD and relocating it with a cooler, and it hasn't given me the problem since.