cranking issue / no start

[dheavychevy38]

Hello I have recently been given a 95 k3500 gmc with a 6.5 in her. The trucks engine was in pieces when I was given it. I have put in a new starter, batterys, all new 1/0 cables. The truck will crank fast for a few seconds then loads up and almost stalls the starter out. If left alone or cycleing the glow plugs It will begin to crank fast a again for a second and load back up. I did get the truck to run once but being that I didn't have a the radiator in it I didn't run it more than 10 seconds.

[a5150nut]

These just need fuel, air, and compression to run. Have you confirmed you are getting fuel to the injectors and no air in lines? Is the PMD on pump or remote? If remote wires connected and grounded at pump? Is PMD good? Fuel Quality?

[arveetek]

Try removing all the glow plugs and then cranking the engine over. This will release compression and allow the engine to spin over faster with little resistance. Check to see if any liquid starts shooting out the holes (some fuel spray is normal if the injection system is working properly); it kind of sounds like the motor is hydro-locking, which would be strange to happen AFTER the engine cranks for a bit; if the cylinders are filling with liquid (such as engine coolant), I would expect it to happen from sitting still and leaking into the cylinders slowly, not after the engine is cranking over. I've also seen bad rod/main bearings cause this symptom, where the engine will crank normally for a few revolutions until the bad bearing heats up and seizes the crank; after it cools down, it will allow the engine to spin over again until it heats back up, etc.

Casey

[dheavychevy38]

Pmd is good. Fuel quality is question able. There is fuel going to the injectors also since I was at that point of putting things together I installed a set of reman injectors our company had on the shelf since we no lover have these in our fleet. There is no coolant in the engine currently. Never thought about main and rod bearing it does make sense. I does have good oil pressure when cranking. Another thing I noticed is the lift pump runs when the key is in the on position is this normal ? I thought they oil pumped once they saw oil pressure on this year truck. 95 Also I have tested the glow plugs and they all seem to work. I currently have the intake off and when it did fire and run the amount of black smoke was pretty excessive it seemed. I have driven these trucks with the intake off before in and out of our shop and don't ever remember them being that bad.

[Yukon6.2]

Do you know any history of the truck?
And engine in pieces means? Were the heads off?Timing chain off or just the starter.Injection lines can get installed wrong like plug wires.
If the exhaust has a cat in it try undoing the exhaust in front of it.

[dheavychevy38]

I don't know much. I replaced the starter because after installing new batteries the start was very weak and I figured start fresh. The water pump and cover where missing along with the fan and shroud. This engine was supposed to be a run and was installed prior to sale due the old blowing up because an oil line blew and they didn't notice. I was given the truck for doing an oil pan on a ford 7.3. My buddy doesn't know much more than that.

[Yukon6.2]

Hmmm
Did you check timing before you put the water pump and cover on it?
If you did anything with the injector lines i would double check that they are groin to the right cylinders
If it has block heaters plug them in a hour before you try it next.
Do you get a click when you remove the power wire to the injection pump shut off?
So if it was me at this point,and i knew the timing was right and that the injection lines are goin to the right cylinders...
I would charge the batteries,plug in the block heaters,remove the glowplugs and confirm that they work both out of the cylinders and hooked up to the glowplug wires.
Double check you wiring plugs because it sounds like someone else did the engine swap.Including both ends of your extension harness for the PMD.You mention the PMD is good,is that a fact you know for sure ?
Then i would crank it over without the glowplugs till you get a definite mist of fuel coming out of the cylinders.
Then install the plugs and see if it starts.

If the replacement engine has the injection pump from the truck it should be fine.
If it is from another truck and it was a 94 there may be issues with the pump playing with the ECM

[dheavychevy38]

The fuel shut off solenoid is working properly I already confirmed that. The injection lines appear to be correct. I was given 2 other engines with multiple spare parts from another friend who wanted them out of his way. The pmd I swapped to was from a running engine that I have heard run. The water pump and cover are still off and I verified that when the dot on the pump gear matchs up with the mark on the cam gear. I have no clue which injection pump is currently in the truck. I do have fuel to the injectors. I am going to work on it more this weekend. I just topped off the tank with fresh fuel as it appeared to only have a 1/4 tank so I am hopeing that any fuel was possibly not good would get mixed and have a better shot at it running.

[DmaxMaverick]

...... I just topped off the tank with fresh fuel as it appeared to only have a 1/4 tank so I am hopeing that any fuel was possibly not good would get mixed and have a better shot at it running.

Diesel fuel doesn't get "stale", like gasoline. It can last decades in crappy storage. It can become contaminated, or host biologicals. Adding fresh fuel to contaminated fuel only dilutes the contaminant, but doesn't remove it or its effects. If fuel is flowing through the filter, it isn't significantly contaminated with a particulate (junk, algae, etc.). That doesn't mean it isn't sufficiently concentrated with #2 (contaminated with another fluid, such as gas or water). Topping off 1/4 tank of contaminated fuel results in a full tank of contaminated fuel. This can be helpful if the fuel is contaminated with gasoline, by diluting the gas to a level it's benign, but does nothing to eliminate other contaminants, which will, essentially, do the same thing, no matter how much fuel is in the tank.

If the engine ran, then didn't, one (or more) element of combustion went missing. It's no more complicated than that. Go back to the basics, and tick each element, one at a time. Keep the batteries fully charged, and don't overheat the starter. Make sure the starter front bracket is secured to the starter and block.