Hi all, I'm new to the diesel game , but have worked on gas engines my whole life.I have a p30 box van with a 6.2 with 112k on it.when I went to start it this a.m. ,it was about 40 deg. out and it cranked and cought, but chugged and clattered real loud and died. now she just cranks. any thoughts where to start. thanks, john:help:

Sometimes you gotta give her some fuel to keep her going when you first start up on colder day's. Have you tried it since? If you're glow-plugs aren't all working that'll make for hard cold starting. I know when I was starting on like four plugs it would run on 4-6 cylinders when I first fired up untill it warmed up a bit.

Welcome to the forum! If you're good with gassers you'll be up to speed on diesels in no time. :)

Some more information could be helpful... How did the truck run when it was running? Have you had this problem before? Any hard starting issues in the past? Any smoke (other than black)? If so, when did it smoke?

There are a number of things that could cause the problem.

An air leak or a bad fuel lift pump. Either of these could cause the engine to start, run until it gets air in the injection pump, and quit.


Unlike a gas engine, these engines do not tolerate air bubbles in the fuel... Therefore a leak in one of the lines can cause some issues if it allows air to get into the lines.


The lift pump can cause problems if it has a faulty check valve and there is a small air leak after the lift pump. The check valve is supposed to prevent fuel from draining out of the fuel lines back into the tank when the engine is sitting. If it doesn't, then the next time you go to fire up the truck it will burn whatever fuel is in the injection pump and then quit.

Glow plugs are the other thing that can cause starting problems, but they usually cause a complete no-start condition... Usually they won't fire up and then quit because of bad glow plugs (although it isn't impossible).

What you need to do:

Plug in the block heater (if it isn't already plugged in). This just makes things that much simpler if you are having starting problems... It eliminates the "cold factor".

Read the stickied thread at the top of the 6.2 forum entitled How to remove air from the fuel system and/or find an air/fuel leak on a 6.2L (http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87582). This should help you find any fuel system issues...


You will want to start by following the procedure for bleeding the air out of the fuel system outlined in post #4. This should get the truck fired up if it has a fuel system problem. Then you can test for an air leak and see what the problem is. That way the truck isn't down the entire time while you are looking for the problem...

Check your glow plugs.


Does the glow plug light come on?


Listen for the "click" of the glow plug relay... It should "click" on when you turn the key on and "click" off about ten seconds later. Two or three seconds isn't long enough... You want it to stay on about 8-12 seconds.


Test each glow plug (there is one for each cylinder, located near where a spark plug would be on a gasser - it's the only thing in that area with a wire going to it). Unhook the connector from the top of each glow plug. Hook up a test light to the + battery terminal. Touch the lead from the test light to the connection on the glow plug (make sure the contact is good, not rusty). The test light should light. Test all eight. You need at least 4-6 of them to be working for the truck to fire up.


Hook the test light to the - battery terminal. Touch the probe to the connector on the wire that goes to the glow plug. Turn the ignition "on"... The test light should light up. If it doesn't, something is wrong either with the glow plug relay or the wiring for the glow plugs.

Let us know what you find...

Hope this helps! :)