I ran out of fuel last night . . . I think.

I've run this truck out of fuel twice before. Both times, I made the mistake of trying to go as far as possible before it absolutely quit. Also both times, I pulled the Nicktane filter, filled it, poured a gallon or so in the main tank, cracked the screw and bled air at the OEM filter, and it cranked right up.

This time, thinking I was saving myself some trouble, I shut it down at the very first hint of a stumble and pulled to the side of the road to summon help. I pulled the Nicktane filter and found it still full, so I poured a gallon or so in the tank, cracked the screw, and bled air at the OEM filter, hopped in the truck and . . . nothing. It'll turn over all day long, but won't fire.

I dragged the truck home with my girlfriend's truck, thinking I'd more thoroughly bleed it today and it'd come around. No such luck. I was starting to think the low fuel was simply a coincidence, and that something else had actually failed, but I've since checked the DTCs with the PPE unit and they're clear.

I always clear 'Trip B' when the fuel light comes on, to keep track of how far I've gone. Just a week or so ago, I went 47 miles after the light, and the truck still took less than 25 gallons to fill. I'd only gone 25 miles after the light when it quit last night.

I'm now wondering if there's not some bleed procedure I'm unaware of, or some other reason why it wouldn't start.



Anybody have any ideas?

That is why I never go below 1/4 tank.

I can't think of anything you missed, but I don't under stand why you would run your tank so empty. On other diesel I've had to bleed them at the injectors. Just crack the hard lines lose at the injectors and crank until only fuel comes out, but I don't know if this is a good idea with the Dmax.

That is exactly what happened to me yesterday. The fuel light came on just as I was parking the truck at home. The next morning the truck would turn over but not start (both batteries at full charge). I thought maybe I had a clogged OEM fuel filter so I replaced it. No improvement. No codes. Any suggestions anyone?

That is why I never go below 1/4 tank.

Yeah. Were your other 51 posts this helpful?


I can't think of anything you missed, but I don't under stand why you would run your tank so empty. On other diesel I've had to bleed them at the injectors. Just crack the hard lines lose at the injectors and crank until only fuel comes out, but I don't know if this is a good idea with the Dmax.

I was only 19 miles from home. Given the recent (stated) experience, I thought I had it made. I just wanted to get home and deal with it in the morning. Lesson learned . . . again.

I've done the bleed at the injectors myself on a couple of older diesels, but I'm not gonna tackle that on this one, not while it's under warranty, anyway.

The truck's due a fuel filter change. I think I'll drag it up into the shop in the morning, do that, and hope that I'll fix whatever's wrong in the process. Stranger things have happened.

If that doesn't work, I suppose it'll get a lowboy ride to the dealership on Monday.

Dont crack any injector lines.... not necessary at all. It takes forever... last time I ran mine out I was probably cracking and pumping and cranking and cracking and pumping and cranking for 20 minutes until i finally got it... theres a lot of air in there. Get that thing rock hard and try to start and if it will... make sure it doesnt die again. Sometimes there are trapped air bubbles - you may need to feather the throttle some.

I'm not a mechanic, and can't help with the tech stuff about running out of diesel

But when my LBZ's fuel guage says 1/4 full, I'm a breath away from being empty

I mean it's scary how fast that thing drops once it gets past half a tank.

I can't think of anything you missed, but I don't under stand why you would run your tank so empty. On other diesel I've had to bleed them at the injectors. Just crack the hard lines lose at the injectors and crank until only fuel comes out, but I don't know if this is a good idea with the Dmax.
There arent really individual lines on the d max like yoru talking its acommon rail that feeds all of them at 30000 psi (ie dont crack it.

:shake:

Ok, sooo . . . fuel filter's changed, and another 15-20 cycles of pump/crack/bleed, but still nothin'.

It's been cranked enough that I've drained the batteries a good bit. Will this truck refuse to fire once voltage is below 12? I don't have a real volt meter here, but the gauge on the dash says it's in the neighborhood of 11.5. Could that be the only problem at this point?

Nope.... if you can turn it over you can start it. If you havent drained the batteries yuo havent done it long enough yet. I had to hook mine to a charger to finally get a damn air bubble out of a line. Make sure you dont run your starter too much though.... give it time to cool down.

I am not sure but my wife had a Chevy Cavalier a couple years ago. It would crank fine but would not start. Finally had it towed in and the service station just charged the battery and it worked fine. They explained it to me but I don't remember. It may have benn the amperage?? not the voltage? Not sure but it worked fine after that for a long time. Try jumping it or charging.....

I am not sure but my wife had a Chevy Cavalier a couple years ago. It would crank fine but would not start. Finally had it towed in and the service station just charged the battery and it worked fine. They explained it to me but I don't remember. It may have benn the amperage?? not the voltage? Not sure but it worked fine after that for a long time. Try jumping it or charging.....

gas needs spark diesel don't

I cranked and bled a bit more yesterday afternoon, but still no luck.

The truck's at the dealership this morning, hopin' to be first in line with their D-Max tech. I'll report back when I know something.

Your batteries may be run down too low by now to start it. IIRC it has to crank at 200RPM min to start.

Dealer called an hour or so ago, said the Viper key fob wasn't functioning properly, that the alarm was generally going haywire. They wanted my permission to disable it so that they could diagnose the problem.

It's sounding more and more like the engine may well have had sufficient fuel all along, but that something in the alarm system had the ignition disabled. Anybody have any experience with anything of this sort with a Viper alarm, or any alarm?

Definately can happen... the VATS system, theftlock, etc. If it was starting and then dieing right away thats definately PASSLOCK issue.

Just got the call, truck's ready, sans alarm. Tech says it did not run out of fuel, but that the alarm system went apeshit and disabled the ignition somehow. I was wasting my time with all that bleeding.

Now I get to wade through a no-doubt endless stream of bullshit trying to get the alarm fixed.



Stay tuned . . .

Glad to hear!

They wanted my permission to disable it so that they could diagnose the problem.

They specifically said they were gonna "disable" the alarm. They disabled it, alright. It's in a Wal-Mart bag in the passenger seat.

I've looked at the literature that came with the Viper now that I'm home. The way they've worded it, I have no doubt they'll claim what they expected was for me to bring the truck to an authorized dealer/installer so that they could diagnose the problem on the truck. As it is, I'll have to pay to have someone re-install it, and then pray they'll take care of whatever actually went wrong to begin with.

Damn.

I ran out of fuel last night . . . I think.

I've run this truck out of fuel twice before. Both times, I made the mistake of trying to go as far as possible before it absolutely quit. Also both times, I pulled the Nicktane filter, filled it, poured a gallon or so in the main tank, cracked the screw and bled air at the OEM filter, and it cranked right up.

This time, thinking I was saving myself some trouble, I shut it down at the very first hint of a stumble and pulled to the side of the road to summon help. I pulled the Nicktane filter and found it still full, so I poured a gallon or so in the tank, cracked the screw, and bled air at the OEM filter, hopped in the truck and . . . nothing. It'll turn over all day long, but won't fire.

I dragged the truck home with my girlfriend's truck, thinking I'd more thoroughly bleed it today and it'd come around. No such luck. I was starting to think the low fuel was simply a coincidence, and that something else had actually failed, but I've since checked the DTCs with the PPE unit and they're clear.

I always clear 'Trip B' when the fuel light comes on, to keep track of how far I've gone. Just a week or so ago, I went 47 miles after the light, and the truck still took less than 25 gallons to fill. I'd only gone 25 miles after the light when it quit last night.

I'm now wondering if there's not some bleed procedure I'm unaware of, or some other reason why it wouldn't start.



Anybody have any ideas?


Well the name Meathead seems to fit well...LOL :D

Glad to hear!

Good news, indeed.

Even better, HiFi Buys, the local retailer/installer didn't give me even the slightest hint of lip about it having been removed. They understood completely the fix I was in, and that I wouldn't have been in that position had the equipment they sold and installed not crapped out.

They've sent the entire system of to Directed to be checked out. They didn't give me a firm idea of how long this is gonna take, but it's been about two weeks now, so I expect I'll know something fairly soon.