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Author Topic: ran her dry by accident  (Read 3457 times)

November 21, 2007, 04:48:37 am

gilligan5000

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ran her dry by accident
« on: November 21, 2007, 04:48:37 am »
So I just put in a new cluster from a cabby a few weeks ago.  Everything seemed to work fine to the best of my knowledge, except the fuel gauge aparently.  I ran her dry on the way to work.  She just bucked a little and cut out, not really any warning at all.  

Filled her up and cranked for a good 2 minutes straight and she fired right back up.  My question being, I thought running a diesel dry was like the end of the world and hard to get going again.  Am  I really lucky, and what would the proper steps be if god forbid this ever happens again.  

P.S. - Don't even think for a second to tell me to look at mileage to gauge fuel (she stopped ticking at 300,000 or so)
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Reply #1November 21, 2007, 05:02:52 am

flapjack

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2007, 05:02:52 am »
fill the fuel filter
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Reply #2November 21, 2007, 08:49:22 am

BlackTieTD

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2007, 08:49:22 am »
does the trip odometer work? my gas gauge works but i go off the trip odometer more. fill fuel filter as suggested, and cracking injector unions might help purge any air.... but i've run my 1.6TD dry a few times and never had to do any of that.
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Reply #3November 21, 2007, 10:03:15 pm

Black Smokin' Diesel

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2007, 10:03:15 pm »
Some cars don't react well to running dry and some won't even mind. I ran mine dry last monday at a stop in a slight uphill after a right turn. I cranked the engine and it eventually restarted and allowed me to reach the closest fuel station with diesel 8) Ran fine.
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Reply #4November 21, 2007, 11:57:30 pm

gldgti

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2007, 11:57:30 pm »
the VE injector pump is a self bleeding system - older diesel have traditionally been allergic to air in the fuel lines - not so with the VE pump. thus, if you run it dry, simply crank until it goes again or to lessen the strain on ya battery pre-fill the fuel filter...
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Reply #5November 22, 2007, 04:08:15 pm

mk2diesel

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2007, 04:08:15 pm »
the bleed is at  the top of the pump ... the intake is lower down ...  if you run out of fuel , the pump can't build pressure so you stop ( but  the pump is pretty well full of fuel ) no damage is done at all .... but it takes a bit to  work the air out if the  high pressure injector lines and get the injectors working right  again ....
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Reply #6November 22, 2007, 04:31:03 pm

jtanguay

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Re: ran her dry by accident
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2007, 04:31:03 pm »
Quote from: "gilligan5000"
P.S. - Don't even think for a second to tell me to look at mileage to gauge fuel (she stopped ticking at 300,000 or so)


ok can i tell you to post in the troubleshooting section? this is the IDI performance enhancement section  :lol:   :wink:

the pump cannot self prime itself from dry.  even if there is a little bit of air in the system it won't run properly.  your pump obviously did not run completely dry because you'd probably need a leak to do that.  it probably just sucked in a big air bubble and stalled as a result. does your trip odometer not work either???  your best bet might be to just use the fuel gauge? near the end it seems to go down faster.  i dont know of any way of gauging how much fuel is left without a fuel gauge/odometer except for some sort of GPS device that can measure how far you've gone.

running these pumps dry will probably result in some form of damage.  they require fuel as a lubricant.  it's pretty simple.  metal on metal = friction.  too much friction = heat & wear.  running out of diesel at the side of the road however, is different.  even though the pump cannot create the pressure to run the engine, there is still fuel left inside to help lubricate it.  just make sure to fill it up asap because pitting and sticking of internal parts can result if left for a while (probably months or years though)

probably repeated some stuff said by others but oh well.
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Reply #7November 22, 2007, 08:26:48 pm

gilligan5000

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2007, 08:26:48 pm »
the odometer and tripometer are powered by the same gear, thus neither work.  Thanks for the input guys
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Reply #8November 22, 2007, 08:37:26 pm

jtanguay

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2007, 08:37:26 pm »
Quote from: "gilligan5000"
the odometer and tripometer are powered by the same gear, thus neither work.  Thanks for the input guys


didnt know if it was electronic or not.
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Reply #9November 24, 2007, 09:27:14 am

gilligan5000

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ran her dry by accident
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2007, 09:27:14 am »
Quote from: "jtanguay"

didnt know if it was electronic or not.


I wish, digifiz is the shiz.

On another note, I have my spare tire fuel tank just sitting in the garage. . .  so that may help with my fill-up stupidity once I get that in :D
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