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Mack CH613 350 engine. ran out of fuel. starting back...strange problems

22K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  myvwscpu 
#1 ·
hey guys.
in my mack ch613 with a 350 engine dumptruck, i ran out of fuel the other afternoon.
what happened is....i pulled on the side of the road to make a phone call. the fuel gauge was around 1/4 full or less.
as i was sitting idling talking on phone....the engine started to splutter like it had water in fuel. i thought, oh no! i am sitting on the shoulder of the road leaning toward the passenger side and i bet the crossover tube between the tanks has equalized and the fuel must pick up from the driver side tank? hence running out of fuel?

so, i call my dad in the service truck. he arrives. we put 10 gallons in the truck.

i bleed the injectors. truck turns over, doesnt crank.
spray a light mist of starting fluid, still doesnt crank.

go buy new fuel filters. fill filters with fuel and install.

i try to bleed injectors, pump fuel with the hand pump plunger on the fuel pump.
cannot get injectors to bleed. maybe it has air in it?

try to spin the engine over and bleed with engine turning.
all the sudden..sounds like batteries get weak.
hook jumper cables.

it slowly turns over in slow revolutions. womp..womp..womp.... like weak batteries.
but, batteries are new.
check the batteries each separate from each other with tester...all check ok.

blow up air tanks with compressor and roll the truck off. cranks and runs great!!

drive truck to shop. cut off engine. i double check and start truck back...starts great!

next morning....will not start. starter barely turns engine over...womp womp womp. charge batteries..still no change.

is it possible that the start will sound fine...but slowly turn engine over..but not strongly enough? yet still turns a little bit?
could this be the starter? its the only thing i can think of.

if it is starter, what could it be? a field coil possibly grounding out against the case? should i buy a reman starter or take it to a starter shop?

what should be a reasonable starter replacement price?

any tricks to taking this starter off?

any advice to what this could be?

thanks guy. any help appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
been there done that twice. with the caterpillar just put fuel in the filters and it fired up without a hitch..with the mack...took 3 days for it to resolve itself. I thought we sucked up a bunch of crud from the bottom of the tank it ran so poorly.

day one we had to blast the ether to it to get it to prime right.. finally got it running and ran like a sick dog all the way home.

day two..wouldnt start in the morning..ether blast.. ran a little better..

day 3 ran crappy..but someone told me to change filters again..instead of filling with diesel fill with kerosene so i did that at the end of the day...sounded good.

day 4..back to normal.

maybe it was the computer retuning itself..or maybe took that long to reprime..idk..
 
#3 ·
gonna replace starter.....

thanks for the reply.
i am used to caterpillar heavy equipment and cummins/cat powered lowboy trucks.
mack...a different animal. the engine i am least familiar with. but i like mack the dumptrucks pretty good.

it has to be the starter. maybe heat from low volatage cause the armature to melt to the case..or a bad bendix.
gonna pull it off and replace and see if that fixed the issue.

truck cranked when i pulled it off and started back with starter the next time when engine was hot.... so until i get the starter issue fixed i wont know if i got the trash out of the lines.

if i could also just somehow turn the engine up SAFELY and IDIOT PROOF to at least a 400 horsepower engine..hehe any ideas?
 
#5 ·
hey guys. in my mack ch613 with a 350 engine dumptruck, i ran out of fuel the other afternoon. what happened is....i pulled on the side of the road to make a phone call. the fuel gauge was around 1/4 full or less. as i was sitting idling talking on phone....the engine started to splutter like it had water in fuel. i thought, oh no! i am sitting on the shoulder of the road leaning toward the passenger side and i bet the crossover tube between the tanks has equalized and the fuel must pick up from the driver side tank? hence running out of fuel? so, i call my dad in the service truck. he arrives. we put 10 gallons in the truck. i bleed the injectors. truck turns over, doesnt crank. spray a light mist of starting fluid, still doesnt crank. go buy new fuel filters. fill filters with fuel and install. i try to bleed injectors, pump fuel with the hand pump plunger on the fuel pump. cannot get injectors to bleed. maybe it has air in it? try to spin the engine over and bleed with engine turning. all the sudden..sounds like batteries get weak. hook jumper cables. it slowly turns over in slow revolutions. womp..womp..womp.... like weak batteries. but, batteries are new. check the batteries each separate from each other with tester...all check ok. blow up air tanks with compressor and roll the truck off. cranks and runs great!! drive truck to shop. cut off engine. i double check and start truck back...starts great! next morning....will not start. starter barely turns engine over...womp womp womp. charge batteries..still no change. is it possible that the start will sound fine...but slowly turn engine over..but not strongly enough? yet still turns a little bit? could this be the starter? its the only thing i can think of. if it is starter, what could it be? a field coil possibly grounding out against the case? should i buy a reman starter or take it to a starter shop? what should be a reasonable starter replacement price? any tricks to taking this starter off? any advice to what this could be? thanks guy. any help appreciated.
 
#6 ·
hey guys.
in my mack ch613 with a 350 engine dumptruck, i ran out of fuel the other afternoon.
what happened is....i pulled on the side of the road to make a phone call. the fuel gauge was around 1/4 full or less.
as i was sitting idling talking on phone....the engine started to splutter like it had water in fuel. i thought, oh no! i am sitting on the shoulder of the road leaning toward the passenger side and i bet the crossover tube between the tanks has equalized and the fuel must pick up from the driver side tank? hence running out of fuel?

so, i call my dad in the service truck. he arrives. we put 10 gallons in the truck.

i bleed the injectors. truck turns over, doesnt crank.
spray a light mist of starting fluid, still doesnt crank.

go buy new fuel filters. fill filters with fuel and install.

i try to bleed injectors, pump fuel with the hand pump plunger on the fuel pump.
cannot get injectors to bleed. maybe it has air in it?

try to spin the engine over and bleed with engine turning.
all the sudden..sounds like batteries get weak.
hook jumper cables.

it slowly turns over in slow revolutions. womp..womp..womp.... like weak batteries.
but, batteries are new.
check the batteries each separate from each other with tester...all check ok.

blow up air tanks with compressor and roll the truck off. cranks and runs great!!

drive truck to shop. cut off engine. i double check and start truck back...starts great!

next morning....will not start. starter barely turns engine over...womp womp womp. charge batteries..still no change.

is it possible that the start will sound fine...but slowly turn engine over..but not strongly enough? yet still turns a little bit?
could this be the starter? its the only thing i can think of.

if it is starter, what could it be? a field coil possibly grounding out against the case? should i buy a reman starter or take it to a starter shop?

what should be a reasonable starter replacement price?

any tricks to taking this starter off?

any advice to what this could be?

thanks guy. any help appreciated.
turns over,doesnt crank?or doesnt start,crank means its turning over but not starting
 
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