Hi All, I have a 1994 GMC Top Kick truck with a Cat 3116 engine that was run regularly for a long time then when I lost a delivery contract the truck was more or less parked. The truck stayed parked for a number of years (friend said he estimated about 6 years overall BUT at some point during that time it was started and driven to the front of the garage (not far about 1000 or so feet). Anyways, the truck sat there for another 2 or so years until more recently when I have to opportunity to get a Postal Contract with it ... hence me wanting to bring it back to road worthy / running condition. Anyways, my friend tried starting it with fresh batteries but it was a no go.... no signs of it even wanting to run (like white puffs of unburnt diesel from the exhaust while cranking). When I went out to help him I noticed that the tanks were very low on fuel so I ran out and got some (roughly 80 gallons to fill up both tanks ... I had remembered my International trucks could run out of fuel if they go to be 1/4 of a tank low if the truck sat at an angle). Anyways, my friend did claim there is fuel at the fuel filter (new) BUT for some reason he does not think there is fuel getting into the injector pump (air locked ?) ... He thinks it has something to do with it being airlocked with no easy way to bleed air out to prime things ? What could be causing our no start situation ? Maybe a fuel shut off solenoid not working to let fuel in ? Airlock (if so how to bleed the air out of the injection pump and / or the injectors ? I have not looked closely at the engine since I have been working a lot lately BUT i wished it was as easy to work on as an all mechanical 7.3 IDI or older 5.9 cummins which I have some experience with .... Any 3116 Gurus out there that can help me get her started? Thanks in advance for any and all help. Andrew
Does it have a primer pump? If not there is a block off piece on top of filter housing, remove that and install a primer pump.
A primer pump on a Topkick? wouldn't that be nice! Without a primer pump, the transfer pump in the governor at the top left of the engine is too high up to suck the air out of the fuel lines. You have to get fuel there for it to pump anything. Pressurize the tank through the vent hose with low pressure air (less than 5psi), then loosen the fuel line nut at the governor until fuel comes out, then crank. It might be possible for the rack to stick from sitting, if you get it pumping fuel back to the tank but no white puffs out the exhaust, come back and somebody will explain that.
Most of those top kicks came without a primer pump. Just changing the filters was sometimes hard to get primed again. There is usually a primary filter under the drivers step. When you change that one you can fill it with fuel before spinning on. Blowing in the tank while cranking helps. Take the plug out on top of the secondary filter and crank it to see if you have fuel there. It would be a good idea to add a primer pump if you can. There should be a spot on the secondary filter base as Truck shop said. If your bold and don’t care unhook the air intake heater and feed it some ether. There is a solenoid on top middle of the engine that powers the intake heater. Should be a 2 pin deutsch pin plug to unhook it.
I had to add primer pumps to both my C7500 with 3116. Here.... HeavyEquipmentForums
Thanks guys .... will try that and see if she fires (we got it to run about 4 or 4 seconds then she cuts off .... probably just air in the system or something. Thanks