Cummins ISX won’t start solution

Hi, I am new to writing on this forum but I have been reading these posts for guidance (when working on my trucks) for awhile now. I wanted to share an experience I had a few days ago. My truck is a 2014 Kenworth T680 with an ISX Cummins.

I got a call from my driver that the truck would not stay running, it would start and then automatically die within seconds. At times, it would only turn over but not start. He was at the Love’s in North Las Vegas at the fuel pump, shut the truck off to check fluids. When he went to start it, the problem started. Since he was at Love’s, I told him to go to the shop and explain the problem. They suggested changing both fuel filters. They changed both filters, charged me about $150 but the truck still didn’t start. He checked fuses, batteries, no codes were present on the ECM, so the mechanic gave up.

I called a second mechanic that I found on NTTS.com and I explained the situation, told them that I needed somebody that could troubleshoot without ECM codes. The mechanic showed up and he did an electrical troubleshoot, but no luck. He did mention an old fault code for the Turbo Actuator but said it was not important. After about an hour and $350 for his service, he pulled the truck out of the fuel pump area and said that the truck would need to be towed to the dealership. He suggested it was a fuel issue, maybe a broken line or a fuel pump. But he too, gave up.

I then called a third mechanic with a reputable shop in town, they do everything from small repairs to major overhauls. He was nice enough to go out there on a Saturday morning when his shop was closed. He did a deeper diagnostics and troubleshoot and he told me the high pressure fuel pump would need to be replaced. He assured me this was the problem. He said parts would be about $4,000 and about 10 hours of labor to get this changed out and truck would need to be towed to his shop. The problem is that he would be unable to work on the truck until Monday or Tuesday. I paid him about $350 for his services.

I took his word for it and went ahead and purchased a high pressure fuel pump in Arizona (it was about $3,800) and figured I’d do the job myself for a portion of the cost. So I made my way to North Las Vegas and arrived around 7pm with high cold winds and a threatening thunderstorm over me I went to work in the middle of the Love’s truck stop. I took out the power steering reservoir and pump, took out the air compressor and every fuel and air line in the way. This was more complicated than I thought. After about 3 hours, I managed to install the new pressure pump. I felt good because I had done it in less than half the time that they had quoted me. I went to start the truck and no luck. At this point, I was frustrated having spent all that time and money and it had not solved the problem. I took off the air filter and grabbed a bottle of Starter Fluid (I know this is very bad for these engines but I was desperate and tired). Even with the starter fluid, the engine would not stay running at all. I called it a day and went to bed at about 3am. The next morning, I was determined to give it another try. The truck not starting with starter fluid made me realize a couple of things. If this in fact was a fuel issue, the starter fluid should have made it run at least for some seconds but it was not responding. It was as if the engine was not breathing, it needed air. I got on the internet and did some research and found that it could be a Turbo issue. I went ahead and took off the Turbo actuator thinking the Turbo would be seized in a closed position. To my surprise, the Turbo shaft moved freely from side to side but the actuator gear was seized. I could not get it to move even with a pair of big pliers. I manually moved the Turbo shaft around and tried to start the truck. It started right away like if nothing was wrong. There was my problem! The actuator was no good and it had seized in a closed position, cutting off the air supply to the Turbo. I installed a new actuator without a computer to calibrate it (YouTube taught me how). This solved my issue. The truck runs fine, no check engine lights, no problems. It’s hard to believe that 3 mechanics were not able to resolve this issue. I am not a professional mechanic in any way, I have just been working on my own trucks for some years now. Doing a little bit of research and not letting any shop just throw parts at it goes a long way. I think I just got lucky that my truck didn’t end up in the shop with a huge bill for parts and labor. I hope this helps someone out there with the same problem.

 

Hi thanks for the info I did have that in mind but when I took off the air compressor I had nothing to turn over the engine to set the pin since the 3/4 fitting is on the air compressor and I made the mistake of not doing this before the I took it off but what I do is place the old pump and the new one side by side and mark them both at the same spot so that the new one went in in the same position as the old one. Would this be okay or should I take it off and time it right?

 

Thanks for the correction

 

Thank you I will find the time to take it apart and do it right. Do you know if the air compressor needs to be timed also? The gear moved when it took it off