THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE - DFO gets a truck and hops on Schneider's IC Choice Program
Discussion in 'Schneider' started by dieselfuelonly, Nov 1, 2013.
Page 329 of 388
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So to expand on the above... started off today driving 400 miles to Binghamton. Tried to use my APU today and it just said no. So I decided to deadhead down to Carlisle which was 200 more miles. Got here late morning. Made the trip in 3 hours... I was movin pretty good LOL.
Then I start working on the truck. Bobtailed down to the Volvo place just down the street from the OC to look for the water separator. They didn't have it, but they DO have a really nice parts area with lots of stuff for sale that's not just Volvo related. I got a box of latex-free gloves and a small plastic pan from them.
Then I went down to Kenworth/Thermo King which is about a mile from the OC. They didn't have the separator either. Guess I'll have to grab it from Cummins. But I did get two fuel filters for the TriPac which cost me $60. LOL. Probably would have been $20 from NAPA. But what can I do... I had 15 minutes left on my 14 so it's not like I could go running around looking for a NAPA.
So I went back to the OC and started tearing the TriPac apart. It was a huge pain because I just had my Harbor freight kit and a few decent tools I keep in my truck. But, had to make due with what I had. First I pulled off the spin-on fuel filter and removed the starter fuse and tried to start the unit to see if fuel was coming out. Barely anything other than a few drops. Yeah that is a problem.
So next I removed the line from the fuel filter housing and put my finger over it and repeated the above process to try to feel for some kind of pressure. Some was there but it felt like a lot of air.
So next I'm cutting off all the zip ties and crinkle-wrap that surround the plastic fuel lines all the way to the tank. Started looking for rubbing, found a little here and there but couldn't find an air leak.
So at this point I wasn't sure if the fuel pump was bad or if there was an air leak that I couldn't see or if the in-line filter was clogged. I decided to remove the fuel pump and test it which was a giant nightmare. Had to remove the air cleaner and all the tubing, then the compression fittings for the fuel lines, then spend 10 minutes working the 11mm rusty *** bolts loose that hold the pump on with my harbor freight wrench which depending on what angle you have it is either a 10mm or 11.5mm (chinese crap at it's best). Finally I got the fuel pump off and found that the line leading from the pump to the spin-on filter housing was worn from rubbing and leaking. Didn't think this was my problem, but it needed to be replaced anyway because it was leaking.
So I used it to test the fuel pump. I cut it in half, put the suction end of the fuel pump with the tube attached into a bottle with some fuel I drained from my Cummins' water separator in it, and the other end in an empty bottle. Hooked the power up, ran the test start, fuel pump worked like a champ (surprisingly). My initial guess before looking into all this was the fuel pump was going bad.
So now I was down to either the in-line filter being clogged or an issue with the fuel line leading to the tank. So I bypassed the in-line filter and hooked the pump directly to the line going to the tank and ran the test start and it works great.
Ok, so now I know the in-line filter is clogged, COMPLETELY. So I replace that with the one I bought earlier.
By now my 14 is WAY over, so I had to take the company car and run back to Thermo King and bought 10 feet of the plastic fuel line tubing and a couple compression fittings. I got some extra in case I ever need to replace the line running all the way to the tank. But all I needed to do this time was make a short piece to go from the pump to the spin-on filter housing. Did that and then put it all back together. Connect all the lines, bolt the fuel pump back in, bolt the air cleaner assembly back on, put the new spin-on filter partially on, run two test starts to fill the spin-on filter with fuel, tighten it up... and the moment of truth.
And it starts first try! Runs great now. No more sputter on the start and no bogging when the AC compressor kicks in. I adjusted the belt too and no more squeal when the AC kicks on either. I still need to zip tie all the wires and tubing back in place but that will have to wait till tomorrow. Hopefully nothing wiggles loose and self destructs tonight LOL.
Tomorrow I need to get the fuel filters for the Cummins replaced. I believe there is a Cummins shop in Harrisburg. I am concerned that this issue is showing up though. The Tripac filters had about 700 hours on them and should be good for 1000 hours and lets face it more than that. The fact that I got the low fuel pressure code earlier on the tractor's engine as well makes me think there is something wrong.... maybe some algae growing in the tanks? Unfortunately with the anti-siphon things in the tanks its impossible to shine a flashlight down into them and see. I've never dealt with this type of issue before so who knows.
That was a long day, I finished the TriPac at 7pm as the sun was setting. I've been up for close to 24 hours now. I'm gonna sleep good tonight but this means my night driving schedule is going to be LONG GONE. No load out yet, but that's OK I want to get the tractor filters taken care of first. Hopefully I can grab an easy relay out of here or something.Hegemeister, kohio1, knuckledragger and 3 others Thank this. -
DFO do you fuel at Loves? I have bad luck if I fuel there too often. Seems to be dirty fuel or something.
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Yeah, it sounds like you got some bad fuel somewhere. Happened to me last winter from Loves in Jackson MS. On my inline filter, I change it about every 3 months. I get mine at walmart for 3 bucks. The main filter I change once a year. The 500 hrs or 1000 hrs only pertains to the oil filter per their maintence manual.
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I bobtailed over to Freightliner in Harrisburg and picked up the water separator, I already had an extra fuel filter with me, so I went ahead and replaced both of those today at the OC. The water separator is easy with the ISX on this Freightliner. Drain everything out the bottom, pull the bowl off and swap it in the new filter canister, and then just reinstall it dry. Then turn the key on and the lift pump will pull for 2 minutes and fill the separator. No need to pre-fill it. Same with the fuel filter, put it on dry, let lift pump run. Then it takes a few tries to get going. My ECM is set to only let the starter crank for 5 seconds then I have to wait for 30 or so, so it takes a few tries. But not too bad. We'll see if that code shows up any more. Hopefully nothing nasty growing in the tanks, but time will tell if the filters plug up again fast. Unfortunately with those stupid anti-siphon things on the tanks its impossible to shine a flashlight down there and have a look. I may remove those and get some locking caps at some point. -
Sounds to me like maybe you have Alge in the tanks. Common problem now-a-days with the bio-blend fuels
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dfo im just curious is your vin ax1388
never mind I just looked at the date of your fist post , would be impossible to be my old truckLast edited: Oct 2, 2014
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Oh but so close!! I'm 1389! LOL.
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