C15 Cat wont start

Somebody help me please!

Truck: 02 Int'l 9400i
Engine: Cat C15 6NZ
Problem: Wont start and keep running.

So here's the deal. truck ran great all week. I got in Friday afternoon, parked it 'til Monday morning. When I tried to start it, it wouldn't. Engine would crank over fine, but wouldn't fire. I gave it a shot of starting fluid and it would run til it was gone and quit. I removed the spin on fuel filter and replace it with a spin on block off plate, drained a bit of fuel from the Davco (no water). Gave it a few pumps of the primer pump, and another shot of ether and she fired and ran. I drove about 100 miles round trip to deliver a load. It did seem a little short of power, but ran fine; and had no problem starting after sitting for two hours while getting unloaded.

After sitting from Monday afternoon til Wednesday morning, the same thing: would crank over, but would not fire up. There was fuel in the Davao so I gave it a shot of ether. It ran on the ether and quit. I gave a few strokes on the primer pump and another shot, and it fired and ran fine. I let it idle for about 20 min then shut it off and change the oil. After which I started it and let it run for a couple of min to check for leaks. I shut it off, check the oil, and was going to add a gallon of Lucas. I restarted it (I always have the engine running while adding Lucas) It ran for about 45 seconds, started to skip and shut down. I stroked the primer pump, again, gave it a shot, again, it fired and ran for about a min and shut down; again.

My problem seems to be fuel related can someone help me please. Where do i start to trouble shoot? What do I look for? (Fuel tanks are 1/2 full)

 

Thanks for the reply. If there is, say a loose fitting, on a suction line would I see evidence of leaking fuel, or will it just suck air. I know this question is elementary, but i want to know what to look for also when i crawl around under this beast.

 

Thanks, With what you and Underpsi said, this is starting to make sense to me now. I'll let you know tomorrow.

 

thanks, I'll check this too.