How bad is it? Ran the truck out of fuel.

Sounds like there is just some air still in the fuel system, or some dirt in the fuel filter. When the road service tech came out did he replace your fuel filters or just put fuel in your tank and have you crank it until it ran?

 

Lazy road service technician. He should have put fuel in your tank, dropped both of your fuel filters and replaced them with new ones that he pre-filled with fuel, and changed the filter in your Davco (that is the clear glass filter housing). After all that he should have primed your fuel system long before asking you to try to crank it over.

To fix your problem right now you will need new filters and to have the air purged from your fuel system. If your truck will still run it may clear out the air itself after a while, but I would still have new filters put on. Anytime you run a tank low or out you risk sucking up debris into the fuel system.

What engine do you have in your truck? Reason I'm asking, Mercedes motors are notorious for having a check valve on the fuel rail stick after running out of fuel and they usually have to be reset by a dealer because the average roadside mechanic doesn't know how to get the air out of the fuel system on the Mercedes motor.

 

Ok, that one is not bad. It is unlikely you did any damage running it dry. You may just have filters that are not filling up completely causing it to run rough and be low on power. If you can get it to stay running I would swing by a competent shop and have new fuel filters installed. Be sure to tell them what happened and how the road service tech didn't drop the filters. As for your fuel not equalizing across the two tanks, yes the Freightliner and Western Star trucks do use a cross over or transfer pump and it could be acting up. It may even be a piece of debris that got stuck in the lines and any shop should be able to figure the problem out. With any luck the air will work it's way out of your fuel system and you will clear up without another garage visit.

If it isn't running well enough to make it to a garage you will have to call another road service to bring you new filters, please don't use the same company again. They were too lazy to do it right the first time.

From your other posts I believe this is your own truck? If it is it won't hurt anything not having the transfer pump working for a while, you will just have to pay attention to your fuel level manually in each tank. As you found out today only one tank is actually connected to the fuel gauge.

Good luck and safe travels, it is time for me to head to sleep. I have about 7 hours left to sleep, shower and have breakfast. Hope this has helped you.

 

On DD15 trucks each tank has a vent tube at the top, it will be blue or black. The fitting its attached to has a check valve. The factory sealant sometimes makes the valve stick causing a tank imbalance. I had it happen to me less than 100 yards from a Pilot in Oregon a few years ago.

 

I never thought about the vent causing an imbalance, good idea. Usually the fuel is not returning properly, or on the old trucks ( a few decades ago) the gravity fed crossover would get filled with debris.

Either way, nap time for me. Good luck missjhawk, hope it all works out for you. You had a bad enough week last week with the u-joint problems.

 

I forgot to mention the vent costs about $20 and takes 5 minutes with a wrench to change.

 

There is a good chance you ruined your injectors by running out of fuel. They should be able to pinpoint the one(s) causing the issue and go from there. For every injector replaced it will also cost you a high pressure fuel line as they are one-time use only.