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[RoGrrr]

OK, here’s the latest

I switched it over to oil and got in the truck this morning; it was cold from sitting overnite. It started normally and off to the races I went. I got about 2 miles and noticed it going flat. As I was climbing a small hill, not only was it lugging down, but it died. I pulled off the road and switched it back over to diesel. It cranked for between 5 and 10 seconds and sounded like it was trying to start and maybe even a muffled backfire !
I let off the key and then cranked again. Another 5 seconds of cranking and it started.

At this point, looking at all the symptoms, I’m beginning to believe it’s fuel starvation, probably coming from either a collapsing rubber fuel line (I have rubber hydraulic hose from the tank that is sitting in the bed) up to the fuel selector valve located on top of the engine, or the “sock filter” I put on the bottom of the pickup tube is clogged. I don’t see how the hyd hose could be collapsing – it's new and I don’t think the fuel lift pump has THAT much suction to flatten it. I’m going to check it all out tonite.

If the sock filter is clean, I’ll pull the hydraulic hose and rod it out to see if it is actually restricting the flow of oil.

Someone asked me if my fuel line is big enough to flow enough oil to feed the 7.3 engine. My response was that if the hose is too small, why, then, was I able to romp it REAL hard Wednesday and it pulled very strong up past 75 MPH and then haul a 900 pound load home (high fuel demand conditions) the same day but now,empty and I wasn't getting on it, it lugged and even died ?

Process of elimination leads me to believe it is a fuel line problem. If necessary and I find that the hydraulic hose is failing me, I’ll replace it with a steel line of larger diameter. I didn’t hesitate to use a rubber supply line since oil is not considered flammable and if it did somehow spring a leak, the flow rate would be low enough to allow me to repair it before my 50 gallons runs out.

Again, I’ll post my findings here.


BTW, I had disconnected my glow plugs in March. I start the truck without the aid of glow plugs while it's warm. When the temps get down into the 40's I'll reconnect the relay.

The reason I disconnected them is, not needing them, there is no reason to run them, drawing about 150 amps, which strains the batteries and alternator and burns the relay contacts. I see to it that the rest of the truck gets enough abuse as it is.