Hey my son's 1990 XJ ran out of gas, now it will not start. It has half a tank of gas now but it will not turn over. Any help right now will be greatly appreciated. He is in CA and I am in Colorado.

 

Is the fuel pump kicking on? When it ran out of gas did he keep cranking it trying to start it? Could have burned up the pump as the fuel cools the motor. Also there is most likely air trapped in the system. May be a valve on the fuel rail, if he can press it while someone turns the truck over it should release most of the air and also tell him if the fuel pump is working... if no fuel comes out pump is probably fried.

 

x2 what prerunner said...If you do here the fuel pump turn the ignition on and let the fuel pump prime the fuel system, do this a couple times to get fuel to the injectors before trying to turn it over..

 

So it wont turn over? like the starter is not getting any juice??

 

Did you try to start it with the trans in neutral? I know the neutral safety switches are a bit flakey, they won't crank in park, but they will crank when in neutral.

 

X3 Air is probably trapped in the system at the end of the fuel rail is a port to test the pressure, Check for pressure the you can also bleed there to make sure you have no air stuck in system. If he does not have one he they are maybe 25 bucks at autozone and a good tool to have. HTH

EDIT: if memory serves he should have around 35 PSI also.

 

didnt initially notice this.. I took it as it wont start up... So is the engine rotating at all? To me not turning over means the starter is out and the engine is not rotating, but reading the rest of the post my mind automatically went to turning over but not starting...

 

Think we need a clarification from mattypat before proceeding.

 

in the owners manual it says NEVER let it run out of gas.
I used to drive big rigs and if they ever ran out of fuel it was a huge problem
the whole system had to be manually charged.

just a thought.

 

I wish all vehicles had the same set up as my military generators... they would shut down with a gallon still in the tank so that it wouldnt run the system dry and have to be bled. It did have an emergency over-ride that would use the gallon that was left in there if you had to. I only had to use it once because someone let the fuel get that low and we had to have power while that person ran to get more fuel.

 

try this we are doing this right now and it works.


have one guy at the fuel rail depressing the schrader valve while another guy hooks up a air compressor to the fuel tank. make sure the seal from the tank to the compressor it tight. it will prime in no time.

 

Wow, that sounds like a really bad idea. But thanks though.....


EDIT: The system will self bleed for the most part, no need to force it like that.

 

Diesel fuel systems are much different than gas engines. Diesels need lots of pressure to open the fuel injectors, where gas engine injectors are opened electrically. The diesel injector pumps don't take well to pumping air and there will never be enough fuel pressure to open the injectors if there is air in the system.

 

on some aftermarket electric fuel pumps you need to do it this way. there is no other way to get prime back. we burnt out a pump before we did it this way.