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PeeWee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-21
Madera, CA

PeeWee

Premium Member

diesel fuel system?

I recently had someone describe a Chevy diesel engine that had been destroyed. When having run out of fuel, someone had bled the line to one injector to start it. After running it a while a couple of cylinders had run dry and burn up the engine. I did not think this was possible with the fuel return lines that would naturally bleed the remaining lines. Any one think there could be any truth to this?

moarinfoz
@optonline.net

moarinfoz

Anon

Problems I have with this.

What chevy diesel 6.2 or a new duramax?

Motor can not run on 1 cylinder so... must have been fuel to other ones as well

What is "burn up the engine"

PeeWee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-21
Madera, CA

PeeWee

Premium Member

The claim was that it was possible to run some cylinders dry for not bleeding each injector line. I do not believe it as I have seen a few started in such a manner with no issues. especially in the Army during the 60's and 70's when I saw many vehicles started that way.
Why ask which one or type? If you think it likely with any please name one. I believe if this is likely it would be a very poor design.

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey to PeeWee

Premium Member

to PeeWee
I don't know much about diesel's, but I'm not sure how one can "burn up" due to lack of fuel; usually that happens due to lack of lubrication. If it's running (even if only on a couple cylinders) that's enough to run the oil pump and provide lubrication for everything.
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada

1 recommendation

TheMG to PeeWee

Premium Member

to PeeWee
Running the fuel pump out of diesel could damage the fuel pump, since the diesel fuel has lubricating properties that cools and lubricates the fuel pump.

But as far as damaging the engine itself... I don't really see how that is possible.

PeeWee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-21
Madera, CA

PeeWee

Premium Member

said by TheMG:

Running the fuel pump out of diesel could damage the fuel pump, since the diesel fuel has lubricating properties that cools and lubricates the fuel pump.

But as far as damaging the engine itself... I don't really see how that is possible.

That is my point, neither can I.

Grumpy4
Premium Member
join:2001-07-28
NW CT

4 edits

Grumpy4 to PeeWee

Premium Member

to PeeWee
If we're talking about the 1980s GM diesels, many tales of engine failures are believable.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

2 edits

rody_44 to PeeWee

Premium Member

to PeeWee
You can burn out pistons by not having fuel get to the cylinder. Dont know that i buy running out of fuel and air locking a injector would cause it tho. But back in the day it was common procedure to bleed every injector. But common procedure was to bleed it at the pump not at the actual injector. I dont think anyone does that anymore tho and i believe its more a matter of design more than anything else. Go back 30 years tho and yes i have seen many a melted down pistons do to no fuel. Cant say i ever remember any ever being after a run out of fuel situation tho. Of course its hard to remember the 70s and 80s.

In otherwords diesels isnt like gas where you get away with driving with a missing engine. But its hard for me to imagine a person running out of fuel and than trying to drive it while its air locked. But with the way people are you never know. No fuel to a cylinder is catastrophic to a diesel engine even today for any extended amount of time. By extended amount of time im not talking days. Im talking pretty well any amount of time after warm up and under load. A piston melts down fast without fuel.
rody_44

2 edits

rody_44 to Grumpy4

Premium Member

to Grumpy4
Yea i think i know which ones you are talking about. If memory serves me correctly they were nothing but 350s converted to diesels. By far the sorriest diesel ever made. Im sure anyone that ever bought one of them things has it well cemented into the brain. LOL. Everyone i knew ended up converting the vehicle back to gas. Yea i know nothing was the same as the 350s. The engineers were and the engineers had no clue how to build a diesel engine.
scholwinsk
join:2002-06-28

scholwinsk to PeeWee

Member

to PeeWee
I drive a Chevy 6.2 diesel over 100 miles a day. The fuel system is almost self bleeding. There is a bleeder valve to open on the fuel filter block. Disconnect power to injector pump and crank for about 45 seconds. It has a old fashioned mechanical fuel pump that works very well. I never open injector lines unless they are being removed.
Put a 1/2 quart of Mercon III ATF in the fuel tank and it runs as smooth and quiet as a gas motor.

Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium Member
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30

Doctor Olds to rody_44

Premium Member

to rody_44
said by rody_44:

Yea i think i know which ones you are talking about. If memory serves me correctly they were nothing but 350s converted to diesels.

Those were not Chevrolet engines instead they were Oldsmobile 350s (actually V-6 and V-8s from 261 CID, 263 CID, and 350 CID sizes were produced) used in various GM vehicles.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ol ··· l_engine
scholwinsk
join:2002-06-28

scholwinsk

Member

GM, Detroit Diesel and GMC made more diesels than you can shake a stick at. Google Toro-Flow. Most were junk. The 6.2 did have problems that were finally corrected after they stopped production.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

rody_44 to Doctor Olds

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to Doctor Olds
Still a GM designed and built engine,

Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium Member
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30

Doctor Olds

Premium Member

said by rody_44:

Still a GM designed and built engine,

Yes, but it also was not a "converted to diesel" gas engine. The block, crank, heads, and intake were new designs.

Lurch77
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
Green Bay, WI

Lurch77 to scholwinsk

Premium Member

to scholwinsk
said by scholwinsk:

Put a 1/2 quart of Mercon III ATF in the fuel tank and it runs as smooth and quiet as a gas motor.

Wish it were that easy with the 7.3 IDI in my '93 F350. This engine sounds like it is rattling parts off going down the road. Just the nature of the beast. Nothing is going to quiet it down. The running joke with my friends is it knocks and burns oil.
scholwinsk
join:2002-06-28

scholwinsk to rody_44

Member

to rody_44
The 6.2 was designed and built by Detroit Diesel. The 6.5 is a Detroit Diesel design that was produced by GM.

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium Member
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

Anonymous_ to PeeWee

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to PeeWee
GM cars do NOT have a return line after the 2004 model for the 3800 series 3 engine

not sure about the others
fixrman
From a broken heart to a hole in the sky
Premium Member
join:2003-02-10
Hatboro, PA

1 recommendation

fixrman

Premium Member

Why are you posting in a DIESEL thread about a GASOLINE engine?

shimonmor
Premium Member
join:2000-12-30
Sedro Woolley, WA

1 recommendation

shimonmor to moarinfoz

Premium Member

to moarinfoz
said by moarinfoz :

Motor can not run on 1 cylinder so... must have been fuel to other ones as well

Actually, I have run many diesel engines on one cylinder...including the John Deere 6.8L and Cummins 5.9L and many smaller 2, 3 and 4 cylinder diesels (in the 1 to 3L range). Also, there are many 1 cylinder diesel engines out there like the Farymann and Hatz...don't tell them they can't run on their only cylinder.

As far as larger diesels, the Cummins and JD are inline 6 cylinders and I've loosened 5 of the 6 injector nuts for cylinder balance tests and the engine continues to run...each piston rod has a lot of torque. With the newer, common rail engines you can shut the cylinders down electronically through software for testing. I ran a JD 6.8L common rail on one cylinder and it sounded better than many older mechanical diesels running on all six.

As far as the original post...it's most likely that the fuel system was destroyed, not the engine. The fuel injection system on a diesel engine has a fuel return system so that all that excess fuel can dissipate heat generated in the injectors and fuel pump as well as provide lubrication for the system (which is why older, mechanical rotary fuel injection pumps need a lubricity additive with modern diesel fuel since a lot of the lubricity is lost due to the process of removing sulfur...pumps that are oil lubricated don't care). Even then, it's hard to destroy a fuel injection system unless it's run completely dry...but I've seen it done. The tolerances in a fuel injector are very tight and it's metal to metal contact as the needle moves up and down in the injector body. Common rail injectors are even tighter tolerances and much more susceptible to failure from lack of fuel and dirt. I've also seen a number of Cummins common rail engine fuel systems destroyed because the return became plugged.

As far as the older GM 6.2L engine...a dog. The main bearing caps (that hold the crankshaft in place) would break off. Not good. The GM 6.5L was a much better engine. Generally speaking, the inline 6 engines are much better than any of the V-8's (and that's coming from someone who owns an '85 F250 with the 6.9L...a dog with a different set of fleas).

bigpowa
@optonline.net

bigpowa

Anon

I'd love to see you start any v8 with only 1 working cylinder...

Also the 6.2 was for mpg... idk why everyone hates so much on a motor that did its job... MPG.

I plow with a 6.2 pickup weighs about 11k right now, ya sure you aint doing 0-60 in 10 seconds but... (well I aint ever doing 0-60 I limit myself to 45-50) again, motor was not made for power it was made for mpg.

shimonmor
Premium Member
join:2000-12-30
Sedro Woolley, WA

shimonmor

Premium Member

said by bigpowa :

I'd love to see you start any v8 with only 1 working cylinder...

Also the 6.2 was for mpg... idk why everyone hates so much on a motor that did its job... MPG.

I don't know of any V8 diesel that will run, let alone start, on one cylinder (maybe a 3208...but never tried it). I never claimed otherwise. Maybe you need to re-read my post.

If I insulted your GM engine...get over it. It may get good MPG (as do most diesels)...but many of the 6.2L engines didn't last long enough to reap those benefits. And just because there are still 6.2L engines out there running fine...doesn't change the fact that the the engine was poorly designed. Hell, I saw a running Yugo the other day. Doesn't mean it's a reliable nor a good vehicle based on a small sample size.

moarinfoz
@optonline.net

1 recommendation

moarinfoz to shimonmor

Anon

to shimonmor

Motor can not run on 1 cylinder so... must have been fuel to other ones as well

Actually, I have run many diesel engines on one cylinder...including the John Deere 6.8L and Cummins 5.9L and many smaller 2, 3 and 4 cylinder diesels (in the 1 to 3L range).

I don't know of any V8 diesel that will run, let alone start, on one cylinder

Many diesel engines many does not mean *no* v8's, and seeing as the OP is talking about a CHEVY engine... (as my reply was to) idk of any non v8 chevy diesels...

Maybe you should reread and understand what is being replied to.

I am talking about a CHEVY diesel, as the OP is talking about. Idc about 1 2 3 4 6 cyl diesels... you aint starting a v8 chevy diesel on 1 cylinder.

You need to get over yourself, however, it is ill informed people like you that help keep the price if 6.2's low. The motor is a fine motor, still a ton of them around, the engine design was not the issue it was the nickle (I believe) content in the block there are, GEP i think stamped motors that are worth alot because the nickle content is correct so the block is stronger, same design, but GM did not cheap out when making it.