When I started my '05 duramax diesel yesterday morn and it was 8 degrees it fired up perfectly and ran for 3-5 seconds just fine and then shutoff. I’m assuming that the fuel had jelled and so I ran out. Is there a way to manually prime the fuel system? Where is the manual pump located and whats the procedure for using.There’s a 1/2 tank of fuel and it’s now we’ll above freezing. I’ve plugged in the block heater for 6 hrs and it still won’t start.
If you have the Silverado 2500HD with the 6.6l diesel engine, the prime pump and drain cock is located at the water/fuel separator - fuel filter. Connect a hose to the drain pipe, open the drain cock 3 or 4 turns, the prime pump is at the top, push it down and release it ( let it come up by its own )until only fuel comes out, close the drain cock. This will remove the water from the filter if there is water. Next you need to remove air from the lines. Clean up the top of the filter head, you will notice a screw - I think flat blade - this is the vent valve. You will have to give it several turns counterclockwise to open it. Then operate the prime pump (remember to allow it to come up by its own) until fuel comes out through that screw, close that screw. Now you have drained the fuel lines to the filter and filled it up with diesel. You now can start the engine. If it does not run, you may need to manually pressurize the system: pump the primer around 30 times or until gets hard - do not open drain cock or vent valve - try to start the engine, if does not start repeat it again, try a couple of times - you may have another problem going on here - do you have any check engine light on ?. If it does start let it run for 5 minutes.Please let me know how it goes.
Good luck.
You are assuming a lot…Diesel fuel will not “gel” at 8 degrees. I would look for other problems. How about WATER in the fuel filter freezing solid?
Hey, Thanks. I’ll give it a try Monday afternoon