Ln107 Will not start

[ChrisPBacon1]

LN107 3L motor/turbo
Need help trying to trouble shoot.
No start. Will crank but wont fire

I had initially thought it was the fuel cut solenoid (i know...dumb, should have looked at fuses).
Turns out i popped the ignition fuse. My ground wire from the RHD side battery to motor, was pretty smoked. Replaced that and the blown ignition fuse.
Same thing, will crank but no start.
I thought after replacing the fuel cut solenoid maybe i got air in the lines. Primed at the fuel filter and cracked the injectors open slightly. Which there is a little fuel there, but not soaking.

Any thoughts on where i could go from here?

 

[gnob]

glow system. it's on the same fuse with the solenoid

 

[GreenPump]

I second what @gnob said. Time to get the multimeter out and look for voltage at the glow plug bus.

3L will sit there cranking and cranking. Does not like to start without glow plugs.

 

[DanDan93]

Is it hot or cold where you are? Can you get vehicle to run off of starter fluid? when is last time vehicle ran?

-Fuel
before fully committing to electric rabbit hole.....
Is system really primed? Please verify that fuel tank actually has fuel in it; unless you just filled it up recommend adding a few gal.
Starter fluid is my preferred method to priming fuel systems on Dead Diesels. Only burned up two starter motors to figure that one out.
Try and keep it running for about 2min if it works. (just a relatively painless check)

-Electric
Gnob is pretty knowledgeable about this...

Are you able to elaborate on 'smoked' ground wire? Did it short on +, Something cut it, Animals, Destroyed by chemical/Fire?
Does the new fuse still good?

 

[GreenPump]

Here's what I would do:

Prime fuel system with lift pump. Watch for leaks.

Crank the truck. Cranking with heavy smoke = glow system failure. Time for a Wilson switch and delete the horrible superglow system. Jump 12v to your glow plug bus for 15 seconds then start.

Cranking with NO smoke = no fuel. Air in the system. Typically this can be caused by the ACSD/pump leaking (dribbles out while parked) broken lift pump diaphragm allowing in air, etc.

Unlike gas engines, the 3L has only a handful of things which can prevent it from starting. In an absolute worst case scenario, crank-no-start is loss of engine compression. However, with the robustness of the 3L, I would say this is the most unlikely scenario. In my experience they run and drive even until totally locking up.

 

[Heretic]

I second what @gnob said. Time to get the multimeter out and look for voltage at the glow plug bus.

3L will sit there cranking and cranking. Does not like to start without glow plugs.

Huh.

My 5L will start almost instantly in moderate warm temps - turn the key once I insert it and vroom. I wait for the light when it is cooler though - even so, it starts quickly. Has less than 90K miles on it.

 

[ChrisPBacon1]

Is it hot or cold where you are? Can you get vehicle to run off of starter fluid? when is last time vehicle ran?

-Fuel
before fully committing to electric rabbit hole.....
Is system really primed? Please verify that fuel tank actually has fuel in it; unless you just filled it up recommend adding a few gal.
Starter fluid is my preferred method to priming fuel systems on Dead Diesels. Only burned up two starter motors to figure that one out.
Try and keep it running for about 2min if it works. (just a relatively painless check)

-Electric
Gnob is pretty knowledgeable about this...

Are you able to elaborate on 'smoked' ground wire? Did it short on +, Something cut it, Animals, Destroyed by chemical/Fire?
Does the new fuse still good?

Winner winner! Fuel wasnt primed.
I tried using the hadn primer on the fuel filter and that didnt work...tried cracking a few of the injectors and tried cranking a couple times. Just would not work and work the air out. So...this is what i did. I took a brake bleeder, hooked it up to the outlet barb on the injector pump and just started pumping until nothing but diesel came out. Then quickly popped the hose back on. Sputtered a little since i still had two of the injectors barely cracked. Shut it off, closed those. Primed it again...cranked right up.
Smoked as in, the wire is the original that was on the truck, the insulation was coming apart and there was bare wire everywhere. I can tell it had just been rubbing on all sorts of stuff.

 

[DanDan93]

Winner winner! Fuel wasnt primed.
I tried using the hadn primer on the fuel filter and that didnt work...tried cracking a few of the injectors and tried cranking a couple times. Just would not work and work the air out. So...this is what i did. I took a brake bleeder, hooked it up to the outlet barb on the injector pump and just started pumping until nothing but diesel came out. Then quickly popped the hose back on. Sputtered a little since i still had two of the injectors barely cracked. Shut it off, closed those. Primed it again...cranked right up.
Smoked as in, the wire is the original that was on the truck, the insulation was coming apart and there was bare wire everywhere. I can tell it had just been rubbing on all sorts of stuff.

Glad to hear it worked out. That is an interesting technique with the brake bleeder.

The Crisis is over?? I should be getting back to my Surf (and service manuals) on Monday . Think I'm going to get brave and replace every fluid at the same time!