Cummins failed to start

Start with the cheap items, your fuel filters.

Thank you all for all these great replies! I'm tied up heavily with work until Thursday -- when I'm supposed to move on to our next spot :) -- I'll get this rig into the shop ASAP.
Thanks again.

Shop can test Pump Pressure at the engine end and tell you if it's getting enough fuel. could be from trying to pump uphill. May be dirty filter also.

Lift pump bad.

Also could be a sticking fuel cuttoff solenoid.

I had a banjo connector on the engine develop a leak and gave me a no start condition like yours. It had been starting up fine just the day before. The diesel tech who fixed it showed me what lead him to that and you could see a small stain of fuel on the side of the engine coming from the banjo. It was part of the fuel rail assembly on top of the engine so past the lift pump. Once that was replaced, no more air in the fuel rail and started fine.

He also told me it had a 'weak' fuel pump. Whatever that is. Pump was in the front fuel tank so had 25 feet of hose going back to the rear engine.

What I did was run down to NAPA and buy an external fuel pump, several brass connectors, an inline filter, hose clamps, and some fuel hose. Then mounted it to the chassis near the engine and plumbed it into the incoming fuel line. Had to adapt the smaller ID fuel pump fittings to the larger hose. Power from IGN was conveniently there near the engine.

Cost was under $100...I think it was $48 total back in '04. And it worked fine for 12 years. Still working when I sold the rig. Pump was 8 GPM as I recall.

So I'm suggesting that a no start could be caused by a small leak in your engines fuel rail somewhere, and that you can just add an external fuel pump if you have a repeat of the problem AND it turns out to be the fuel pump and not a leak.

That's a electric lift pump, could you hear it running?

My guess, a weak fuel pump. Your forcing it to pump over a pretty long distance and a weak pump could cause the issue. To be safe, have it pressure tested.

beaubeau wrote:
Yesterday, after about 2 hours driving, we had a planned stop. After the stop, the engine would not start. It's a Cummins diesel (300HP front engine diesel, in a Freightliner chassis).

The weather was warm, the engine was still warm, and we had plenty of starting power. The engine was turning over rapidly, no problem there.

I just would not fire.

I kept trying and eventually it did fire. And it fires this morning, no problem.

So here is my question ....

We were parked on a slight incline, facing uphill.

Is it possible that my fuel pump just didn't have enough oomph to get fuel from the tank to where it needed to be?

Any thoughts as to what I should do at this point? Leave well-enough alone?

Unless you can duplicate the problem - not much chance you can get it "Fixed"

I'd call Freightliner and or Cummins and just explain the issue see if they have an answer, that's why they have Customer Service.

Just not enough info to do more than just take wild guesses.

Best of Luck,