Ran out of diesel..How do i restart?

It is/was NOT a Caterpillar Corp decision to install/not install the primer pump.

That was a decision made by the chassis/coach maker. And, sadly, often the bean counters overruled the engineers and techs.

The manual primer pump and its fit on the Caterpillar secondary fuel filter housing is extremely universal. I have seen them on marine engine, off-road equipment as well as on highway equipment. All the same pump.

I would NOT have a Caterpillar engine without the manual primer pump. The good news is that all that is involved is removing the two bolts that hold the blockoff plate and installing the pump with new bolts and gasket.

If you have a priming pump, use the pump until it is very very hard to move, now take the fuel lines going to the injectors and loosen the nuts that hold them, do not disconnect the lines, half a twist is more than enough, now have a second person crank the engine until fuel starts spraying at the injector connections, now start tightening the nuts in the firing order, most 6 cylinder engines fire in 1-5-3-6-2-4 with 1 being at the front or where the water pump is.

Be careful not to twist the fuel lines and put a crimp on them when loosening or tightening the nuts, the engine will fire with 3 lines tightened and when the fourth one tightens it lights up, tighten the last two and let it idle a minute and then rev it slowly until it is running smooth, do not over rev do it slowly.

Warning make sure that the tools you use are the correct size for the nuts, you can do more damage with the wrong tools, I have started a lot of Diesel engines from little lawn mowers to big ship monsters.

If you are unsure or do not have the correct tools get a mechanic to do this, do not use ether an explosion can occur with a lot of damage.

navegator

I drove commercial trucks for over 40 years and over 2.5 million miles. Have primed cats with pump however with newer electronic engines they are not usually on there. Salesmen like to tell newbies to dump out filters because of water, not usually necessary. If you do take filter off to check for water just look into filter with a flash light and you will see puddle of water in the bottom if any. If water change filter, fill new filter with fuel, then spin on. Fuel filter should be good from service to service. As said any time filter changed always fill with fuel before replacing. most fuel stops these days are pumping enough diesel that you won't get water after going thru there filters. Also when storing motorhomes, gas or diesel leave fuel tank full to prevent condensation build up in tank. Good luck.

I think it's important to repeat:

USING ETHER IN A DIESEL ENGINE CAN LEAD TO AN EXPLOSION!.

Listen to Brett Wolfe, he knows CAT engines..if you don't have a manual pump, now would be a good time to buy and install one.....Dennis

C7 cat engines use a hydraulic unit injection system that uses high pressure oil (up to 4000 psi) to actuate the injectors. if the high pressure pump fails the engine will not run also if the engine runs low on oil and the oil pump stars sucking air the engine will not run so check the oil level. usually a problem with the high pressure oil system will bring on a check engine light and log a fault
if your unit has a primer pump the posts about pumping until it is hard to pump are correct. if it does not prime there are two check valves in the base of the primer pump that have been known to fail. if it does not have a primer I would get one installed. these engines usually start fairy quick once they get fuel pressure

this advise may or may not be worth what you pay for it