Hi all. We've owned our 05 CRD for about a year and 14k miles now. I do LOVE THAT TORQUE! Anyway, back to the question at hand. It's primarily the wife's DD. Over the winter we were having intermittent starting troubles. It would crank forever and not fire. Had a CEL, got it scanned and it turns out one of the GPs failed. I got the random idea to give the fuel primer a try. Went out, primed it 10 times and it fired up (and it might have been 10 degrees out). I assumed that priming it pushed some gelled fuel out and allowed it to run. Replaced the GPs with 5v Bosch GPs, no more CEL and all has been good (till today). This morning wifey backed out of the driveway, put it in Drive and it stalled out. She primed it and it started and ran all the way to drop the kids at school and then to work. So, with that being said, I was hoping to get a little guidance on how to attack this problem. My plans are as follows: 1. Replace fuel filter, prime the system, see what happens. 2. Check the sensor that commonly gets overheated allowing air into fuel system. What's it called? Where is it? And, how do I do it? Is there a write-up somewhere? Thanks to everyone for the help.

The plug you're thinking of is the fuel heating element and it's on the top right of the filter assembly (looking at it from the bumper). You'll be able to tell pretty quickly if that's melted, as the deformation is pretty obvious.


Your steps sound logical, and fuel supply issues due to air leakage, clogged filters, etc. are probably in the top 2 of frequently reported problems.

My recommendations are (in order):
1) Ensure you're not actively leaking(since all else is meaningless if diesel is coming out of a hole in the filter)
2) Inspect/replace filter element
3) Investigate ways to potentially replace the filter and supply assembly (new mopar design, racor filter, stanadyne filter, in-tank pump, etc.).
4) Drive it a while and see if the problem comes back

If you're lucky, you just need a filter. If you're not, then you have a leak in the head or otherwise insufficient fuel flow. I did a bleeder valve and CAT filter conversion years ago, but honestly, my problems have been completely gone since I put in a lift pump and aftermarket filter:
http://www.polter.net/~dan/pics/liberty/cummins_pump/



Dan

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2005 Silver CRD Limited
245/75R16 GoodYear Duratracs
Fumoto drain | ProVent CCV Filter
Stanadyne FM100 filter | Cummins fuel pump
GDE Eco | SEGR | BoulderBars | FrankenLift | Frankenskids

Thanks. That is very helpful and good to know that it's likely a fuel issue. Pics are great too. I'm not trying to do much in the way of mods, that's what my XJ is for. Since the problem goes away with the use of the primer, I'm thinking that it's sucking air from somewhere. Hopefully from the heater connection. Thanks again.