My Duramax died - need help
 

Hello so today I did a lumber run for a project I am working on at home . My 2001 GMC diesel dually ran great with no issues . I parked in the yard ( on a angle ) and proceeded to work for four hours .

Finished for the day so I was going to move the truck into the garage . She fired right up , I put it in reverse and moved about 3' and it died . Put it in park and tried to restart ........ nada ☹️ .

The truck has a 1/4 tank of fuel and she has 175,000 miles . I will have to check my records but I changed the fuel filter last year . Tomorrow I will see if I lost prime but it feels like total fuel shutdown . It was like a switch was turned off . Other than the fuel pump anything else it could be ?

GM does not use a lift pump so it is the mechanical pump up front from what I understand . I am retired so no rush but I want to get her fixed . Any diesel tech's out there ?

Certain its fuel? Crank position sensor or cam sensor could do this...helps to read the codes...

I will check for codes tomorrow . Looks like rebuilding the fuel filter head is a common thing to do . Some o-rings and easy to do , apparently the o-rings allow air in and pressure out .

Sounds like you pulled some air in the system. Possibly a cracked pickup tube in the tank? Put fuel in it and see if it comes out of it.

Pump the primer button on the fuel filter until it's hard to push, then see if it starts. Dmax engines would suck air into the fuel filter past the primer button, or past the electrical connector for the fuel heater.

How much of an angle? When things fail, the first thing to do is to determine the last thing you did.

Probably that new stereo you installed. :D

Dirty max is the latest covid victim.

I am still waiting for the back up camera so it's not installed yet but you made me laugh 😀

I am going to try this I think you are on the right track . Rebuild kits for the filter head/primer are less than twenty bucks .

From your post - it doesn't sound like fuel. Almost always if its already running and lose fuel pressure it will first rpm 'flare' briefly then wind down. It may be engine management failure. Often crank and or cam sync sensors will not set a DTC. Best bet is to scan KOEO / then see what's going on when cranking.

Are you getting any smoke when cranking? Even with some air in the system you'll typically get some smoke while cranking. And when they pull air they don't typically shut off like a kill switch was hit.

Now that I think about it for the past couple of weeks there has been a low RPM whistling noise , could be air sucking noise . I could not figure out what the noise was . This may or may not be a clue .

Turns out this was excellent advice , I just went out and pushed the primer button about 20 times and it got hard . Turned the key and a few revolutions and she fired right up . I was able to move the truck into the garage and it ran/idled fine . I did not hear the whistling noise .

I let it idle in the garage with a few blips of the throttle and it acted normal. I called a local auto parts store and they have in stock the fuel filter head rebuild kit so I am picking that up this morning . I don't see any signs of leakage but it's probably sucking air . For all I know if it's never been rebuilt it is 19 years old and 175,000 miles that's a lot of heat cycles under the hood .

So I will rebuild the filter head , install a new fuel filter and see how it goes . Thanks everyone for the replies it was helpful.

Update: Today I removed and rebuilt the fuel filter head/primer assembly . A little awkward to remove but not too bad . The rebuild took about 20 minutes and once inside the unit I found one small o-ring missing and another dislodged :( . Put it all back together with a new fuel filter . Primed the system , hit the key and she fired up .

Took her for a 20 mile drive and she ran good/strong with no issues . I parked it in the garage and waited 3 hours to restart . She fired right up on the restart . Yes it's limited data but appears to be fixed :D . Tomorrow mornings cold start will really tell if it is fixed but I think I'm good to go . Again thanks to all that provided feedback SmileWavy

Great result and good follow up too. Thanks.
My brother has a 6.5Turbo in his dually so I try to follow all the diesel threads to learn as much as I can, just in case I need to help him out, which rarely happens but you never know.

I have lots to learn about these diesels. When I bought mine, I wanted to change out the all suspension parts because I know about those GM front ends. The mechanic suggested fuel filter head also. Since then a Fass lift pump and filter was added. I park on the 10-15% hill daily and sometimes with as little as 1/8 tank of fuel according to the (I think) very inaccurate fuel gauge with no issue starting.

You fixed it, I guarantee it. Diesels are simple, it’s all about fuel and compression. With no ignition system, even the newest ones run on fuel and compression.

And even better, you created a helpful thread while looking for help yourself, in the best forum tradition. A problem and a solution. Now some other dude somewhere in the world w a Duramax will hit the google button and find this, if he’s lucky. If he’s not lucky, he’ll find 10 other threads on the web w people’s life stories and no concise solution. That’s what always happens to me. :)

I have thought about a lift pump , any particular reason you went with the Fass ? You added a single or dual filter ? Did you keep the fuel filter in the engine bay ?

Also always check the oil when it refuses to start. Some of the duramax in that year range had injectors that would leak and fill the crank case with diesel.