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Fuel pump went out on a 97 Freightliner at 3am on I-80 in Nebraska
Last month I was hauling a load of lumber from Lincoln to Denver when the C15 started stumbling around 2:30am. I pulled over near Grand Island and the secondary filter was totally dry. Long story short the lift pump gave up completely after 400k miles. Had to limp it to a Love's at exit 312 on just the injector pump picking up fuel. Took me 4 hours in the parking lot to swap in a new pump I got delivered by a local parts runner. Has anyone else dealt with a failed lift pump on those old Cats where the engine still runs but has zero power?
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knight.mason28d ago
Hold up. You drove it on just the injector pump sucking fuel? That thing must have been screaming for air the whole time. I've seen those old C15s run on a prayer before but that's next level. Four hours in a Love's parking lot at 3am swapping a lift pump sounds like a special kind of hell. I'm impressed you got it going without a tow.
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martin.paige26d ago
Pulled into that same Love's exit 312 last winter with a similar issue on a 97 Freightliner. @knight.mason is dead on about the injector pump sucking air, but what nobody brings up is how those old C15s will actually build enough rail pressure to idle for a few minutes if you crack the injection lines at the head. That trick saved me from having to wait for a tow in a blizzard. You probably already know the return line check valve tends to go out around 350k, which masks the lift pump failing until it's completely dead. Your four hour swap beats my six hour struggle because I dropped a socket down between the frame rail and had to fish it out with a magnet on a stick.
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