Fuel leak and priming help question for new M1009 owner

[ADKM1009]

Hi,

After a few months of on and off again repair work, I finally got my M1009 roadworthy and inspected. Welded in new driver side floor pan and some patch panels in the back bed. Sandblasted and painted my rims and put 33x12.5x15 BF Goodrich M/Ts on. Put bed liner in the floor of the truck. Installed new seat belts, and fixed the parking brake and a few misc items then got the long-awaited NY State inspection. About a day after, the truck started to leak fuel....

From what I can tell (need to get some degreaser onto it to get a clearer look) it looks like the inlet hose or fitting on the mechanical lift pump is leaking. Read the TM and searched the forums. Hoping I just need to tighten the fitting or maybe replace the hose, but if that doesn't work replacing the pump looks like an easy fix. Bought one at Advanced with the two gaskets, just to be prepared.

Here are my questions:

From searching the forum, if the short curved rubber inlet line/fitting is leaking and needs to be replaced, it sounds like there aren't replacements easily available but that I should be able to make one or get one made up at an auto parts store. Any tips would be appreciated.

After replacing the line and/or lift pump, it sounds like I will need to bleed the fuel system. There seems to be a lot of different methods for bleeding. The method described in the TM (Section 3-17 of the 20 manual) where you bleed the filter sounds pretty straightforward. Is this the right way to go or should I be doing one of the other methods I have seen on the forum (remove glow plugs or injectors one by one, etc.)?

Thanks. Hoping to post pics soon too.

 

[MuleMac01]

if you happen to put on a new mechanical lift pump on ( it's not easy BTW) leave the hard line off from the mechanical lift pump to the injector pump then crank the engine with the injector pump pink wire off till you get fuel from the mechanical lift pump then connect the hard line from the mechanical lift pump then prime the filter per TM then start your engine.


by doing it this way you can check how much fuel is being pumped out and if you put it on right

 

[SGT Estum]

Changing that mechanical lift pump is a real pain in the rear. I believe there's a troubleshooting procedure in the TM to check if it's working. Something about catching the fuel over a specified amount of time and measuring the quantity.

Note if the diaphram inside the pump is shot, you may bet leakage from the pump body not the fittings.

 

[Hasdrubal]

My last lift pump lasted just over 5 years. Thought it was the hose also. After cleaning it off and giving it a closer inspection, you could see the leak coming from the crimp of the two pump halves.

 

[bearboley]

My 6.5 has ran out of fuel and about 20 seconds of cranking it will light right off. But you can fill up the fuel filter and loosen the injector lines up at the injectors and crank the motor over until fuel comes out tighten the lines back up and start it. Never heard of removing the glow plugs or injectors.

 

[Efituned]

I found it easy to use a hand held vacuum pump hooked up to line coming from the pump to the filter. Once fuel reached the vacuum pump, I then connected the line and it started right up.

Now a few hundred miles later after replacing the pump, suction line, and filter, I see that the filter base is leaking causing air to get into the lines.