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Old 09-29-2007, 02:36 AM   #21
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Guys word of warning. Never use starting fluid or anything flamible to start a 5.9 Cummins EVER! These motors use a heating grid right inside the intake to preheat. This will catch the fluid on fire and usually ruins things when it explodes if you are that lucky and do not hurt or kill yourself when that whole can explodes in your hand.

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Old 09-29-2007, 09:12 AM   #22
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

hummm... I've had to use starting fluid a few times in mine when I had this problem. I don't think mine has any kind of heating grid because it's never exploded in my face. Also it is a huge pain in the ass to start if it's cold out, so I doubt that any thing is being heated on my motor.
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Old 09-29-2007, 09:32 AM   #23
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

You would probably have a "wait to start" or "glowplugs" light come on on the dash if you had a heater of some type. My heater is a little plug that you unscrew from the intake and shoot ether in to.
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Old 09-29-2007, 10:22 AM   #24
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Well I will admit I do not know a lot about the bus 5.9 but my ram and all the others I have worked on have this grid and a huge warning about this.
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Old 09-29-2007, 11:19 AM   #25
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by KC10Chief
Did you tint the windows yourself?
yeah I got a huge roll of tint off ebay for about 60 bucks - it's 20% sometimes I wish it was a little darker but overall I'm happy with it. I should have done that before I built everything it was hard to get behind the counter top, bunks and closet - there's a few bubbles in these areas.

More details about my tinting experience here... viewtopic.php?f=8&t=592&p=18362&hilit=+tint#p18362
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Old 09-29-2007, 06:34 PM   #26
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

How did the batteries turn out since we had a hard time touching bases last night? I'm hoping everything worked out since you said it started right up. Did you find a bad one or some sulfation?
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Old 09-29-2007, 10:29 PM   #27
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by phillbus914
yeah I got a huge roll of tint off ebay for about 60 bucks - it's 20% sometimes I wish it was a little darker but overall I'm happy with it. I should have done that before I built everything it was hard to get behind the counter top, bunks and closet - there's a few bubbles in these areas.
I just bought my tint at Wal-Mart. It ran me about $60 for all the rolls. I did 20% as well. I took each window out and then took it apart down to individual panes of glass. It took three days but turned out fantastic!
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Old 09-30-2007, 02:18 PM   #28
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

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How did the batteries turn out since we had a hard time touching bases last night? I'm hoping everything worked out since you said it started right up. Did you find a bad one or some sulfation?
I think these batteries are toast. If I have the inverter on for more than a few min. with the engine off the engine cranks over very slow - I used to be able to run my inverter with the fridge for 10 hours with no problems restarting. They're only a year and a half old, but apparently the warranty is only good for one year free replacement - 24month pro-rated - which means I'd only get back about 25bucks of the 110 I spent on them. I think I'm going to try to find a good used 8D battery.
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Old 10-01-2007, 10:41 PM   #29
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

I've done a bunch of research on the Cummins 5.9s and I am currently on my third one (Rams and a TC2000). The warnings that I got were that you didnt want to use any sort of starting fluid because this motor becomes dependant on it quickly. I had a 5.9 in a 91 Bluebird but it didnt have any grid heaters. It had a block heater, but not grid heaters. I change the fuel filter every other oil change.
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Old 10-02-2007, 08:48 AM   #30
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

what tranny usually comes in a TC2000? MT643?
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Old 10-02-2007, 05:06 PM   #31
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

I think the at545
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Old 10-02-2007, 05:24 PM   #32
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by fireguy9993
The warnings that I got were that you didnt want to use any sort of starting fluid because this motor becomes dependant on it quickly.
How can an engine become dependant on starting fluid?
I don't understand.
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Old 10-02-2007, 08:15 PM   #33
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

I don't understand that one either... everyone here keeps saying "I'd never use starting fluid in my engine" I'm bettin they'd changed their tone if they were 5 miles into the woods in the middle of nowhere. Humm... starting fluid or likely $1,000's in towing costs...

It was an easy choice for me...
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Old 10-02-2007, 08:59 PM   #34
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Hmmm....I know an engine can become "accustomed" to a certain type of oil and switch to something with a different additives package. Things like the valve seals might not take well to the switch. This is why it is usually recommended that you do not switch to synthetic oil in a higher mileage vehicle. This, however, is not a "feeling." I'm not sure how a bus can start to feel the need to get starting fluid all the time. Perhaps someone can provide some insight there? I've heard it before and it may well be true, but in my own mind I can't figure out why.
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Old 10-02-2007, 10:47 PM   #35
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by bdavis441
Quote:
Originally Posted by fireguy9993
The warnings that I got were that you didnt want to use any sort of starting fluid because this motor becomes dependant on it quickly.
How can an engine become dependant on starting fluid?
I don't understand.
It's sort of like crack, but for your bus. You don't want your bus to turn into a starting fluid junkie do you?
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Old 10-02-2007, 11:31 PM   #36
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

I had a truck driver tell me that once....me being the smartass that I am said it wasn't the truck (insert bus) that was addicted to it, just the driver being to lazy to fix the problem in the first place...... And I wonder why I have so few friends *LOL*
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Old 10-03-2007, 08:03 AM   #37
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

demonknight has the answer, the 5.9 should start without either if it doesn't have something wrong with it. find and fix the problem.
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Old 10-03-2007, 10:11 AM   #38
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by paul iossi
demonknight has the answer, the 5.9 should start without either if it doesn't have something wrong with it. find and fix the problem.
Yeah I did.. I found a few bad fuel lines that were leaking causing the bus to run itself out of fuel. When it would do this it was very hard to start it with air in the fuel lines. I also had a second problem - my batteries could not stand up to several minutes of cranking the engine.

Starting fluid to the rescue... I had to start it on the starting fluid for a few seconds until it pulled the air through the fuel lines and was getting fuel again. Luckily I fixed the fuel problem, so I don't need the starting fluid anymore. Oh but it's staying in the bus, ya never know where it'll break down and how far away you'll be from "diesel safe" starting fluid.

Now to figure out my battery situation - seems one of my batteries is toast and the other one (connected to it in parallel) is being constantly drained by the bad one. Stupid Walmart batteries.
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Old 10-03-2007, 10:55 PM   #39
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend


Judging by Millicent, fuel hoses can leak air into the hose before fuel comes out. The return hose on Millicent's 5.9 looked like an armadillo's back, yet was not wet. After replacing the hoses, the long cranking problem went away.
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Old 10-05-2007, 10:33 AM   #40
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Re: Hard time starting my 5.9 Cummins this weekend

Quote:
Originally Posted by phillbus914
I don't understand that one either... everyone here keeps saying "I'd never use starting fluid in my engine" I'm bettin they'd changed their tone if they were 5 miles into the woods in the middle of nowhere. Humm... starting fluid or likely $1,000's in towing costs...

It was an easy choice for me...
Just what I read when I was researching the engine class. Perhaps that information is old and outdated or just plain wrong. But, I have a friend with a 3208 Cat out of a 96 (ish) Topkick that he had to start using Ether in the middle of winter to get the truck started. Now it needs Ether every time...even in the summer. I've been standing at the air cleaner with ether can in hand while he cranked it on more than a few occasions. So I'm just a little more paranoid, I guess.
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