[Guy]

Are you actually in south dakota. How old is the fuel? Is your coach outside? Or in a cold storage place? I won't lie. I gelled mine this winter. I last got fuel in mid September in new york  state. Being parked outside through the cold it didn't stand a chance.  I had to wait for a week above 34 and then swap filters and reprime and add fresh winter fuel to get it going again. Of course I also had to pull it out of the soft yard through the mud yesterday. And today its snowing again... figures.

We are just South of Dallas. We returned from Galveston Island 3 weeks ago. Can't be a fuel quality issue. Need to start heading north 91 and humid here today.

[Tf175]

Guy , 
   I had trouble with the '86 after changing filters a few years ago . At the same time I also replaced the original fuel water separators ( looks like yours) with more modern 
Racor type units . I plumbed an electric pump into the secondary filter housing feeding from a bucket of fuel . The engine started right up and would run as long as the pump
was running , but would not continue running after electric pump was turned off . 
I ended up plumbing a gear pump into the system , just before the Primary filter housing . Ran the pump with a drill until the engine smoothed out . 
Removed gear pump and restarted engine as soon as I could . No problems since .
Evidently I had gotten air in the system and the Detroit fuel pump didn't have enough suction to draw fuel through 40 ft of hoses , etc. The pump is actually a transfer pump ,
the high fuel pressure is developed by the injectors themselves . 
BTW : I also tried pressurizing the fuel tanks to no avail . 
Chris

[Guy]

Guy , 
   I had trouble with the '86 after changing filters a few years ago . At the same time I also replaced the original fuel water separators ( looks like yours) with more modern 
Racor type units . I plumbed an electric pump into the secondary filter housing feeding from a bucket of fuel . The engine started right up and would run as long as the pump
was running , but would not continue running after electric pump was turned off . 
I ended up plumbing a gear pump into the system , just before the Primary filter housing . Ran the pump with a drill until the engine smoothed out . 
Removed gear pump and restarted engine as soon as I could . No problems since .
Evidently I had gotten air in the system and the Detroit fuel pump didn't have enough suction to draw fuel through 40 ft of hoses , etc. The pump is actually a transfer pump ,
the high fuel pressure is developed by the injectors themselves . 
BTW : I also tried pressurizing the fuel tanks to no avail . 
Chris

Richard Entrekin gave me a hail Mary red neck plumbing idea of using a hand pump weed sprayer to the inlet of the primary filter . Same idea as yours just a little different bill of materials ! Tomorrow i will try it. i now know to be prepaired when I replace those obsolete fuel/ water separators. Thanks for responding. This group is amazing

[Richard]

After seeing your pics, I would not remove the fuel lines but instead use the appropriate pipe plug opening for the “auxiliary fuel inlet’

[Guy]

After seeing your pics, I would not remove the fuel lines but instead use the appropriate pipe plug opening for the “auxiliary fuel inlet’

I had held off on opening up the fuel lines. I will use the pipe plug as a point of entry for the fuel. Thanks !

[Guy]

Final outcome. Applied positive pressue to the fuel tank with a reverse shopvac , just light pressure. Opened the fuel filter closest to the engine and let some fuel and all the air to come out.  Tightened up the fuel filter while the line was still under pressure. Cranked the engine several times for about 30 seconds each. Nothing. Applied csrb cleaner wile cranking 30 seconds, Nothing. Repeat . Success ! Ran it until I had brake and secondary air, and turned engine off. Next day back to no start . Repeated the process and ran it at fast idle until we got normal operating temp, about 20 minutes. Lesson learned. While "I was at it" I had the starter rebuilt. It had always made a strange angry hyena noise for the 9 years we have owwned the coach. Always started on the first revoloution, so ignorance was bliss. It's rebuilt and silent now. Thanks to all Gurus. You helped me from going down that dark negative mental trail with this problem

[[email protected]]

Final outcome. Applied positive pressue to the fuel tank with a reverse shopvac , just light pressure. Opened the fuel filter closest to the engine and let some fuel and all the air to come out.  Tightened up the fuel filter while the line was still under pressure. Cranked the engine several times for about 30 seconds each. Nothing. Applied csrb cleaner wile cranking 30 seconds, Nothing. Repeat . Success ! Ran it until I had brake and secondary air, and turned engine off. Next day back to no start . Repeated the process and ran it at fast idle until we got normal operating temp, about 20 minutes. Lesson learned. While "I was at it" I had the starter rebuilt. It had always made a strange angry hyena noise for the 9 years we have owwned the coach. Always started on the first revoloution, so ignorance was bliss. It's rebuilt and silent now. Thanks to all Gurus. You helped me from going down that dark negative mental trail with this problem

Excellent, always like a positive outcome. 

FYI, you may think about replacing fuel lines at some time if you think they are original lines. This could be where the air is getting into the system. They will allow air to get into the system without leaking fuel, so sometimes its hard to diagnose this problem. I also had an issue with the check valve on a 96 Newell coach that was sticking, and not allowing fuel to pass through the check valve. I even pushed compressed air through the check valve and still could not fuel to pull through the check valve. The check valve should be close to where the fuel line comes out of the tank.

[Tf175]

Good news !!

[TerryW]

Final outcome. Applied positive pressue to the fuel tank with a reverse shopvac , just light pressure. Opened the fuel filter closest to the engine and let some fuel and all the air to come out.  Tightened up the fuel filter while the line was still under pressure. Cranked the engine several times for about 30 seconds each. Nothing. Applied csrb cleaner wile cranking 30 seconds, Nothing. Repeat . Success ! Ran it until I had brake and secondary air, and turned engine off. Next day back to no start . Repeated the process and ran it at fast idle until we got normal operating temp, about 20 minutes. Lesson learned. While "I was at it" I had the starter rebuilt. It had always made a strange angry hyena noise for the 9 years we have owwned the coach. Always started on the first revoloution, so ignorance was bliss. It's rebuilt and silent now. Thanks to all Gurus. You helped me from going down that dark negative mental trail with this problem

Excellent, always like a positive outcome. 

FYI, you may think about replacing fuel lines at some time if you think they are original lines. This could be where the air is getting into the system. They will allow air to get into the system without leaking fuel, so sometimes its hard to diagnose this problem. I also had an issue with the check valve on a 96 Newell coach that was sticking, and not allowing fuel to pass through the check valve. I even pushed compressed air through the check valve and still could not fuel to pull through the check valve. The check valve should be close to where the fuel line comes out of the tank.

Yep, I had to replace my check valvle completely. It was hard starting and when it finally did start i couldn't go over 20MPH.  Replaced the valve and the rig was like it was brand new. Fast starts and gobs of power. With diesels it seems its always a fuel problem