I started the truck when it was about -10 windchill and it ran ok. Drove about 2 miles and stopped for about 15 minutes. Restarted the truck fine and drove about 1 miles when it lost power and slowed down then it revved a little and then lost power completely and I pulled over. tried to restart and after several attempts it did but when I tried to drive away it died again.

about 1/2 hour later I tried again and was able to drive another 1/4 mile then it died. The next time I started it, it was running fine while I sat in park and then all the guages went to zero but the truck was still running for about 30 seconds.

I had to have it towed and I don't know what to do with it now. By the way, I have a large slide in camper on the truck so it's not very mobile and I'm wondering anyone knows of a mechanic that would come to my work to look at it? Maybe cummins rocky mountain. I am in the commerce city area.

Thanks for any info on the problem or a mechanic solution.

 

Sounds like a dead LP.

 

why would the truck keep running for a while when the guages went to zero?

 

Sounds like typical cold weather fuel gelling. Sometimes it will take a while for the filters to clog.
Was the last time you filled up back before winter fuel came out like Nov 1st?
You could bring it inside to thaw or use Power Service 911 to melt the wax.
Then add some antigel additive to the tank.

Not sure what's going on with the gauges. Could be two separate problems.

 

Hi remnik, My truck is doing the exaact same thing,except mine died in the driveway. It starts but 30 seconds later it dies,been doin this all morning. I live in Arvada let me know if you get going and what you did to get going.

 

infidel: my immediate thought when this happened was fuel gelling but the guage thing made me think something else. but you may be right about 2 different things, cold weather does funny things to trucks. I last got fuel about a week and a half ago.

I just cycled the key to get the codes and got 0514 and 1652, how do I find out what these are?

 

you might try the advice from infidel, that does sound like fuel gelling. I'll post my findings when I get this resolved.

 

I finally found a list of codes, 1652 = J1850 communication bus and 0514 = battery temp sensor performance/rationality

I'm hoping both of these are cold weather related. I'm gonna have a friend help me on wednesday when its a little warmer. I guess we'll try changing the fuel filter and running a heater under the engine for a while and hope that does it.

By the way, I can't find a cord for a block heater on my truck were they optional in '05?

 

If you installed a shorter battery and used the spacer that often comes with them it could be the problem.
The battery needs to make contact with the sensor.

 

I haven't changed the batteries since getting this truck about 6 months ago. At this point I'm assuming the batteries were just so cold that it caused this code. Is this possible?

Tommorrow I'm going put a space heater in the engine compartment for a while and then try to start the truck.

 

If they don't have a good charge on them they can freeze. That's part of the battery temp sensor's function, to keep a frozen battery from getting charged. Charging a frozen battery can cause it to explode.

If you have a tarp or plastic sheeting big enough to cover the whole truck with the tarp touching the ground all around it's amazing how fast even a small heater will thaw/ungel everything. Covered this way even the block heater can raise the temperature of the entire truck above freezing on a sub-zero day.

 

It gelled up as did mine yesterday at -2. I just pumped 17 gal alleged 50/50 the nite before and let it run for 10 min to blend in tank. I think I got hosed on the blend.Fuel does not care what the wind chill is, only flesh.

 

remnik, I found my problem! I had water in my tank, I added anti-gel to the fuel but did not solve the problem. I went to Harbor Freight and picked up a propane torch took it home heated up the fuel tank for 15 mins, then restarted it ... truck runs fine!!

 

Problem solved! Changed the fuel filter (fuel was slightly thick but didn't appear gelled) and filled canister with 50% 911 and 50% diesel. Then I put a propane heater under the engine compartment for about an hour and a half. The heater warmed up the batteries pretty well which I think was part of the problem. Anyway it started and ran fine after that. It's amazing the problems that cold weather causes.

Thanks for the help

Snakefarmer: glad you got your problem solved too.