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So, ran one engine dry. Long story, basically fuel theft discovered when the engine died. Literally, ran completely out of fuel.

Refiled fuel tank, got fuel to primary filter (good filter, not replaced), and changed secondary filter on engine. Poured fuel into secondary filter all the way to the top. Pumped that horrible little hand pump mounted on the engine, and it seems to be supplying fuel at least to the secondary filter. That little pump suxs, by the way. I think it moves a .05 of the teaspoon per pump.

Crank, crank, crank. Best results were a slow, almost combustion, but never really fires.

Manual that came with engine is zero help. It suggests that if you have fuel to the top of the secondary filter, thing should start by just cranking. But, it that 10 attempts or 100? I did about 10.

Proposed plan:

1. Crack fuel feed from secondary to injector pump, and hand pump 100 times til steady fuel comes out inlet to injection pump.
2. Crack fuel line at injector and crank engine til steady fuel comes out. Repeat at each injector.

Is that a workable plan?

Thanks in advance.

Ernest,

1. Crack fuel feed from secondary to injector pump, and hand pump 100 times til steady fuel comes out inlet to injection pump.
2. Crack fuel line at injector and crank engine til steady fuel comes out. Repeat at each injector.

That's the fastest way and usually don't have to go through it again. Forget the hand pump and install a small electric fuel pump before your primary filters...

Your on the right track. If you opened the bleed screw on the filter housing and bled fuel till no air with the plunger pump, Injection pump on that engine is pretty much self bleeding.

Last resort is loosen the lines to the injectors till you get fuel. After bleeding the filter I close the screw and pump the plunger a 1/2 dozen or so times.

The plunger can be tough on a dry system.

Ernest,
I would had one comment to what Bruce said. After you have all the air out at the top of the fuel filter, close it up and attempt to start.
If it does not immediately fire, have someone operate the pump while you crank the engine. This will often help push the last remnants of air out of the system.
What do you have for your primary fuel filters? I have the filters supplied by Yanmar and they are actually Racor model 490s. I have come to really like these filters as they have a built-in pump
which pumps at a reasonable rate. When changing filters, I put everything together dry and pump the on-filter pump until all the air is out at the top of the on-engine filter. Fire it up and if running rough or does not start, pump while running or cranking. In 15 years and 4200 hours, never had to crack an injector.
Good luck, and I am sure you will get it going in short order.
Bill

Quick follow up.

Ended up having an air leak. Small cut/hole in a fuel hose near the engine. With the cut/hole, never could pump all the air out because it would simply draw in more air. Round and round, round and round, and then when I was preparing to simply scuttle the vessel at the dock, I found the cut/hole.

Once I repaired that, the little on engine pump worked great, and the engine fired up.

Thanks for the feed back and suggestions.