This comes under the heading of things you might want to keep in the back of your mind.

I successfully ran my engine out of fuel even though I had about 85 gallons on board and the fuel filters were not dirty or plugged. And they said it couldn't be done.

As some POG members are aware my driveway is a little steep. I back up it to put the bus in the garage. Until the bus is actually in the garage it is pointing downhill. What happened is our garage door failed when we left for the TGO and Liberty rallies. When we got back I would have to get it working and until then the bus had to sit out. If it had been working, Di would have it open for me so I just had to back up the driveway and get about 2/3 of the coach inside before I lowered the front so the satellite wouldn't hit the top of the opening. I have to back up with the front at its full height (the rear is at the ride height) so the generator radiator baffle does not drag on the crown where the driveway goes from its uphill slope to the level at the garage floor.

Since I wanted to stop as close to the garage door as possible so I could get power to the bus I went up slower than normal. That provided all the time necessary for the fuel in the main tank to flow forward to the aux tank, out of reach of the pickup tube. As I got to the door the engine began its death rattle and I knew I had run it out of fuel. So here is a bus on a 15 degree night without a Webasto or generator. I managed to get at least 30 amp power and it made it through the night with no freezing, but when the door got opened I had to prime it to get it to run.

I added about 35 gallons from my stash of diesel fuel for my other toys, and that appeared to be sufficient to cover the fuel pickup in the tank. To test my theory I fired up the Webasto and ran it until the engine was heated. I filled the Racor fuel filter housing before priming. To prime it I used a portable weed sprayer with a hose that I could force over the priming port on the secondary fuel filter. I pressurized the sprayer and it pushed about a gallon of fuel into the port and through the bus system. After a few stumbles the engine fired up and ran.

For those who have not ever had to prime your engine (plugged fuel filters will do the same thing as running out of fuel) there is a port on the LH side of the secondary filter on the 8V92 that requires an allen wrench to remove, or a port on the RH side of the secondary filter on the Series 60 that has a cap nut on it. Both ports allow you to push diesel fuel under pressure through them (25 PSI is recommended, but I just pumped it up enough to make it flow) and you are good to go.

If you have a priming pump on your bus you do not need to use the ports listed above, but if not you might want to locate them, and for that rare moment that you might need them, see what it will take to make the connection to the fuel supply for priming.

I posted this because at some rallies I have heard owners bragging about how low they have allowed their fuel to get. When you run it out of fuel, or ignore the warning signs of a plugged filter no amount of cranking will get it started. If you are lucky you will not be in the middle of the street when the engine chooses to turn its last revolution. But regardless of where you are when it happens, at least you know that there is a way to get the engine running again. The priming process took me less than three minutes, but I already knew what I had to do, and I had the stuff to do it with.