Range Meter on DIC

04Chevy2500HD · February 5, 2004

Well I did it. I ran the DMAX out of fuel today on the ride home. Ran out within 3.5 miles of the gas station. SO here is my question the reason I ran out is because the range meter said I still had 40 miles to go. That is when idiot look for fuel light came on. Anyone ever found that there's keeps counting down past 40? Because mine stuck at 40 for about 30 miles. I thought I had enough to make it to the gas station I didn't. But GM roadside got there within 35 min. So congrats to them.

-David

TROYROBO · February 5, 2004

that sucks

gave20 · February 5, 2004

my idiot light came on once I had less than 60-70 miles. When I filled up the range-o-meter was pretty close as it took all but 23 gals to fill but I normally try to fill when the need is just to the right of 1/4 tank. Keep in mind as you drive the range function will adjust as your MPG go up and down, but if you ran out your range-o-meter should say low and the DIC will flash FILL UP FOOL, atleast mine did.

bowtiebob · February 10, 2004

Does the DIC range meter use your instantaneous mileage on your trip or just the average MPG for the life of the truck? It could be that your trip mileage was lower than average and this tricked the DIC. However, you'd think the range meter might be more advanced than this. I've often wondered, as the range meter usually says I could make it home and back within about 5 miles. However, i've never had the cajones to try it.

bob

MrQuadrasteer · February 10, 2004

Heh-heh... I've pushed mine to 19 on the DIC !! I'll try and not do that again any time soon !!! (but hey- I ain't a diesel !!)

Speaking of which, what's it take when you run a modern diesel dry ?? Is it the same deal as back in the day- big pain in the butt ??

gave20 · February 10, 2004

I believe the range meeter uses the instantaneous MPG because it measures the range per fuel load, but I'm not 100% I reset my personal trip everytime I fill up. One way to tell is to turn the personal trip off and see what happens to the range meter. I feel 99% sure it calculates off the instantaneous but is not as sensitive because of whole number rounding so you won't get the wild range variation when your on and off the gas.

bigdogs · February 11, 2004

Mine said like 60 miles on it and it took 22.7 gallons of Diesel to fill it up. That is the lowest I ever got with it.

MrQuadrasteer · February 11, 2004

I believe the range meeter uses the instantaneous MPG because it measures the range per fuel load, but I'm not 100% I reset my personal trip everytime I fill up. One way to tell is to turn the personal trip off and see what happens to the range meter. I feel 99% sure it calculates off the instantaneous but is not as sensitive because of whole number rounding so you won't get the wild range variation when your on and off the gas.

Hmm, I disagree. I think it goes off the average, which as the miles rack up per tank, becomes increaslingly difficult to change. If it was off the instant, it would constantly fluctuate a BUNCH- accelerating, I'm getting 3mpg, cruising I'm getting 13-16, so your range would go from, say 45miles left accelerating then jump to 200 miles left cruising ?? I don't think so, or, I've never noticed it do it...

JayMan · February 11, 2004

Heh-heh... I've pushed mine to 19 on the DIC !! I'll try and not do that again any time soon !!! (but hey- I ain't a diesel !!)

Speaking of which, what's it take when you run a modern diesel dry ?? Is it the same deal as back in the day- big pain in the butt ??

Any moden diesel, including the HD Cummins ISX 6 cylinder turbo's with 15 liter displacement I run in my heavy equipment, use electric pumps to transfer fuel.

In the "good 'ole days" here is a trick we used to quickly fire up a HD truck diesel run dry: modify the fuel cap by drilling and threading a hole, then screwing on a Schraeder valve. Put in at least 10-20 gallons of diesel.

Crack the fitting to #1 fuel injector at the rotary pump and make sure the manual fuel lever, or electric solenoid (Whatever the case may be) was "on."

Have somebody hold their Pinkie over the tank vent to block it. Hook up an air compressor to that Schraeder valve and pressurize the fuel tank, no more than 40-60 psi.

Open the bleeder first on the rotary pump, wait until bubbles come out. Eventually a steady stream of diesel should appear. Close the rotary pump bleeder.

Wait until bubbles come out the #1 injector fitting at the rotary pump. Eventually a steady stream of diesel should appear. Repeat for the other fittings on the rotary pump end.

Then, moving to the cylinder head and #1 cylinder, crack the fitting at the injector and have somebody briefly crank the motor. Same drill, first bubbles than a steady stream. Tighten the fitting to proper spec.

Try cranking: the motor should fire up. It will run rough as hell until the other injectors purge the air, sometimes this takes 3-5 minutes. On some older Cat 3406 motors, for some reason you had to crack the fittings at all the injectors to bleed them or the motor would refuse to run.

As you can imagine, if it was -20 F or if it was raining, that was a fun trick to try. Especially if the fuel had gelled, you had to also change the filters.

With modern Common Rail Injection, it's "self-bleeding." Once you refill the tank, cycle the key from OFF to ON: the fuel pumps should run for about 3-5 secs. This may take 10-20 cycles. It should fire right up.

The Duramax has glow-plugs, right? Then when you cycle the key you'll be waiting for the glow-plug light to go out as well.

Isn't this procedure covered in the manual?? Or do they recommend calling for help like the old 5.7/6.2 motors??

Hope this helps. I personally NEVER run below 1/4 tank if at all possible. You could suck up a lot of the trash at the bottom of the tank and REALLY have problems.

MrQuadrasteer · February 11, 2004

Thanks, JayMan. I don't have an oil-burner but was just wondering...

gave20 · February 11, 2004

I believe the range meeter uses the instantaneous MPG because it measures the range per fuel load, but I'm not 100% I reset my personal trip everytime I fill up. One way to tell is to turn the personal trip off and see what happens to the range meter. I feel 99% sure it calculates off the instantaneous but is not as sensitive because of whole number rounding so you won't get the wild range variation when your on and off the gas.

Hmm, I disagree. I think it goes off the average, which as the miles rack up per tank, becomes increaslingly difficult to change. If it was off the instant, it would constantly fluctuate a BUNCH- accelerating, I'm getting 3mpg, cruising I'm getting 13-16, so your range would go from, say 45miles left accelerating then jump to 200 miles left cruising ?? I don't think so, or, I've never noticed it do it...

You might be right, I always reset my personal every fill up. I think you would get a more accurate reading by using the instant, if the computer is set to calculate on whole miles or every 5 miles from the instant the wild jumping ( 3, 50, 20 etc.) would decrease and you would get a more realistic number than the avg from the personal milage. If I fill up and run 1/2 a tank on city driving then run the other half on highway for the first few miles the range meter never goes down as it compensates for the increase in MPG, but if it was off the life avg the increase would not be as apparent since it will take longer for the avg MPG to increase to highway MPG. I don't know though as I purely speculate, the best thing to do is to fill up when it hits a quarter, cause you will have to fill up eventually unless the world blows up, then I doubt you would be worried about gas milage.