Out of petrol 2009 JK

[BlackWrangler]

OK It shouldn't happen.... its not like I've not got a fuel gauge.... but yesterday I ran out of fuel!!! I hate filling up... its just boring.. like having your hair cut.... a necessary evil..!!

Wasn't a problem as I was parked in my yard at the time, and had fuel allocated to the lawn mower.. Put it in the JK but it still wouldn't fire.. and run. I'd been cleaning the engine bay so it might have been wet, but I don't think so, I'd hope the JK could tolerate a bit more damp than that.

Ended walking to servo and getting more fuel, put it down to yard being on a slope.!!?? After a lot of cranking JK fired up and ran smooth.

Did I miss something? What is the fuel system on a JK like? Should I have bled the system some where? Its petrol not diesel.!

Any advice guys.....? Other than don't run out of fuel!!!

[stevet]

A tin of "Start ya Bastard" always is handy to have around.........................

[85cj7]

You just ran the pump dry. If a JK is anything like a TJ then it has an intank pump (not really all that important, because any vehicle will function effectively the same way with an intank pump, inline pump, or mechanical fuel pump).
When you turn the key to the on position this kicks on the relay to the fuel pump and it 'primes', pumping for about 3-4 seconds, and then shuts off. This ensures that there is sufficient fuel pressure in the fuel rails, because of bleed down, when you go to turn the key. So what you were doing by cranking it with a dry pump was that your pump was, for a few seconds at least, priming the fuel rail with air and then trying to inject it into the cylinders and fire. Not very effective. So after you continued cranking and it eventually picked up the fuel at the pump, primed the lines and the rails and then the fuel injectors fired at a sufficient pressure for ignition.
It is not wrong, just puts more strain on your starter, and didn't do any damage to the engine.
In the future, just cycle the key from the off position to the on position about 10-12 times, this will have your fuel pump prime the lines every time you cycle the key before you go to fire it up. I guarantee it will fire like normal if you try this procedure in the case of running out of gas again.

[BlackWrangler]

Thanks... was thinking along those lines, but good advice...couldn't hear the "in Tank fuel" fuel pump running like I expected..

Anyway its good news that it looks like the issue was fuel starvation, not damp caused by me engine bay clean!!

[BlackWrangler]

OMG "Start ya Bastard" really exists..... We don't have products with "bastard" in the title in the UK... but nor do we have much need for 4WD..... lol Oh and fuel is twice the price so we all have little 1Ltr engines!!

[David Jimenez]

lol yes we have ' Start ya Bastard' looks like the UK is missing out on the fun since you all drive 1ltr milk n juice bottles

[Paul-JK]

It can also be the slope of the ground your on. JK's have a long skinny tank and the pick up is at the back. It does have "bowl" around the pickup (completely non-technical description) to store some fuel to last a few minutes but I have heard of people being parked facing down a hill with the engine running for a few minutes who've "ran out of fuel", or at least they had for as long as it took to get the JK on level ground again so the fuel would flow back to the rear of the tank. Think it can happen with anything less than about 1/8th of a tank.