VP44 failure...
 

I was going to post this on the "General car/truck discussion" forum, but that area looked pretty empty.

Some of you use Dodge pickups with the Cummins Diesel as your two vehicle, so this may be of interest. Mine died on Wednesday evening with no warning.

Pulling away from a traffic light, the truck pulled fine in 1st and 2nd... but around 2500 rpm, just before shifting into 3rd, it died just as abruptly as if you had flipped a light switch. No warning, no coughing, no chugging.

I had read before that the VP44 injector pump was prone to failure on the 98.5 - 02 Cummins engine - partly due to poor quality control during manufacture, and partly due to the design itself. It turns out that the previous design was lubricated by engine oil, but this one gets it's lubrication from the fuel itself.

This means that if the feeder pump quits, as mine did, then your VP44 will have no lubrication.

The other reason I am posting this is as a warning. Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel is now prevalent in the market (100% in CA). Both manufacturers and rebuilders are stating that the lower sulfur means lower lubricity, and means more wear on parts that get their lubrication from the fuel. In other words, VP44 failures are expected to climb.

I am installing a remanned VP44, but am upgrading to an aftermarket high-performance feeder pump and a low pressure warning light. And I guess I will be buying additives now for my fuel - or using more biodiesel, which some have said has better lubricity than the regular stuff.

2 good diesel boards here. Real easy to get a ton of tork outa the Cummins. I have had good luck finding used parts with car parts .com. Even found a 968 oil pan for 100$.


http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/index.php

http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/index.php

http://car-part.com/

Another resource, for Ford diesels is http://forums.thedieselstop.com/ubbthreads/ .

Re: VP44 failure...
 

Careful with biodiesel! Biodiesel can be quite thick when cold, so I'd want to make sure the VP44 is biodiesel tolerant. Maybe a b5 would be OK.

All the veggie conversion folks avoid the VP44 Dodges, because they are so intolerant of higher viscosity fuel.

I've also heard of people replacing the vp44 with earlier pumps.

By biodiesel, I mean the "at the pump" biodiesel - not the homebrew stuff. Although mentioning the homebrew, one of the veggie conversion sites says that the VP44 can be used as long as you get one that has the "heavy" diaphragm in it as opposed to the thin "stock" diaphragm.

I had read that some Ram owners retrofit to the old mechanical pump, but I don't want a large scale project right now... I need the truck back on the road ASAP. (It's my work truck)

I thought about performance upgrades while I had the truck apart, but that's not really in the budget right now. :(

If you've been using it without problems, then continue to do so. But if you haven't run it yet, I'd proceed with caution.

Even "at the pump" biodiesel varies widely in quality, and some can be troublesome in the cold. If it starts plugging filters, it can cause the same fuel starvation problems.

To save your next injection pump, periodically check the fuel pressure at the schrader fitting entering the injection pump. I can't recall the threshold from memory, but I think it is less than 5 psi.

I'm starting to run homebrew biodiesel in my diesel rides. The Dodge hasn't had problems at 10% mix. I actually ran 100% bio for about 50 miles, because I didn't have enough time to get to a fueling station.

An upcoming project is a fuel pressure and tranny temp combo gauge from Westach. This should eliminate any danger to the VP44.

Well, I did get the low pressure warning light to install with this repair job... but I am thinking about using a Tee and also installing a fuel pressure gauge. I hate to be redundant, but I also hate the chunk of Porsche money that is being spent on the big D right now.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1167504160.jpg

VICTORY IS MINE !!!

Around 6pm today, the D finally sputtered back to life.

And it only cost me my 915 rebuild budget. :(