steveb

Yesterday I went to pickup some friends who broke down coming home from the hospital with their newborn. Hooked up a 16’ low boy and met them about 50 miles away.

While turning around on the side of the highway I got stuck in the mud. Tried to get out but when I sank worse I gave up. An old friend driving by pulled me out. We fixed my buddy’s suburban and headed home. My truck ran fine.

We got our friends home safely with their newborn and I made one more stop in a town about 10 miles away from my house. Truck still ran fine until I was about 8 miles from home. Out of the blue at 65 mph I lost all power and coasted to the side of the road. I found that engine was actually still running but it felt like on 1 cylinder so I shut her off.

I just laughed at the situation as my girlfriend went ballistic. Called my buddy with the newborn on my cell (who was actually borrowing MY old chevy because his truck was in the shop) and told him I was broke down. Took him a while to realize I wasn’t kidding, I guess my girlfriends hollerin helped. We hooked my old chevy to the trailer I was pulling and drug my Dodge home. WHATADAY

Any ideas on what could be wrong with my truck? 1999 Dodge ¾ ton 4x4 5-speed Cummins turbo with no mods except for high-flow banjo bolts installed about 12,000 miles ago.

Here is what I know so far:

- Truck will crank but it rumbles as if it were running on 1 cylinder
- Engine does not respond to accelerator pedal - steady sick rumble
- Lift pump fuel pressure is about 10+ psi on the output out of the fuel filter feeding the injector pump
- I drained a little diesel from the fuel filter thinking it my have had water in it - didn't help
- I drove about 100 miles so far on a new tank of diesel – ran fine

Can someone give me some troubleshooting procedure at this point. I’d like to at least diagnose a problem before heading to the nearby dealership as they’ve got a reputation. Please be specific I’m no mechanic. I’m hoping it’s a simple problem. Thank you in advance for your help.

wannadiesel

I'd throw a fuel filter at it anyway, you can have 10 psi with no flow if the motor isn't running.

Haulin_in_Dixie

About the same thing that happened to mine when the VP44 went out. Get the codes checked, if they say injection pump problems, plan on changing it. I idled about ten miles to deliver a load and get into a better social area with the truck.

steveb

Thank you all. I'll try those things.

I can't help but think this have had something to do with me getting stuck in the mud and reving the engine and all.

A buddy told me to try cleaning my IAT sensor too because it could be coated with suit.

Is there be any other mud related things to check that you can think of relating to the problem I have?

hellotbone

Sounds VP44 ish to me too.

BigBlue

Same here.

MCummings

CPS. (Crankshaft positioning sensor, or Cam positioning sensor)

Does the Tach pick up when you crank it? You should be seeing a steady 150RPM when cranking it.

Did the tach ever die while driving?

Pull the codes and tell us what you see.

P02xx codes mean injection pump gone bye bye.
p1693 code means nothing. A code that tells you a code was set at one time.
I can't recall the CPS codes..

Merrick

AKDSLDOG

CPS codes:

P0336 Crankshaft Positioning Sensor
P0340 No Cam signal at PCM
P0341 Camshaft postioning sensor Signal
P0215 Fuel injection pump control circuit
P0216 Fuel injection pump timing failure
P0219 Crankshaft Positioning sensor Overspeed Signal

That should get ya goin. I love this new manual from dodge. ;D

steveb

Thanks guys. Haven’t had too much time but so far I’ve:

- Loosened the first injector nut and cranked on it to see if any diesel was flowing but barely anything coming out. Not sure what I should see though?
- Cleaned IAT and reset connections plugs on it and MAP
- Removed cables from the batteries to clear ECM and they’re still unplugged
- Removed the old fuel filter, was black on the outside orange on the filtered side
- Checked the fuses and re-seated the relays I’ve found so far that deal with ignition

As soon as I hook the batteries up I’m going to reset the throttle position and prime the new fuel filter and see what she does.

I never noticed any erratic movements from my tach beyond a little normal play that I read was ok. As soon as the truck quit I honestly didn’t look at the gauges because I didn’t realize the engine was still running until I hit the shoulder of the road. When I was on the shoulder and cranked her I had about 10psi out of the filtered side and the tach was bouncing about 400-800 rpm loping with the engine.

I’ll report the cranking rpm later.


I value the help on this site. I’ve found yall know these engines like the back of your hand – more so than the dealers. I just want to be as through as I can because the first thing a shop will do is install a new injector pump and if that doesn’t fix it they’ll find the real problem. I’ve been studying about the VP-44. I’ve read where VP-44s are changed out and all that was wrong was electrical connections. I’ve discovered many fuses and relays that deal with ignition. I’ve read that restricted injectors are sometimes to blame and brand new replacement VP-44s are destined to die because of these injectors or restricted fuels lines. I’ve read the ECM is in charge of the timing of the VP-44. I’ve found that shops that own a Bosch EPS815 test bench can repair the VP-44 pumps and have located a handful so far on the web. I’ve found one website that stated they will repair a VP-44 for $350. If my problem truly is this injector pump I’d like to explore all my options while I’m driving my old truck.


I knew yall would want me to retrieve codes BUT the last shop I had it in broke the connector you’d plug a scan tool in under my dash. The back of the plug and pins are intact but front part is gone. About 10K miles ago my truck was shuttering every now and then down the road. I traced the problem to the pins shorting out at this broken connector. I separated and electrical taped them and the truck’s been running fine ever since. For this reason I’m not so sure the ECM isn’t to blame.

I’ll fill you in possibly by the end of this weekend what I find. I may just give up and take it to someone that knows what’s going on – I’m just a computer tech with greasy hands. Hell I haven’t chewed my fingernails all week!

I’LL GLADY PAY ANY OF YOU FOR THAT PLASTIC DIAGNOSTIC PORT UNDER THE DASH WITH ABOUT 6 INCHES OF WIRE ATTACHED TO IT SO I CAN SOLDER IT ONTO WHAT I HAVE!

AlpineRAM

I can't help out with the connector, but I'd be quite shure that you can get it for peanuts at a junkyard.
Hope you get your truck back on the road soon.

AlpineRAM

steveb

Update...

Had battery cables off for most of the week.

Replaced the fuel filter primed as filter as best as I could.

Plugged batteries back up.

Reset AAPS.

Still wouldn't start.

Fuel psi about 6psi on the output of the filter, while cranking drops to near 0 while cranking.

Tach reads 1st notch on the RPM gauge while cranking (400 rpm?)

Cracked a few injectors trying to make sure there was no air in the system and had a little diesel coming out while cranking.

I know we probably shouldn't but buddy sprayed a little WD40 into the air intake and engine rumbled for about 1 second.

7 volts at studs of injector pump.

I suppose I do have a bad VP44 and there's not enough pressure to pop the injectors???

I guess I'll take it to the shop and go from there.

Thanks for the help everyone.

tomrock

anything new??

steveb

Nope. Been runnin around like a fat turkey before Christmas and still haven't had time to drag it to the shop.

I'll keep you posted though.

steveb

Update.

Was my VP-44.

I'd like to thank everyone for their help.


Yall should have seen the looks I got pullin the monster in on a 16' low boy behind my old '92 1/2 ton paint pealed Z. When the front tires hit the trailer it picks the back wheels of my chevy off the ground a foot! All the way there I had people hitting the ditch digging for cameras. I didn't have the heart to take one myself.


The shop wired a new pigtail for the computer jack. Code was Internal Injector Pump Failure.

Where can I get one of those shirts "I am my own warranty station?" Total bill a little over $1500 with a NEW VP-44 and labor.

NO I didn't take it to Dodge. Hell they wanted around $2000 for a REMAN pump alone gave me a sob story about Dodge getting strict with these pumps and they couldn't sell me the pump direct that they had to the the work and ... BOY talk about a screwed up 5-Star in this neck of the woods!



I looked the old injector pump over and found where previous owner had tapped the wire - probably for a Comp box which leads me to beleive that somehow helped kill it.


Truck runs like a spotted ape now! I really hope my mileage goes up from 15 mpg after all this seems like it may have a little more power but then again been driving my old truck for over a month. Had to learn this baby all over again.


If all is well till my next oil change I'd like to get an Edge EZ. Anyone know the best place to pickup a good used one or cheap new?

Wilson

Check in the classifieds here and over at the tdr. I have also seen them on ebay for fairly cheap.
Good luck.