phishsandwich

I've put off installing a fuel pressure gauge for too long, it's time to get serious about it. I have a 99 with 95,XXX miles on it, with the original lift and injection pumps. I've gone back and forth, but I've decided i'm going to go with an electrical gauge rather than a mechanical one. I'm leaning towards the Isspro EV2 gauge, but can't decide whether to use a 0-20 of 0-30 psi gauge.

I know the 99's have the fuel filter with the extra npt port on top, but is it a good idea to mount the sender directly to that port? That's how it is on my dad's truck (previous owner installed it) and it appears to be fine.

Do I need a snubber if I use the port on the top of the fuel filter assembly, or will it be far enough away from the injection pump that I don't need to worry about the pressure spikes?

samaf

I used the mechanical gauge on mine and tapped the line off the top of the filter. I an running the DDRP pump and mine goes up to 25 PSI at idle. I did not use the snubber but I do get a little noise from the gauge.

MichaelP

I have seen some trucks still need a snubber or needle valve when mounting the sensor at the fuel filter, but usually you won't need it.

MichaelP

BTW - I see you live in Greenville! I lived there from early 1997 until mid-2002, worked for NMHG (Yale). I REALLY miss my B's Barbecue every Sat morning!

carl48

use a taped banjo bolt on the vp44, a oil pressure gauge installation kit for $11 from autozone, get the copper line one. a needle valve from home depot. a $15 glycerin filled 30 psi gauge from ww granger and mount it down by the shifter. this is the best setup. from here you waste money on pretty and lower reliability

phishsandwich

You have a link to a specific gauge on Grainger? There's tons to choose from.

I used to live in Greenville when I was going to college, but I don't anymore. NMHG is Nacco, right? I may have delivered you a pizza if you ever ordered from Dominos

phishsandwich

I've decided on the Isspro R17033 gauge and it should be here tomorrow. I plan on eventually getting a triple gauge pod for the A-pillar, but I wanted to go ahead and get the fuel pressure gauge installed. I plan on temporarily installing it in the ash tray area for now until I decide how I'll mount the other gauges I plan to get later. It looks like the isspro doesn't need both a constant 12V and a key-on 12V source, like some of the other brands of gauges.

I plan on pulling the switched 12V from the cigar lighter since it's right there where I plan on putting the gauge, and if I have read correctly, tying into the dimmer circuit at the ash tray light wire (the orange wire?) Does that sound OK? Or would I be better off using one of these fuse taps (shown below) to get switched 12V power from the fuse box?

rightwinger

I purchased a GlowShift kit, and although EGT and Boost guages work great, I am on my 4th fuel pressure sender. Finally they are sending me a new guage that is 0-30psi, and a re-designed fuel psi sender. Customer service is great, but apparently they have had a lot of issues with their fuel guages. I have ran a snubber on all 3 locations I have mounted the sender to and it has failed 3 times, my 4th one is broke now and it is completely isolated with 6 inches of 1/2 fuel line. I am hoping they have resolved this problem, but I hate that the only guage they say will work for my aplication is a 0-30psi......not because I plan to run more than 30 but because I want to know how much over I am on pressure when adjusting my fuel regulator. There is a big difference between running 30 psi and running 60 psi when dealing with a VP....

Busboy

0-30psi FP gauge went out on my FIL's 2001 rather than install another and have that fail we stuck in a 0-60psi boost gauge that I had laying around, you just have to remember which gauge is which.

carl48

why hook the light up, you only need to glance at it once a day. you still need to add a snubber or needle valve to keep from damaging the sending unit. any glycerin filled 30 psi gauge will work. I usually pick the smallest I can find. first pix the left one is fp the right one is a temporary one I used to set my wastegate to 33 psi. last pix shows how to mount sending unit for maximum life.

rightwinger

that looks like a good setup, if I didn't already buy the GS guages I would be going that direction, but I purchased these guages because I wanted a clean factory look on my pillar, and since I now have 2 guages that work fine and the fuel guage that doesn't, I am going to continue to be a thorn in their side until they can send me a product that works. Sofar I cannot complain about the CS I am getting with GS, it has been fantastic, but I am slowly getting to the point where I am just frusterated with their products. I have a feeling they kept sending be bad stuff while they had already realized there was a serious flaw in their product, but figured it would buy them some more time before having to correct the issue by sending out a new completely different guage and sending unit......But like I said, at least they are very easy to deal with on the phone and to me that does count for a lot.

phishsandwich

Ok, it makes much more sense now that I can see the pictures. So you have 2 fuel pressure gauges in the truck? (counting the one in the a-pillar, not the temp boost gauge) I guess one is electrical and one mechanical? Please don't take offense, but I don't care for the looks the mechanical gauge. IMO, the pillar pod is much cleaner looking.

I also realized that getting to the back of the cigar lighter is going to be much more trouble that it's worth, I plan on using the fuse tap thing I posted earlier to tap into the cigar lighter circuit at the fuse box. Apparently there are no spare fuse slots in the 99 like there are in the later 2nd gen models.

phishsandwich

Good news, I got the gauge installed tonight. Bad news, fuel pressure is low. I'm only getting between 7 & 8 psi at idle, 5 cruising at 55, I can drop it as low as 3 psi under almost wide open throttle.

I do know the fuel filter is overdue, how much can that bring down fuel pressure if it's dirty? I'm assuming a new lift pump is in my future.

nothingbutdarts

On over the road diesels a filter can plug and almost make it die. Change the filter and then check it if it's a old filter!

phishsandwich

Well, I got the fuel filter changed yesterday with no improvement in fuel pressure. Not really surprised after seeing the old filter, it looked great for the mileage it had on it.

Just to double check my sender/gauge, I pulled my truck up alongside my dads truck, and plugged my sender into his filter housing. My gauge read within 15 psi at idle, which is within 1 psi of what his gauge read. Good news, my gauge is good, bad news my low pressure is confirmed. Now all I have to decide is which lift pump to get. I'm leaning towards the DDRP.