New Guy / Buncha Ongoing Issues..
 

Greetings. Found this place after posting on the Cummins forums with zippo replies.

I've got a 95 3500 5.9L, which I've had for about 4 years now. It had 138K on it when I got it. It's now at 151K.

I had the KDP fix done when I got it but not much else. Had it looked at by a diesel mechanic in the town I bought it from who declared it incredibly clean after pulling the head, so much so he was going to buy it if I didn't.

From the get go it's never had much in terms of either power or MPG.. Unloaded I usually get 15-17.

The main reason I got it was to tow my 5th Wheel (02 Cardinal, 43" to bluegrass festivals where I do sound. I carry a full PA in this thing (PITA to load, nothing like lifting subwoofers over a kitchen counter to make one realize one's age).

Was ok for first year (aside for no power climbing hills and horrible MPG pulling the 5ver). Second year, it ate a lift pump and sprayed diesel everywhere. Local Dodge dealer was clueless, had it for 6 days and they still missed a seized fan clutch. Took it to a local place and they recommended a shift kit and a tranny temp gauge. Had that done, and MPG towing went from 6 to 9. It still was a miserable ***** making it up hills with the 5ver and would take forever to get up to highway speed.

Fast forward a couple years, 18 or so long (250+ mile) pulls with the 5ver and I'm now at 150K miles on it. Halfway to KS in OK, the tranny dies in a little town of 5,000 but they had a dodge dealer. Didn't have the $6500 for a Dodge tranny, so with no rebuild shop within 200 miles didn't have much choice so had the dealer put a Jasper rebuilt in. First realization that I wished it was a manual. Wait 3 weeks, pick up the truck, and 30 miles into the trip back to DFW the "new" tranny is having a very hard time making 50 MPH, let alone 70 (this unloaded, as I'd hired a tow for the 5ver back to DFW). The RPM's fluctuating all over the place. We limped back to Dallas, took it back to the shop who put the shift kit in the original tranny and spent a week back and forth with Jasper. They send out another tranny. Another $1K later the 2nd tranny in less than 3 weeks is in. This one "seems" ok.

First replacement tranny goes back to Jasper, and they cover the 2nd install, so apparently the first replacement tranny was faulty out of the gate.


I then take the 5Ver to mansfield for some AC work, and discover I can barely pull the thing. It was always a hard pull, but this time I'm barely making it up onramps, struggling to even hold 45-50MPH.

Drop the rig off, take it back to the local performance diesel shop and they can't figure out what's wrong with it. They're guessing lift pump. My Wife follows me to the shop and notes that at times I'm puffing black smoke. They're still guessing lift pump (even though the one it it was replaced less than 2 years ago (it's a stock Dodge pump).

A week later, I go back to mansfield to pick up the rig, and the problem is worse. On one onramp I'm barely making 20 MPH up the onramp to I30. Take it to the local shop with rig in tow. Their tech takes a short ride with me and is clear that it has no power. Well DUH. He's guessing either turbo or fuel. Duh again. I'm rapidly losing faith in the shop. He's again guessing lift pump, and recommends I change the fuel filter, which I did.

The week after that we drive 100 miles to Glen Rose to look at a small bumper pull toy hauler, thinking it'd be a LOT less wear and tear on both the truck and the 5ver (we full time in it) if I got a lighter toy hauler to do sound with.
We fill up in Glen Rose and check the MPG and I'm astounded to find I got 23MPG (and we were doing 65-75 the whole way there). I've never seen MPG that high. As the wife had previously seen the truck occasionally smoke I had her drive and spent the whole trip down watching the exhaust. Only had two brief puffs of black the entire trip down.

This thing's unloaded weight is a hair over 4K, easily 1/3 the weight of the 5Ver when loaded. Once hitched, we test pulled it a total of 27 miles, and for all the world it felt like it pulled just as hard as the 5Ver. Had several small grades I could barely crawl up and it was puking black a LOT. Not continuously but quite a bit. Tranny temp rose from the usual 100 to 160. We Drop the trailer off, head back to DFW, and check MPG again filling at the same station we filled at on the way down. Exact same route, only difference was the 27 miles with the 6K trailer, and the MPG dropped from 23 to 12. I've also got a 6Kish horse trailer we'd used a couple weeks previously to move some of my wife's furniture and when pulling that I'd got 16 MPG.

Obviously something is extremely wrong here, and I have no clue what My local shop is now thinking something turbo related due to the smoke under load bit. However I'm getting the impression the kid (and he's 30 at best) at the local shop is just too inexperienced with this vintage of truck, so called Texas Performance Diesel in Emory (after finding recommendations for them in the Cummin's forum) and talked to their guy. By this point I was already convinced it was time to get a Boost / Fuel / Exhaust Temp gauge set put in. Local shop wants $1K, Texas Performance Diesel wants $800. After talking to the guy in Emory, he seemed a hell of a lot more knowledgable than the local shop's Dodge guy. His guess over the phone was probably a combination of turbo leaking boost and the new tranny's torque converter not locking / unlocking correctly. He also recommended I consider a gauge set to get a pulse on what's happening under load, and an aftermarket lift pump (Air Dog) to get it off the block and away from the heat and vibration and onto the frame.

Now I'm really good with electrical stuff, not so much with mechanical. I can fix pretty much anything on the 5Ver (and am in the process of putting a new core in the refer as the rig sat unleveled due to lack of truck to move it for weeks to get it leveled), but I don't have a shop, or even a driveway to work on this thing, nor any experience doing so. I do have the service manual, I've read a lot on the Cummin's forum, and have spent a few hours reading stuff here.

My goal in all this is as follows:

Get the truck reliable so I can pull again (I've had to cancel 4 music festivals so far as a result of this nightmare), get it so it can pull the 12-14K load respectably (nothing sucks worse than crawling up a grade at 45MPH) without having to drop for a new truck. I know these 2nd Gen's can be built to do this stuff and last forever doing it.

I'm also guessing at this point I may have to drop 2K-3500 into it to get there, but don't know enough to know when a shop is steering me in the wrong direction to do so, or even what questions to ask to ascertain if they're giving me good advice or are looking to sell me bolt on stuff I don't need to get to that point. I know the Jasper wasn't the best option for what I'm doing but when stranded in the middle of OK and facing a 400 mile tow to the nearest shop with a clue I didn't have a whole lot of options. At least it's got a 3 Yr 100K warranty.

So I'm looking for some sage advice. Sometimes the best thing one can know is what they don't, and at this point I'm probably just cracking the knowing enough to be dangerous and simultaneously stupid point.

The first shop I've been dealing with is Reckless Diesel (they used to be FSS over in Irving before they moved). The Dodge guy they had when I first got the truck seemed very competent, but he's no longer there and the new kid is, as I said a kid, and I don't know how much on hand's he's had with this vintage of truck. I like these guys, they've treated me well, but I don't have a great gut sense of they're completely on top of this.

I don't know anything about Performance Diesel in Emory other than they got high marks from several of the high post count guys on the Cummin's forum, and in talking to their guy he seemed a lot more concrete and a lot less "guessy" than the local guys. They also do their own tranny rebuilds, and have several guys in the shop with 12V's that have built them up to 500+ and use them as daily drivers, so at least I get a sense that they eat their own dog food as it were.

I'm open to any and all advice on this front. At the end of the day I'm kind of thinking I need to land somewhere in the 300-350 HP range to be able to tow this my rigs reliably, and will probably have to beef up the tranny as well.

Can this be pulled off at a shop for under 3K?

Is there someplace else within a couple hours of Dallas I should be taking it to?

I'm all ears..

Thanks in advance..

First off, welcome.

Next, completely FORGET the airdog or any other aftermarket lift pump. Not only don't you need it, for your rig it is counterproductive. You will make more MPG and power the warmer the diesel is.........

You are simply guessing though without a good set of gauges, specifically a decent EGT/Boost/Fuel pressure setup. I would go probably 40 Lbs on boost, do pre-turbo EGT and get a 0-60 PSI fuel pressure gauge. 800 bucks sounds high, but then again, if you get decent stuff, you are at 400ish just for the pillar and gauges,

Now, with reliable EGT, boost and fuel pressure readings, we can start looking for the issue. Could be as simple as a boost reference line off the AFC, Intercooler boot cracked and intermittant leak, etc. Could also be slipped timing.

I am curious though, why did you have the head pulled?

Also, the trans, while not the greatest, lets face it, it is a torqueflite, so it isn't rocket science. You can probably get by for quite a while by simply doing a good billet converter and a aftermarket valve body. I like Dave Goerends stuff, Goerend Transmission, Inc. - Torque Converters, Transmission

Heavy Duty Applications - Goerend Transmission Incorporated

I would personally get the lifetime TC, 1300 bucks, and the top of the line valve body is 770 bucks. That should pretty well bulletproof your trans, but call Dave for his exact recommendations, he is a hell of a guy, and has helped many of us thru the years. Fair warning, he is not the only good one out there, just the one I like to deal with. ATS, Suncoast, and many others make good stuff as well, I just happen to be loyal to Dave because of all the assistance he has given for free to me and my friends over the years.

I can't help you with a good shop down there, other than to advise you to be careful and ask to get references to customers who are running mechanical diesels, not the space shuttle electronic ones. There is a whole different mindset required when your "Tuner" is a set of wrenches.......

Well that's a lot you have had going on.... These motors are pretty reliable and can make a good bit of power for fairly cheap, but as you have found having a shop do things twice defeats having a 12 valve. First off, does that truck have 3.55 or 4.10 gears? 4.10 will help a lot when pulling that much weight and is pretty much required IMHO. Mostly for the auto, a 5 or 6 speed would be better suited in stock form if pulling with 3.55s.

Gauges are a must and really aren't that hard to install. I don't want to insult but if you feel uncomfortable with small repairs or upgrades a 20 year old hauling truck may not be the right choice.

A boost elbow and fuel plate along with a 3k rpm governor spring kit will really wake up the old girl. Non of that will work without 22-35psi fuel pressure (hint) or a boost leak (get gauges!)

For the transmission, you can take a chance with the warranty on the Jasper and install a shift kit, lockup switch, and tighter converter to put more power to the ground. They just make stock replacement trannies, which are "loose" and can put the motor out of its powerband with the converter clutch unlocked under load. Try keeping o/d off until you are up to speed, and you should feel the rpms drop when the clutch locks up (like being in gear with a manual). If that never happens it needs to be addressed, as the converter clutch being locked up keeps temperatures down and puts 100% of your power to the ground. A tighter stall converter and shift kit or performance valve body will decrease "slip" and increase line pressures, helping prevent clutch slipping internally.

Thanks for the prompt replies. I priced out a set of gauges and pillar mount at TST, it was pretty close to $600 with the pyrometer, so going off that, $200 to put in is reasonable. I'm reasonably certain it'd take me several hours as a first timer to put em in, so I think that's fair.

Agreed on the tranny upgrades, already been stranded out of state and had to pay $600 to have the rig towed back to Dallas (in the middle of 4 tornadoes to boot). Rather avoid that scenario in the future.

As to the head pull, the mechanic who did the eval when I bought it recommended I do it to get a feel for the internal condition, and charged $250 for a very thorough go over. He pulled the head, pulled the tranny and oil pans as well, checked a mess of tolerances with calipers etc.

As for the gear ratio, I'm not sure. How can you tell?

You mentioned pulling it out of its powerband, which is exactly what happened when the first tranny failed. RPMs shot up to 3500 for a few seconds at which point I took foot off throttle completely then slowly put it back on when the revs dropped back down to 1500 only to find it did next to nothing, and in under a minute I had nothing hitting the wheels at all. It would go into reverse but nothing forward. Did the few seconds at 3500 have the potential to do other damage? Outside of the lack of pulling power it seems ok, have put 3-400 miles on since the second tranny was put in.. First one was installed by dodge dealer in henryetta ok, second one put in in Dallas. jasper covered the second one, including the install labor.

So the general consensus is to not go aftermarket on the lift if it's in need of replacement? How long do these stock ones last? I have no idea how long the one was in there when I got it, but if this second one is going, it hasn't made it much more than 26 months and 20k miles.

The easiest way to check the gearing is there is a 3 x 6 or so white sticker that list the power train option under the hood.
Open the hood and check above the driver's battery roughly on the underside of the hood.
Look for 4.10 or 3.54 gears listed on that sticker.
Or, there might still be a metal tag on one of the bolts holding the differential covers on that has a those #s stamped into it.

I have to question the head, if he only charged you 250 bucks, heck the head gasket kit alone is $ 115- $150, and it takes some time to pull and replace, could it be he pulled the valve covers?

As for the lift pump, the stocker will support up to around 600 Hp, and is very reliable, many run 200K plus miles before they start giving problems, and even then, some people replace them only to find out it was the overflow valve on the IP pump that was causing the issue. If you want a quick and dirty check of the health of your Lift pump, you can get a drilled banjo bolt from Genos and put a temporary gauge on. You need 25-27 PSI at idle, 32-35 PSI under load. The predrilled snubber bolt is here:

'94-'98 Dodge Cummins 14MM Banjo Snubber-Geno's Garage

This will also be used when you put your final fuel pressure gauge in.....

Another wise purchase is a factory service manual, the best 35 bucks you will ever spend. I like mine in .PDF format, not only is it handy, you can keep a copy in your truck, and then no matter what, all you have to do is find a computer no matter where you are. I haven't done it yet, but most smart phones open Acrobat, so you could load it on your phone as well.

1995 Dodge Ram Factory Service Manual - CD Version-Geno's Garage

Brain fart on my part. Valve covers, correct.

Good! That's all that should have been done anyway, the longer you can keep it buttoned up the way the factory did it the better.

I've got what I think is the service manual, didn't get it from geno's, wife found it in PDF on the net for me. While the pages aren't numbered sequentially (they're by section), it's long. Hundreds of pages. I read through the tranny section when that went out the first time.

Good yet again, read it well, it is a lifesaver.

The rear end is the 3.5 according to the hood sticker.

I like the 3.54 gears, if your truck is running right, no worries about towing, 4.10 is overkill for anything other than the very heavy stuff, I think once you get her running even back to the 160 Hp that was stock you will be somewhat pleased. I know I towed over 25K for short periods stock at 180 Hp and I had no real issues.

I'm still concerned about the out of band running I had for a few seconds when the first tranny went. Is several seconds over 3500 (May have been higher, was in a panic when it happened) enough to do other damage?

Don't worry, you didn't hurt anything, we have wrung them far higher than that, matter of fact, many run a 4K GSK kit. There is a harmonic in these engines about 4100 RPMs, but you didn't get there and certainly didn't hold it there.

I've been looking into gauges last night and this morning and it's **** confusing. A zillion people make these things, more options than you can shake a stick at.

I've already got a pillar mount trans temp single, and realize I need to add boost / EGT / Fuel pressure which means I need a 4 pod pillar and can't find one anywhere. Alternately an electronic one that could combine all the gauges would work but those appear to only be available for odbc 96's and later, which this is not.

The prices vary all over the map, first set I priced was $600 (TST) and I now realize there's others for way less but no clue as to which ones are any good and how complete the kits are installation wise. I'm guessing after peeking under the hood that I could put my own in.

I'm not keen on drilling into the exhaust manifold for fear of metal shavings getting eaten by the turbo, is this an issue?

Any recommendations as to how to skin this cat kit wise? I'd hate to be halfway in and realize I'd forgot to order some minor piece that holds the whole process up.

As for the lack of a 4 gauge pillar pod I guess I could relocate the trans temp someplace else.

I could easily blow 3 days just researching gauges but don't have that kind of time as I've still got a dead fridge on the floor of the RV that needs to get reassembled and installed after the core change.

I wouldn't freak out, I would run a 3 gauge pillar with EGT/Boost?Trans temp, those are the ones you will be watching going down the road towing, I stuck fuel pressure down at the bottom of the dash in a pod, you only will look at it if there appears to be a problem. The only real necessity for the fuel pressure is to diagnose issues...... Everyone has their own preference, but ISSPRO makes good solid gauges that won't break the bank. I would stay away from cheapies like Glowshift, they are ok for a toy, but you are towing...... Drilling is pretty simple, if it freaks you out, have the shop do it, but basically use grease on the bot and tap to capture most and blow the small pits out the tailpipe........

I like the notion of a lifetime TC, however the garage (texas Diesel Performance in Emory) I'm going to is a suncoast dealer, not Gorend. Is it normal to ship parts to a shop for install?

Suncoast is a good name, and is what your shop sells, run with them. Yea, Goerend got so big he couldn't keep up with building tansmissions, and didn't want to get bigger, so he went to that business model and has people who build and install his product, he warrants it the same as if he built it.

I did check out thier bbb rating (a+, no complaints in past 3 years). Only negative comments on them from other forums was they charge more for labor than most places but do know thier stuff and 2 of the 4 guys drive a 95 and 97 3500's so they eat thier own dog food.

NOW you are talking! If they run 12 valves they know 12 valves......

I'm thinking I could put in a TST kit after having the tranny built up to handle it. The #5 kit seems to be as high as you can go on a 12V if I'm reading the chart correctly. That would get me to 230HP/605 ft #', which I'm sure would help considerably, I just don't know when pulling 16K if that would be enough.

Is a banks performance kit worth doing as well?

Let's just say we can save you some money........... I wouldn't go with a kit, be it TST or Banks. All you really need is a 3000GSK kit and a ground fuel plate, along with tuning and you will more than have enough power..... But lets get it running correctly before we talk about hot rodding it, OK?

The goal is to get to a point where I can tow in the 16-18k range and not have to sweat it dying on the road or eating another tranny. I don't hot rod, I drive like grandma with the rig (no faster than 67 on flat, occasionally up to 70 down hill and usually down to 55 or less uphill due to the lack of power) for mpg and blowout prevention reasons.

Having had one of those my first trip out on the Chinese pos tires that came with the rig I put michelins on (both trick and rig) and always keep em at 80, and I even check every fill up on road to adjust for temperature changes.

Sorry to mess you up, it was easier to just edit your post than to do a bunch of multiediting........ My answers are in red.

Drilling the manifold is nothing to worry about, the few metal chips that may get in will blow through the turbine on first startup. If you break the bit or tap I would remove turbo to get any large pieces out.

Suncoast makes good parts, if it streamlines things I would run what the shop can install.

You can for the most part do better sourcing your own parts rather then a Banks kit. A boost elbow and plate will go pretty far and not set you back far at all.

3500 for a few seconds likely did no damage. Did the truck downshift? If it didn't and just went to neutral it shouldn't rev that high with go pedal floored. If you can rev it in neutral beyond 3k it already has governor spring kit installed.

Also, for gauges, Isspro and Autometer seem to be complaint free for the most part. They do make a 2-pod steering column price that's pretty slick, not sure where to get it. I just have a 3 pod bracket velcroed to the dash.

If it were my truck this is what I'd do.
Pull the air intake off the turbo and wiggle the turbine shaft to check for play. You should feel no in and out. A little side to side is ok as long as the blades don't contact the housing. Also give it a twirl and make sure it spins freely.

Next I would check the valve adjustment mainly just cause it's easy to do. The process is detailed here B Series Valve Adjustment

Next I would do a blowby test. A very basic blowby test can be done by simply removing the oil fill cap with the engine running and checking for smoke/oil vapor blowing out the hole. There should be little to none. A more sophisticated test (but still doable for a diy'r) is described here https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...ck-ect-186552/. A blowby test imo is the single best indicator of overall engine condition.

After doing that I would pull the injectors (not as hard as it might sound) and do a leakdown test on each cylinder. If you already have an air compressor a leakdown testing tool and adapter for a cummins b series should be under $100. Or any competent shop should be able to do it for a nominal fee. By comparing to the other cylinders you should be able to tell if you have any major problems on a given cylinder. If you have broken rings or a bent valve or something it will be obvious with this test.

While you have them out you could test the injectors. Either with a cheap pop tester from ebay or by taking them to an injection shop. But generally a bad injector will be apparent because its cylinder will have major damage and/or the engine will blow excessive smoke out the exhaust. If you don't find anything wrong with the first tests I wouldn't suspect the injectors.

At this point if I was still looking for problems I would install a fuel pressure gauge and a boost gauge and make sure both were acceptable. If you still can't find the problem the last thing I can think of is the injection pump itself however I don't think it's something you can really work on at home. It would need to be removed (which is not too bad but it is a bigger job than changing oil) and sent to a diesel injection shop for diagnosis and repair.

As far as transmission troubles I'm afraid I don't feel confident enough to give much of any advice on those. Other than if you have a lock up torque converter I wouldn't think the transmission would be the limiting factor in the driveline.

Take what I say with a grain of salt as I'm new to these engines myself but hopefully this helps anyway. And the thing to keep in mind is if you have air, fuel, and compression all in the right order and amounts you should have a good running engine. Provided it's not worn out or broken. Which at only 150,000 miles it shouldn't be.

I like to have the engine running when I drill and tap the manifold, as ALL the metal shavings are blasted OUT the manifold as you drill.
Wear safety googles though as the metal shavings will be flying at you.
I have Autometer gauges on a few trucks, along with their 2 gauge pods for the A-pillar

First, thanks for all the replies.

Been reading all this stuff and slowly absorbing it.

BTW FirstGenJacob, the link on the valve adjustment gives a 404 error.

At any rate I'm going to hold off on taking it into the shop until I get a gauge set on it and do all the DIY diagnostics you great folks have alerted me to.

I'm thinking every penny I don't spend on shop time figuring out what's wrong can be applied to the tranny upgrades I'm going to have to have anyway.

There's a few things I don't get though, lots of folks saying don't buy a plate kit, grind your own, but I can't find anything on how exactly to do that bit.

I'm also thinking I need to check for noise on the line that tells the TC to lock up as I found a snippet of a thread on that today that describes the noise being responsible for the TC rapidly unlocking and relocking, and that sounds like something I've seen with the first, second and third trannies I've had in it. Not sure how to do that but I'll look. If nothing else and I can't find directions as to how to, I'll have the shop check that.

So I guess it's time to source and order gauges, get parts to do this blow by test etc.

Will update as I make headway, but first I need to finish getting a new core in the rv fridge. It's taking up half the living area and that's gotta get fixed first.

Thanks again for all the help, and again in advance for it later as I'm sure I'll encounter questions along the way. If nothing else the last few days of reading have helped reduce my truck from a mystery black box to something I'm starting to comprehend, and there's a great comfort in that.

To test for noise in the wire you would do a AC noise test, with the truck running use a good multimeter and set it to read AC volts, then measure the voltage going into the battery, it should show less than 0.1 volts AC, if it reads more than that you have bad diodes in the alternator and it needs replaced/rebuilt.

Heres a article going over the test and going more in-depth Mopar1973Man's Dodge Cummins Articles - Torque Converter Lock/Unlock Issues

Ah dirt simple and I've got a decent meter. Already did that on the RV's stuff due to the refrigerator issue. Stock (factory) converters apparently puke an absurd amount of ac on the line (the fridge spec calls for less than 6Vac (yeah six), which is unreal). When I checked my aftermarket Iota DLS it was 0.18. The factory ones tend to run 2.5 - 4 VAC brand new.

Just checked it on the truck, it fluctuates between 0.01 and 0.02 with the A/C off and 0.03 and 0.04 with it on. Still well in spec but it's interesting the the air conditioning blower motor contributes a little ac to the equation. Wouldn't have figured that with it being a dc motor.

So that being the case and being able to rule out ac as the source, could this be a TPS issue? The original trans had a shift kit put in and it worked fine until the
last six months when it started occurring, the first jasper did it right out of the gate at anything over 60mph, and the second jasper has done it maybe 3-4 times in the 500 or so miles I've put on it.

Random questions: 1. Does your truck have a catalytic converter? (some models have them) and 2. Did the previous owner ever experiment with biodiesel or veggie oil in the fuel system? My truck had the same power issues you spoke of. Sometimes it would be fine for a while until eventually I couldn't get past 45mph! It ended up being a clogged cat. I simply cut a V out of the exhaust pipe and was back to full power. I only mention this because the mechanic assured me it wasn't the problem (basically thought I was stupid for thinking it could be) and I don't know how many others out there won't believe this could ever be a problem. But a simple exhaust clamp can fix it if you don't notice any changes after cutting. Maybe a dumb thought, but I always like to rule out the cheap fixes before the expensive ones. And I've experience this one first hand. It's a real issue.

As for more power, you could always start with the afc housing (see pic in the below link). four torx bolts and one tamper proof one that you have to turn with a chisel. But once it's off the fuel plate is right there. You can simply slide it back to let me fuel in or grind it flat and put it back it. You will definitely notice a difference :-).


AFC

In case this helps here is a LINK to a bunch of work I did on my 95 ram 3500 manual. Some of the fixes are redneck though. So bear that in mind :-)

Start here...........................

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...stions-217868/