I am having all of the usual rough idle, white smoke, stalling problems so I am waiting for my overflow valve and lift pump to arrive in the mail. I read somewhere that you can do some things to the existing overflow valve to temporarily prolong its life. Are there any best ways to do this?

I read that you can clean them and stretch the spring or something? If anyone could give me some pointers on disassembly and cleaning/spring stretching, it would be much appreciated.

While I'm at it, do I really need 2 gaskets for my lift pump? I think it is being shipped with only 1. If I need another one, how do I get it?

 

The OF valve can be taken apart and the spring should be .5 inches. It can be streched to that for a temp. fix but replace when you can. Once a spring has been streched it starts to lose it's temper and will change on you again quicker. Some valves can not be disassembled though. Some have a one piece case. Don't know about the gaskets,,sorry.

 

I think my problem was the overflow valve. I opened it up and stretched the spring and the truck began running fine. Even though the truck began to run fine, I noticed that it started to leak where the banjo fitting meets the injection pump AND where the fuel line goes into the fuel filter housing.

The only thing that I can imagine is that I stretched the spring too much and the fuel pressure is too high for those fittings. Is this possible or did I drop (lose) a gasket/crush washer that goes between the fitting and the pump?

Also: Thanks Carl for the help!

 

does any one have any pics of the overflow valve my truck is also having rough idle, white smoke, stalling problems.sounds like this may be my issue?

 

There is a washer on both sides of the OF valve banjo fitting. Will leak if they are nicked or missing. Cheap item from the dealer. You should put in new with a new OF valve anyway so might as well get them now. They are a soft metal ring gasket/washer.

 

Here is a link showing the P7100 and OF valve. Good info and shows where things are.

http://dodgeram.info/tsb/1996/14-07-96.htm

 

You do need two gaskets for the lift pump, there is one between the block and the adapter that holds the filter assembly, and one between that and the pump itself.

 

Oil fill is at lower left

 

I got the washer from the local Southeast Power. The pump guy gave me a handful of them. I put them in and the leak stopped, thanks guys! The truck ran great all the way home. I started it the next day (last night) with no problems and it ran well for a little bit, then started to idle really low, barely holding on. This morning it started a little slow, but then the idle evened out after a minute, but as soon as I put it in reverse it died. Is this the spring losing its length again? The new one comes today, but I had to take a cab to work.

 

Sounds like your idle is set too low. You may need to adjust it. 800 ,I think, with truck in gear and AC on. Somebody will correct me if I don't remember it (got CRS).

 

I replaced the overflow valve tonight and the truck is running again
It is still idling really low especially in drive or reverse and my foot on the brake. I never noticed this before until this recent problem so I'm hesitant to touch the idle screw. Is there anything else that could cause low idle, like a weak lift pump or something like that? I just want to rule out other possible causes first.

Just for clarification, in Park it idles just below the line below the 1000 line (750 line?) and when I put it in gear it drops to around 500.