My son David has a 96 3500 12 valve. He called me while ago and ask me to come down to the shop, said his truck was smoking. What we found was the wires burned on a small canister on the left side of the engine. It is down on the side towards the back. Looks like fuel lines going to it, and wires. Wires has a plug under the fuel pump, so I un-plugged them, starts and runs OK with wires un-plugged. My question is, what is this? and will it be ok to run it until we get another one? Thanks Kenny

 

well, i believe the fuel filter canister is different from my 98--but it's probably the fuel filter cansiter with the water-in-fuel sensor.

Tom

 

More likely the fuel heater/strainer.

If I'm correct, the canister you speak of is smaller than the fuel filter and there will be yet another plug and corresponding wires to the bottom of the fuel filter where the water sensor is.

If you are in a cold climate, lack of the fuel heater might cause some trouble. Could help that some by using a good diesel fuel conditioner.

 

The electrical connector pins on the heating element often suck air after you remove the wiring. Makes for hard starting. The wiring harness and the heating element are available from Cummins. Dodge only sells the whole preheater assembly for twice the money.