All,

I had a post earlier in the week about the spring from my lift pump looking worn and it concerned me. After Wannadiesel posted he thought it looked normal and talking to some other diesel guys locally I decided to run it as-is so I installed everything and plumbed the clear supply line in right at the inlet of the LP. Here are my symptoms:

- I can now hear a ticking sound under the hood. Not very loud at all and noticeable on both sides of the motor, but slightly louder on the drivers side. I park my truck beside my shed, and when I left it running with the hood up and went around inside the shed to get a light, you could really make it out inside the shed. I guess the tin wall was drowning out all the other noise. Its also not a constant tick. Its like this: tick, tick, tick, pause for 2 seconds, and repeat.

- My fuel pressure gauge has been acting up lately - it will either smoothly sit on 16 PSI and gracefully drop to around 13 or so depending on how much go pedal you use, or it will bouce erratically between 12 & 14 PSI. I thought I was sucking air into the system making the gauge bounce. Last night I put the clear plastic hose in and it sit on 16 PSI with no air at all going in. I decided to drive it to work this morning and sure enough about 20 miles into my 30 mile trip, it started bouncing between 12 & 14. I pulled over and looked at the clear hose expecting to find bubbles, but it was a solid stream of diesel. I have considered this wacky fuel reading could be the snubber I am using going south, or the gauge crapping out as it is a cheapo.

- Finally, I took some time with it last night and SLOWLY went up through the RPM's listening for any misses or changes in the running of the truck, and I found one. I don't have an RPM gauge, but I guessed it to be around 1800 RPM's the truck would stumble/miss. the motor never really moved much meaning it did not start shaking or anything in the miss, but it was more of an audible miss or stumble. I am horrible at describing sounds but it was like you could run slowly up to that RPM with the engine running what appeared to be smoothe, and then when you got to that point, it would kind of make a drone sound. I've always thought my truck never sounded the same as other 1st gens I've been around, but I've also always thought my truck run really smoothe.

On a side note, I know it appears I probably am not very assertive in diagnosing these type of problems, and truth be known, I'm not much of a mechanic, but the truck is not a daily driver and I probably only drive it maybe once a week, so that is why I have been chasing this loss of power for 6 month to a year now.

I appreciate anyone who could help me out from here.

 

My piston pumps tick sometimes, when I went and put my big filters on it really let it tick, but with the long filter in the stock location, its just once in a while mostly on a decel I can hear it make a couple ticks. I'm pretty sure its just the check valves closing.

Also when I ran some bio-diesel the ticking went away.