My '02 HO has about 79K on it. Been stumbling occasionally the last 5K. Also some surging and power loss up grades for the past 15K. Last weekend on a long trip, it ran absolutely horribly, stumbling at low rpm, not clearing out even above 2000. Took it to the dealership this morning and told them it was sowing two codes. 0216 and 1693. Told them the lift pump is bad and that they need to replace it and carefully check the injector pump for damage.

Sure enough, they called in a couple hours to say that DC is retrofitting a submersible pump into the fuel tank for all LP warrantee issues back through the first 24 valve '98s. Of course, the new pump is back ordered nationwide, so they still have my truck and may put another LP into it temporarily.

My question is can they tell reliably whether the VP44 has been damaged by a low fuel pressure condition? The service guy said that they'd need to get the new fuel pump in before they could tell if the VP44 is damaged. Does this sound rasonable or should I insist upon a new injector pump?

 

you have the P0216.... if they don't replace the VP-44, make sure you have someone with DC explain to you why?? After the 'new' lift pump, have them clear the codes and then drive the stuff out of it and see if that code comes back.... if it does I'd be asking if they want to think about that VP-44 now.

 

i was talking to a guy in California a couple days ago who has a 24v with 235,000 miles on it. Claims he has never put a dime in the truck and never replaced a lift pump or injector pump
Say's he has from the time he got the truck kept a jug of 1/3 used motor oil 1.3 power service and 1/3 mystrey oil in the truck. says he dumps about a 1/3 of a gal in everytime he fills his tank.

 

With the cost involved I don't think you can "insist" that the VP be replaced. That would be kind of like saying you want a new engine because the lift pump died, causing "possible" damage to the VP which in turn "may" have caused #6 cylinder egt to go too high "maybe" causing the piston to melt. I would put the new lift pump on it, run it hard and see how she goes. If the 216 pops up, you'll most likely get a "new to you" VP 44.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll follow your advice and see what happens.

 

Well, the dealership kept my truck over last weekend (waiting for the intank pump kit) and then installed the new pump Monday. Got the truck back and have been running the snot out of it since then. It runs great and no codes are showing up.

The dealership said the only code they read was for the injector pump timing failure (0216). But when I checked the codes before I took it in, I got the APPS code in addition to the 0216. I told them about it and they said that the APPS code was triggered by the injector pump code and that they didn't have to do anything about the APPS. Does this sound right?

I need to break down and buy gauges. Any recommendations? Thanks

 

You can't really go wrong regardless of what brand of gauges you run. They will help you out in the long run.

 

keep a lubricant in your fuel. i am mixing used motor oil , power source and mystery oil in mine (1/3 1/3 1/3 ) about a quart per tank