I thought I would take a minute and say hello to you all. I have been reading your board for QUITE a while but never bothered to register because to be honest, I just don't know near as much as most of you do and felt I don't have anything to add.

I decided to today because of some events that happened to me over the last two weeks and wanted to share them with you all. I have a 99.. 24valve.. 4x4.. quad cab.. with the 355 rear end and 5 speed trany. The only mods I have made to the truck is an EZ box.

About 2 weeks ago I jumped in the truck and it was hard to start, I thought to myself, that was wierd but didn't think much more about it. It didn't do it again through out the day so I chalked it up to a gremlin. Well a few days go by and it does it again, then again and again. Well I was on my way out of town so I stopped at a dealer and let them check it out. I was informed my lift pump was shot. I immediately thought of all the post I have read on this problem and thought oh shoot. Well I go out of town for the weekend. I return home and go to cummins get a pump and put it on. It starts and runs great, I think awesome no major problems..Welllllll not so says the truck gremlin. After a few days it's hard to start again, I take it to my local dealer and after about an hour and a half he has named off 1/2 dozen things that it could be, one of them being the IJ pump, at which point my wallet felt like their was never anything in it and wouldn't be for a while. Well I decide I want a second opinion so I carry it to a Cummins dealer in Houston, Tx. Now this is where I really get irritated and I do mean hot. I drop my truck off on Wed. afternoon, I get it back on Fri. along with a $192 bill. Ok no biggy, whats wrong with it..they say..NOTHING. I say what do you mean nothing. I was informed my truck was parked over in the corner and left to run for 2 hours to try and get it good and hot, they then tried repeatedly to get it to not start, they couldn't get it to do it. I say ok, they then tell me they test drove it for an hour, still no trouble. They then tell me they tested the lift pump, AFTER I CALLED and reminded them that I bought the pump from them and the dealer said it was bad. They said it was fine. They never checked any other part of the fuel system. I picked it up and went home and it immediately wouldn't start, after thinking about it for a while I went back on Mon. and talked to the shop supervisor about what they had done and the bill. He gave me an attitude as if my questioning it was an insult, I expressed to him that I was mainly concerned with my truck and the problem with it more than the bill even though it made me mad. He said their was nothing wrong with it and that if it was his he wouldn't worry about it. I told him it wasn't his and that I am extremely worried about it because I really don't want to go somewhere and be stranded. I asked specifically about the injector pump (because of all the threads I have read here about it) and he said their was no way it was bad. I said ok then that's good enough for me. Well I paid the truck off at the bank at 10:00 that Mon. morning and at 4:30 Mon. afternoon I was bleeding the lines to get it to start so I could drive it to the dealer only to have them inform me the injector pump was SHOT. $1600 later for a new pump and it runs and starts GREAT now. I guess the thing that irritates me the most is the fact that I specifically asked them to check the fuel system and they made no attempt what so ever to do so but still charged me as if they performed some major test on it and when I questioned them they took it as an insult. I guess to be honest I am to blame as well, I have read post after post concerning the importance of gauges but never got any. You can bet I will have some put on now, expensive way to learn I guess.

Sorry for the long post especially it being the first one, but I really wanted to share this with folks that live close enough to take their truck to this place so they know what to expect from them. As well as what NOT to expect from them and that is... anything good at all.

I also wanted to let you guys no that your post here do help folk's a lot more than you may think. I personally have learned a LOT from reading what yopu guys have to say and now I know what to look for and ask for when I talk about my truck, to some degree anyhow.

 

calls, welcome to the site! Even though you've gotten to know some of us, this is the first we've heard from you. As you know, you can get a lot of great information here as well as make some good friends.

It's too bad about your negative and expensive experience with the shop. As you probably know, usually the capital "C" provides good service. You've already discovered the value of gauges. The week that I installed mine, I discovered that my lift pump wasn't up to snuff and I replaced it right away. Probably saved me from replacing the VP44 a couple of months later.

Don't be afraid to jump in and post when you feel like it. My '99 3500 (see my sig. and pics) was my first Dodge Cummins, although my third diesel pickup. I joined this site about a month after I bought the big red truck, and haven't looked back. I spend more time here that I probably should, but I love it here. We have quite a few members in Texas, I'm sure that they will chime in here soon.

Enjoy your truck, and watch out for that bombing bug!

DeWain

 

calls,
Welcome to the site. I started out just like you, a complete novice on diesels. I have learned more from this site over the past couple of years than I could have learned anywhere else. The people on here are great. Don't ever be afraid to ask a question or make a comment out of fear of showing your ignorance, I do it all of the time!

 

Calls, welcome to our humble little world. I was/am a newbie to diesels since mine is the 1st I have owned. The assistance you can glean from this room is immeasureable. And remember there is no such thing as a dumb question. Thats how we all learn. I had a lift and injector pump go south on me a while back and, from the tech data I learned out of here, basically coerced the local 5 star dealer on 290 to realize that they were not gonna pull the wool over my eyes (scuse me hoss for borrowing your pet sheep again)!!!!!

Good luck and keep posting

Gary

 

Well it's good to hear that you learned how important it is to monitor your truck w/ gauges. You described the very same thing my brother's truck did when his VP44 went out. Hope you have those gauges in and are using them.

Fill in your signature so everyone can help you out if you have problems in the future. This site is awesome b/c we are all concerned about each other's trucks and help out when possible. A lot of good people on this board.

-CM

 

Another TEXAN GOOD !!!!!

 

Thanks for the welcome guys

cmckinney, I stopped on my way home yesterday and ordered the gauges, they should be here by Tues. at the latest.

 

Gauges can be useful, but on a stock truck they won't due much good for monitoring whether your VP44 is going to die. Most start showing signs like yours did (hard start) or, stumble while driving or, cause smoke. Most of the time the dreaded P0216 code is set in the ECM. Monitoring the lift pump psi can certainly help as well as keeping up on your fuel filter maint and use good fuel. It's amazing how much we love these trucks, but are all patiently waiting for the day the VP dies. I've got 50K on my original. Welcome to the board and the only stupid questions are the ones not asked....