I think i have figured a way to squeeze every ounce of life out of dying injector pump. The reason it dying is a dead lift pump that I would have caught if i had gauges. The reason for the feul cooler is the only time the truck acts up is when it gets under a half tank and its been running an hour or two, hence my thinking fuel in the tank doesn't have enough time to cool in the tank for my now very temp sensetive IP. I installed a tranny cooler on the intercooler then cut the return line after it tees for the head and the IP ran feul line to the cooler then back to the return line to the tank. At a later date I will install to ball vavles so I can run the cooler only, run the cooler and normal return, or in extreme cold run the normal return only. Hopefully this will buy me enough time to come up with $1300 for new IP.
What do you guys think?
BTW what type of thread are the banjo bolts on the IP,filter can, and Lp I want to upgrade to 1/2'' when I do the IP.
JED

 

Your half tank deal sounds like some of the members here that have found a rubbed through line in their fuel module in the tank due to the design of allowing the feed line to rub on a screw that holds the two pieces together. On a side note I have gotten some towed in CTD equipped Dodges started by dumping cool water over the VP44. Got them started long enough to get in the shop to put a new pump on.

 

Interesting.............

I'm surprised you haven't had a lot of responses.

 

I would think you might have trouble with fuel gelling. Diesel needs to stay a little warm to flow right. Thats why the fuel is delivered back to the tank warm, so the rest of the tank is eventually warmed to prevent gelling. The air traveling across the cooler you rigged up might have enough of a wind chill factor where lowering fuel temps to much. Now, you might be able to divert the fuel between the filter and the VP and run it to the cooler before it reaches the VP but then follow the regular route from the VP back to the tank. Not sure. Try some Power service diesel additive.

 

About 99% sure 1/2 tank deal isn't hole in the pickup line had the tank out for sender work 6 months ago.
The valves I will install later will allow me to shut cooler off in the winter when the fuel will cool faster in the tank. I didnt want to put on the feed side for fear of sucking air thought extra fittings, and wanted to let all the stuff on that side do what cummins wants it to do.
How about type of threads on the IP, filter can, and LP so I can get rid of banjos.

Jed

 

Mine had the 1/2 tank issues and I found out that the quick connect fitting on the fuel tank went bad- it just let some air in. This was especially grave with warm fuel. I repaced the stock hard line with a 10mm rubber hose and that got rid of the problem.

HTH

AlpineRAM

 

Alpineram been thinking about moving lift pump to the frame by the tank and upgrading to 1/2 lines. I to have thought about sucking air but all this started right before new lift pump. Maybe i should put some clear vinyl hose between filter can and lift pump to rule out an air problem.

Jed

 

Ok, some thoughts here. What temperature makes the VP44 happy? I have an oil cooler from a Ford 460 interceptor, feeds with heater hoses. Would a stable temperature at engine temperature keep it happy. I had thought of that before. Would put it on the FASS return, not the engine. Should heat the fuel in the winter and cool the fuel in the summer, or is that too hot.

 

The stock pickup system has some issues. I could find nothing wrong with mine but it sucked air. I cured it with the bottom feed, but there must be a simpler way for most trucks, like Alpine replaced the pickup tube. I would think that it needs to get out of the cannistor.

 

Moving the LP to the tank has shown no gain. The best improvement is to make sure ALL the lines from the LP to the VP are at least 5/16" with high flow banjo's. 3/8"-1/2" is even better. This makes for less LP bypass and more fuel to the VP. I also hear the FASS is great. As for the fitting size, its 12x1.5.

 

Haulin, I dont know what temp would be specificly but,I'm sure it needs to be cooler than the engine for my case. I have put my hand on the IP when it acts up and it is close to engine temp, thinking the return fuell from the head has to be close to the engine temp simply because it goes though the head, fuel from IP could be cooler. I'm guessing mine needs to stay little below 100*F as the cooler is in front of the intercooler, and I have ran 3 tanks of fuel thought it since install and not one blip from the engine, even ran it down to 1/8 tank to test this.
Katoom read a thread on DTR quite informative they had a flow meter in return line and could only return 30gph if they moved the LP to the tank, and could not get any more with any other pumps they tried. This was with 1/2'' lines feeding the IP.

Jed

 

It would be real interesting and informative to find the ideal temperature for the cooling fuel entering the VP44 and possibly could extend the life of it. While the return from the engine is rather static so long as the proper amount of fuel is supplied, the FASS users have another return that is much greater. The stock pump returns within itself but the FASS has a return directly to the tank which has a much higher flow.

This is one of the reasons that I have not hooked up the heater section of the FASS. I( am not sure if that would be shortening the life of the VP. FASS users would have an easy project of heating or cooling the fuel in the tank due to the seperate return. Thinking about it, the hottest the fuel could get in the tank would be engine temperature due to the return from the engine.

On a Detroit two cycle, I installed a V12 pump and twin returns which heated the fuel in the tank. In the winter the tanks would steam and I never had a fuel waxing problem with that truck in any temperature. But it seems that this would be detremental to the VP on the cummins.

On a gas engine there was much experimentation with fuel temperature for economy, where the fuel was heated and kept at a stable temperature so that jetting could be adjusted for the best mixture. Racing has always cooled the fuel for a denser mixture on a gas engine. It would not be too difficult to design a fuel cooler with a vacuum heater valve and EGA valves to keep the fuel in the tank at a preset temperature. But how helpful would all this be or would it just be an overkill?

 

Haulin, I dont know how helpful this would be on a healthy VP, but in my sitution it keeps me going till I can buy a new VP. I do plan on leaving it on when i do get new pump, I feel it will slightly help pump life. If I had any other Injectoin pump I would do just the opposite and heat the fuel.for winter time. I wish I had a temp gauge before and after the cooler so I had some numbers to give you all.
I had thought about getting a vlve for dual tanks so I could change from the cab but, I think a ball valve is plenty and just change with the seasons.

JED