Hi All
Just new to this site and hope that someone out there might be able to help me out.
I have owned this truck since new and have added an additive recomended by my mechanic at all fuel fill ups. The fuel filter has been changed on a regular basis.
The fuel tank has never been less than half full when this happened.
No apparent fuel leaks in engine compartment or on the ground under the truck.

My 2002 dodge ram 2500 auto trans with 5.9 ltr has been giving me some problems now for the past 4 months, first when I started off there would be a rapid deiseling sound as if air or water was going thru the pump.
This would not be water at -30c

Then about 3 weeks ago I would not be able to get power to go up a driveway, with pedal fully down it would only rev about 1100rmp.
I did then to shift to 2nd gear or "N" and the engine would rev as it should, this was becoming more frequent as time went on, then it would do the same thing and loose power on the hwy at 8o kmh.

Most recently I would plug in the block heater for 3 hours and then start the truck, it would run as if it was a gas engine running on 3 cyl, with lots of white smoke after 15 min warm up I would drive it and it would not run smoothly for about 5 min.
Took it to a dodge dealer last week and they said that a code showed that the injector pump was acting up at a replacement cost of $2600. plus 4 hrs labour at $80./hr but the mechanic also said the fuel pressure going into the injector pump was okay.

Could it be a sensor of some sort as it generally revs when shifted to "N" or 2nd gear.
Or could it be the darned fuel injector pump?

I have operated diesel locomotives in Canada for almost 30yrs and never had this type of trouble as well as owned a David Brown diesel farm tractor for 34yrs and never had a fuel problem.
Thanking ya;ll for reading this post
Dave

 

First thing you will find that the locomotives are better looked after. Did the dollarshop write down what the codes were? They probably were what is it??? 169? and 0216 code this is the death of the vp44. Sorry the dieseling sounds you describe are??? mine sounds tinny and it is underfueling since new! They charged me 11 hours ( with one mistake on my part) to change the vp44 and new injectors! I have a fedexed brained vp44 and it is the best vp so far. I have a pressure gauge plumbed into the two ports ( pre and post) liftpump pressure. You know it is funny I have had this and other filters on for years and still have good fuel pressure 10.5 now with the original difference of 1.5 psi. I only by fuel at Petro Pass and have never got bad fuel !!! Have the injectors pop checked and have them or better yet you write down the numbers that they pop at. They are about 4500 psi. Mine were as low as 2600 and the best was 4100. They say that they are the same but I found that the RV275 injectors gave better fuel milage. I have 300 's in now. If you have an 02 you should be able to cycle you ign key (3 times)and it will tell you what the codes are. The white smoke could be coolant ? ( they missed that detail on mine when it was new and has been burning coolant since then) Is that what the water girguling sound could be exhaust gasses going throught into the coolant.I always said that there is a very narrow window that the coolant is burned or goes out the exhaust pipe at! Mine goes through coolant in the fall when I go hunting when I can't plug it in. I would say that 3 hrs is not quite long enought for it to warmup? Battery warmers are good things to have.Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the all the good info, white smoke, I wonder if that could be from having no heat on air intake prior to starting, it seems to me that when I plugged in block heater that it did not make any difference starting and am thinking maybe the air intake heat coil is no good.
Will talk more about the pressure gauges etc
Thanks
Dave

 

Hi all
I was having the loss o fpower problems for a while now and then last week I dumped 500 mil of fuel conditioner in the full tank and with in 10km the truck ran fine, and later I went on a 5 hr trip and have not had nay troubles since
Great site thanks for all the helpfull questions and answers on here
Dave

 

kinda funny, my truck is doin the exact same thing! Also and '02, automatic. Started about a month ago. I was on a road trip, towing my 4place sled trailer. Both times it did it then, I was down to about an 1/8th tank so I figured that had something to do with it. But it has since been doing it fairly frequently, and seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why or when it is going to do it! Seems to do it most often though after truck has been sitting for the day. I also remedy it, by pulling over (since it barely has enough power to hold 2nd gear while having this problem), placing tranny in neutral, and revving the engine for a while. The whole time im doing this it white smokes pretty bad, runs rough, and the exhaust smells very "rich". The truck is not throwing any CEL's, could there still be codes? and if so, how can I retreive them, without a trip to the ***********? Also, today when it did this, there was a slight "whining" sound, almost like a supercharger would make, coming from the engine bay.