Rain Man

When I pulled my horse trailer the last two trips, the truck has come up with a bad miss that you really notice when asking for power. The truck is a 1999, 3500, 4x4, CTD, 5 spd, Banks Stinger Plus with the ram intake, Pac brake. It has 58,000 miles on it as it is used to pull the trailer and not a daily driver. I thought it might be some water in the fuel the first time as I got fuel at a place that was questionable. The last time I made sure of the fuel that was going in it was from a place that has high turnover and 45 Cetane. There are no codes and the filter drain did not show any water to speak of. I want to install a fuel pressure gage and have ordered one but am undecided to where to tie it in to get the reading. I was thinking of modifing a banjo bolt to allow for a point to read from but talked to the deilsel mechanic at the local Dodge dealership. He said that I could use the outlets on top of the fuel filter where the two brass plugs were to get this reading from. Any one out there heard of this as an access point or is he full of it. I need to get the pressure to see if the lift pump is bad and causing the problem as I do not want to have to but a new injector pump.

Mike D

Rain Man, Both methods will work. I get my pressure readings from the top of the filter housing.

Shovelhead

We folks with the '98-99s have the easiest hookup for fuel pressure.

Here's mine set up for post filter readings.

Rain Man

Question. Is it better to have the pressure pre or post filter to feel the lift pump out? How about both to also tell you when your filter is due to a change.

BigBlue

Both would be ideal, but post is what most people do. Throw in a new fuel filter when you put the gauge on so you can sorta judge when the filter gets dirty and needs to be changed.

Shovelhead, yall might have an easier hook up, but yall got a harder filter to change.

RickCJ

Both are nice, but post filter is best. Change the filter when pressure drops.

Shovelhead

Depends on how you look at it.

With ours, we take the entire bowl off, dump it out and clean it , you'se guys gotta figure out how to sop the fuel up.........

RustyJC

I have a Westach dual combo fuel pressure gauge, so I measure both pre-filter and post-filter. This way, if post-filter pressure drops, I can immediately tell if it's a clogged filter (pre-filter pressure still high) or a bad lift pump (pre-filter pressure low as well).

If you can only monitor one, I'd choose post-filter. At the end of the day, what matters is the supply pressure to the VP-44 injection pump.

Rusty

bluebull

Post filter would be the one to monitor.

I run pre and post with one gauge. Just use two sending units and a on-off-on toggle switch to monitor between pre and post pressures, that way I can tell when the filter needs to be changed. I also do not drive my truck alot and rarely get over 10-12 thousand miles per year, I then change fuel filter once a year and have never seen more than a two psi difference between pre and post pressures.

I put the gauge and toggle switch in the change holder in the dash, it almost looks like it came stock with it.

Rain Man

Thanks a lot. You guys have been a load of help. I do appreciate the responses that you have made. They all make good sense and have helped tremendously. Thanks again. I truly enjoy the Dodge Cummins as it is the best tow vwhicle that I have ever had and has had less go backs to the dealership of all the fords, chevy, and gmc trucks that I have owned and will pull the pants off of all of them.