Today after sitting for about 4 days, Dad picked up his truck and brough it home.(Went outta town, had a rental) He rounded a turn and coming up a hill with about 1/8th tank of fuel the truck let out a nasty puff of White smoke, shortly after it just shut down. He attempted to restart it but it just turned over. Thinking it was fuel delivery issue, he checked FP, which was fine, then cracked injectors. He had fuel instantly from the injectors. So he tried ether, after a few squirts from ether and alot of turning over the truck started up. And has been fine since.

so whats the deal? is this a major issue.

Mike

 

sounds like it got a nasty snort of air. Nothing major, but you might want to pull a code check.

A large amount of air can alter timing enough to make it puff white and die. I have seen it even on big trucks. Like I say, check codes, and keep a little more fuel in the tank.

 

Not a good idea to only have a 1/8th tank of fuel in a 24V, especially during the hot summer months. Probaby got some air in the line with the low fuel.

 

that there is some sound advice + some second gen fuel senders are off and you could of had less fuel then you thought

 

It does sound like it got a snort of air (even though it sounds like it had fuel in the high pressure lines at the injectors). It does not take much air to upset things. I try not to run mine below 1/4 tank and I keep an eye on the mileage because I don't trust my gauge. The VP44 uses bypass fuel flow to cool its electronics so I like to have fuel in the tank so it stays cooler. I have 125K miles on my original VP44 and I hope to keep it a while longer.

 

good luck! no amount of fuel in your tank,or lube in your fuel or fuel pump pressure will keep the vp 44 going when the injector pump control module goes bad, and it will..... very few original vp44's make to 200,000 miles.

 

I'd argue that, like any electronic pkg heat will kill it, the fuel acts like a cooler, and if your sending hot fuel back to a hotter VP, something will give for sure, hot fuel looses lubricity as well.
My orginal VP had over 200,000miles on the orginal and I changed it not because it was bad but more so because I was unsure of its condition, the one I removed works just as good as the new one I installed. I changed it because, my truck is used to provide me with an income.

I base my theory not on VP experience but with GM's 6.5 The PMD's(pump mounted driver or electronics) fail quicker than any VP out there. GM 6.5 leaves a bad taste in a lot of GM owners memory, it has a bad rep for sure. The PMD is mounted to the IP, but unlike the VP they can be removed and remote mounted to a finned cooler, lots of companys out there make kits to relocate the PMD, so guys mount them on the intake/with a cooler and most are lucky to get a year out of them, but if mounted outside the engine bay (in the bumper nostral (Chev 6.5 have to holes cut out in the bumper for extra cooling) or on the skid plate, the failure rate is almost non existant.

The PMD mounted in the factory location will out last any relocated PMD that is mounted in the engine bay. GM fiqured that the PMD will stay cool and have no issues as long as the truck is running!and that is true, most all failures occur after the truck was shut off, then try a hot re-start. problem is the heat soak that occurs after the engine is turned off stresses the electronics. this problem is compounded when unsuspecting folks remote mount on top of the intake, hence the super high failure rate, and at 500$ a pop they aint cheap!!
The GM IP is made by Bosch...hummm the same folks who make the VP44, electronic and heat do not mix.

When I installed my Airdog, I noticed that the return line from the VP (read HOT fuel) dumps directly back into the fuel strainer where the VP draws its fuel from, I believe the return should not feed directly back into the VP intake. To me the fuel tank is like a radiator for the VP. The VP only needs a small amount of fuel to run the engine, the remaining 70% of the fuel from the VP is sent to the tank. The returning fuel aids in removing heat. if you want to test your self, feel the supply line the feel the return line after you have been running your truck for a couple of hours. dont forget the fuel is heated in the head as it cools the injectors as well and that too is sent back to the tank via the same return line, makes me wonder if it would not have worked better with seperate return lines

So,here are my observations, the VP needs a constant source of cool fuel. this aids in cooling and reduces pump wear, as hot fuel reduces lucibricity.

1)keep the tank over 1/4
2)use some sort of additive as the fuel is too dry to begin with.
here is a good link to an ind fuel study done by a regular fellow on the GM diesel page:
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=177728

alot of failures are likely due to different factors, that we have no control over, and since when we do replace an IP most times we (general public) dont know why it failed, just that it did, I'd be curious how may failures would occur to a stock truck (no power adders) that was running a reputable LP system (FASS/Airdog) and were using a fuel additive,

also ever notice that the "I just replaced my VP " posts seem to occur during the summer months or to folks who live in geographically hot climates. food for thought.

again these are only my thoughts, and opinions based on my observations.
Cheers

 

The GM 6.5l engine pump is made by Stanadyne, not Bosch.

 

opps!! good catch
My bad I got carried away

 

NickG, I'm sure you're right about heat killing these things because usually before you lose your VP you'll have starting issues after it's been run a while.

 

Guys, did it again today. were gonna try to get the codes read. put 5 gals in (it was at 1/4 tank) and alot of ether and it started. This is getting really annoying. Seeming like its almost time to trade in.

 

fuel gauges are not accurate, and IMO running any veh below 1/4 tank is asking for trouble..
just treat 1/4 as if the tank was empty.

next time it runs out of fuel...FILL the tank to see how much fuel it took then subtract that from the amount the tank is susposed to hold, you might find the tank was near empty.
also double check your LP operation as it should NOT take "alot of ether" for the fuel system to prime

on a gasser (any brand with an intank pump) if you run the tank below 1/4 the fuel pump is no longer submerged in fuel, the fuel cools the pump, folks who only add a few gallons of fuel at a time generally replace the intank pump before its time.

 

Good posts Nickg. I agree with you completely. I try to explain this to others but they just don't listen!

 

When I bought my truck 3 yrs. ago I would reset the trip meter with every fill up. I would go 400 miles and the gauge would read 1/4 tank. It would take 25gallons to fill. Now I fill it and go 400 miles and the guage is still above 1/2 tank and it still takes 25 gallons to fil. Don't trust your gauge.

 

Industrial Injection & Turbo Service
1201 South 700 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84104
Phone: 800-955-0476 or 801-972-0476


call and talk to brad or cody, they will tell all about the VP44 failures, and what causes them