About a month ago, we pulled our 30ft, 10,000lb 5th wheel to Texas with our 01 CTD, AT, 4:10, 4x4, 68000 miles K&N AF. The truck started out pulling ok but abot 150 miles from our destination, I started experiancing no power on level road barely manageing to keep it at 60mph. Upon our arrival, I took it to a Dodge dealer and they replaced the lift pump as I had basicly no fuel pressure. The truck ran ok empty the rest of the week but upon the return trip, the same no power issue resurfaced. Made it home and left it at another dealer and he could not get any codes to come up for a bad lift pump/VP44. When I run empty, this beast will scald the road, but hook up the 5th wheel and all power goes south. Before we left, oil/filter were changed, new fuel filter was installed. What could be the most likely reason for the low power problem under load? I bought this thing because of it's reputation for pulling power but it's sure not doing me anygood in this condition.

 

this is where some guages are a real handy thing ,,other wise we are left to guess....It could even be a bad brand new lift pump and you can pull all you hair out guessing... with some guages you would know if you are getting fuel, not enogh, pluged exhust, stufff.......its not that i am telling you to get guages but one has to start the diagnoses some how......

 

i have found from a year of messing with mine to keep it going (just lost my engine today with 80,000 miles) that the best way to find the problems (and as thumper just said gauges are a must !!) you will save yourself a lot of frustration by going directly to cummins . Most of the dodge dealerships i have encountered do not have a clue.

 

Just received a fuel pressure guage that I ordered from the Advance Diesel Technology website and when I run the tests I got:
14psi @ idle
11psi @ 2000rpm
9psi@WOT
I guess this means the LP is ok? Would the next step be to see if the Cummins shop here in KC can check the VP44?

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As my previous post indicated, my PSI range for idle, cruise(2200rpm), and wot seem to be in line as far as I can tell. Checked with the Cummins shop here in KC and they said the only test they could run would be those already done by the dealer and wo any codes showing up, they would not have an answer for why this CTD is failing to pull our 10,000lb 5ver any faster than 60mph. I bought this because of their reputation for pulling power but this thing won't pull crap..... Every dealer or Dodge main office person u talk to just hum haws around and won't step up to the plate and say, let's try another VP44 and see if that corrects the problem. Maybe I should have stayed with the PS...............

 

i bought my first deisel last Oct and have had it in shops between every trip i have been on. i use mine for interstate towing and finally got it where i was glad i had bought it about 6 weeks ago. my son is on his way back from California now in a petskey rental truck after leaving my 2001 ( 80,000 Miles ) in Tuscon waiting for a new engine after melting down the number 5 piston. Dodge said it could be 2 weeks to two months to get it finished. got a call from them today saying that the engine arrived today and they would start putting it in tommorrow.
blaming it on a restricted radiator (just had cooling system flushed and new fluid installed by local dodge dealer a month ago. )
PS Chyrsler is paying for engine--i have to stand 180.00 to have radiator rodded.

 

I tow my race car all over the southwest and my truck doesn't give me any grief. I have access to all the technology associated with my truck and never have to pay labor. I get my parts at cost and sometimes cheaper. I am my own warranty station! Sorry guys! that's all the better I can do for a beech N moan thread !

Sorry to get off track jlc, now to the regularly scheduled program.....First thing I would want to see is a receipt from a scale with the weight of your rig as you pull it (water, gear, all the stuff you would normally haul). Second thing I would check is to see if your intake charge system is holding psi. The dealer has a great tool to test this (miller tool 9022 if they need a reminder). Gauges may have helped in this situation too as you would have seen what they would read when all was well and compare them to what they are now. I'm also curious, you said it pulled fine when you left, but the power diminished, but later you said you bought this thing to tow. Did you just buy this truck used? Is it the first time pulling your fiver? Are you pulling in OD? Is your trans achieving lockup? With 4.10 gears you should be about done at 60 mph if you are out of od.

 

jlc my 01 with 3.55 gears will pull 18,000 lbs 70 mph with OD off but with it on I can only go about 60 mph. Now with my Diablo Sport Power Puck I can run about 70-75 mph in OD with no trouble. I don't know how much a 4.10 rear end effects the over all performance but you might consider a fuel box to increase your horsepower a little. I pull a good size load at least once a week and I can assure you a Cummins can PULL and PULL HARD.

 

(intake charge system is holding psi)?????????????

JBody

What is the intake charge system that u are referring to? Don't believe I've heard of that one.

In the next couple of weeks, I'm going to hook the 5ver and take a short run and see if the problem still persists. Since the LP presuures seem to be checking out ok, I'm going to hook up the 5ver in a couple of weeks and see if the problem still persists. Don't know if this is important or not, but before the new LP and after the new LP, the CTD would start out pulling ok but would start to going into it's low power mode after pulling for awhile.

 

He's talking everything on the positive side of the turbo! Hoses, intercooler, etc.

 

what is an intercooler?

 

Basically a radiator for your turbo.. It is beside your radiator and the flow of air from the turbo goes threw the intercooler and out the other side back into the block.

 

thanks is it anything that should/can be checked to insure proper working order or upgraded to benifit turbo life or effectivness

 

Doesn't have any real effect on the turbo, it's use is to cool the air charge before entry to the combustion chamber. Pressurizing air causes it too heat up, the intercooler is there to cool it down. More HP with a cooler air charge. One or two years of the first genny CTD trucks didn't have an intercooler. Air flow went straight from the turbo right across the top of the engine to the inlet on the intake manifold.

 

I'll second the charge air system. Do a leakdown test to ensure your clamps are still holding, that you don't have a cracked or worn boot, or a cracked intercooler. Also check the intake gaskets for leaks, as well as the grid heater gaskets by doing a leakdown on them as well.

Rod