NMSUAGGIE

Hey everyone!

About a year ago, I rescued a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 24 valve Cummins (160,000 miles) sitting in a field in the desert of New Mexico. Over the past year, I have been slowly repairing/replacing parts on the truck. The truck runs powerful (No smoke, No knocks, No chatter). Over the past month, the truck has been leaking quite a bit of oil from the driver side of the engine. I am currently a full time college student and a full time employee and do not have too much time to really dig into the truck. I called the local mechanics and they wanted $3000 or more to replace this $15 gasket....(Yeah.... Not going to happen). So after reading several posts on this forum and a couple of YouTube videos, I felt that it wouldn't be too difficult of a job (Boy was I wrong)! This is my first diesel truck, and I wanted to learn more about the motor (partly why I decided to take on the job myself). Below is a quick summary of the events that unfolded while replacing the tappet cover gasket;

• 5/3: removed the heater air intake, injection lines (#1,2,4) off of the truck. Placed the fuel filter, throttle cables, and ECM off to the side (Didn't disconnect these completely from truck/just enough to move off to the side.)
• 5/4: removed the VP44 from the truck, removed the fuel filter bracket from side of engine (only way I could pull the tappet cover completely off). Removed the tappet cover. Replaced the gasket on the tappet cover and reinstalled to the truck to the correct torque specifications.

WARNING: get out the tissues because this part is depressing;

• 5/4: After reinstalling the tappet cover I began reinstalling everything back on the truck including the vp44. I made sure when I pulled it and when I put it back in that the key was at the 12:00 position.... I also placed a piece of cardboard on the timing cover to prevent the nut and washer from accidentally falling in the hole. Well...... the washer fell off, hit the cardboard, and slid into the hole. I was absolutely devastated. After several hours of cursing I began to remove the front end of the truck to access the timing cover.
• 5/4: Removed the radiator shroud, radiator fan/bracket, harmonic dampener, and several hoses on the front end of the truck. I removed the 20+ nuts holding the timing cover in place and the washer fell out. Sweet!
• 5/5 I cleaned up the timing cover from grease and dirt. I also cleaned everything else that I could now access easily. I placed the VP 44 -1 1/16" nut and washer with the timing cover off (pretty smart idea on my part). Reinstalled the timing cover (with new gasket sealant protex or whatever), radiator fan/shroud, and various hose.
• 5/5 reinstalled the fuel filter, throttle cables, ECM, injection lines, throttle cables, and heater air intake back on the truck. Purged and prime the fuel lines (by loosening injection lines, and vp 44 fuel lines. Bumping the key to prime, etc.)
• 5/5 Finally engaged the starter. Truck would just turnover with no signs of firing. I could smell diesel smoke from the exhaust, but the truck would not fire. I repeated the priming/purging cycle (loosen injectors 1-6 in various orders) Left some injectors open while trying to start (to get the motor to start on 2+ cylinders) but nothing!
• 5/5 give up to clear my head and read some posts on this forum.

From 5/6-5/9 I repeated purging/priming the fuel lines but can not get the truck to fire. (No codes while starting) Check gauge light would only come on when the battery level got too low.

• 5/9: I had a buddy of mine who is a caterpillar mechanic come by to take a look at it. The white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe while trying to get the truck to start worried him (He believed that the truck could be out of timing).
• 5/10 removed the front end and timing cover off again to inspect the timing of the truck (Paint lines matched up, I saw no abnormalities.)

So my buddy is suppose to come back by this afternoon (5/13) to troubleshoot it some more with me. Below are some questions I have with regards to my numerous issues....

1. Why wont my truck start?!?!?! haha.
2. Are there any specific steps I need to take to troubleshoot this vehicle?
3. How many key holes does the key on the VP44 go through.
4. How much fuel pressure should be coming out of my injector lines?
5. Whats is the recommended procedure to ensure that air is out of all my injector lines?
6. How to tell if my injector pump is turning when engaged?
7. Is there timing on a vp44 that I should take a look at.

Any advice, wisdom, questions, or concerns will be greatly appreciated!!! My stomach is in knots because I feel like I somehow ruined my truck (truck ran perfect prior to this job). Thank you all for those who read this lengthy post!!! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

SIXSLUG

I'd start by searching all your issues thru the forum and look at the VP key orientation closely....you may just need to crack a few injector lines to evacuate any air and get fuel pressure up...I hope you are in school for writing. That's the most we'll written thread I think I've ever read!!

"STAY IN DRUGS, DRINK YOUR SCHOOL, DON'T DO MILK!"- Mr. T

NMSUAGGIE

I appreciate the feedback SIXSLUG!! Too many liberals in Literature,..I'm pursuing a Geology degree with people who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty...

Update 5/14: I still have the timing cover off of the truck. Like I mentioned earlier, the paint lines all match up on the timing gears. I'm leaning towards the VP44 key being out of alignment with the slot or something. Plan of action for today is to turn the gears at the harmonic dampener to see whether the VP44 stem (not sure what the actual term for this is-the threaded part of the VP44) rotates while I rotate the gears. If not, than I'm guessing that my VP44 was never really working when I was trying to start the truck. Does anyone know if there are two key slots for the injection pump??? (1 on the inside of the timing cover and one on the outside where the injection pump is mounted?)

Thanks again for your help! You have know idea how much this means to me.

torquefan

One thought I had is that the fuel lift pumps on these trucks can be problematic. They can fail, but the injector pump can still suck fuel up from the tank, letting the truck run happily, until you break the seal by opening the fuel system. After that, the air won't bleed from the system without positive fuel pressure, and the truck will no longer start. Give your lift pump a pressure test and see if it's making pressure.

SIXSLUG

Check what Torque said, it won't run without fuel.

I hear ya in the libtards clogging up the schools, I felt like the only conservative when I was locked up!!

NMSUAGGIE

Hey everyone! Thank you for the awesome feedback! So I've been waiting for my buddy to get back with me on the timing since I've had the timing cover pulled off and everything. Unfortunately, he hasn't had time to look, but I don't see how I would have accidentally messed up the timing on the truck (all paint marks line up, so I don't think this is the issue). One thought that ran through my head the other day as I had the timing cover off, was the key for the VP 44 not being in the right position (or worse fell out). My fear was the vp44 shaft wasn't rotating with the gears as a result of an issue with the key,.I removed the 1 1/16" nut and washer from the pump and stuck a piece of tape at the end of the shaft and drew an arrow pointing up. I rotated the gears at the harmonic dampener and the shaft rotated with the gears (DOES THIS MEAN THAT THE PUMP WAS PROPERLY INSTALLED KEY AND EVERYTHING?) If my buddy does not get back with me by the end of the weekend, I'm going to call the timing good on it and reinstall everything.

My next course of action will be to check the lift pump like torquefan mentioned. I bought a cheap pressure test kit and will take a look at the lift pump's pressure. I can already tell that I have a lot of pressure coming from the lift pump into the VP44 (sprayed pretty hard when loosening the supply line nut on VP44). There is a strong possibility that i did not remove from the lift pump since I didn't really disconnect it from the truck.

If the truck still wont start after bleeding and priming the fuel system, I may try to "HOT-WIRE" the VP44. I will only do this as a last resort, after checking everything else on the truck. From what I have read on another discussion on this forum, if the truck runs with the VP44 hot-wired, there may be an issue with the ECM, etc. If it doesn't, I may have an issue with the VP44 itself.

I'm still at a lost because everything was working properly prior to me changing out the tappet cover gasket. Thanks again for all the feedback, and I welcome other ideas as well! Its amazing to see how many people are willing to take time out of their schedule to give advice to a complete stranger!! I will keep you guys posted on what I find.

Arron Tate

Hello NMSUAGGIE.
The following may or may not help but here goes,

A) confirm fuel volume and pressure at the inlet to the VP44 from the lift pump.Confirm the pump is running during start and bump of the key.
B) By using an extremely (emphasis on extremely) small shot of starting fluid see if the engine wants to start. This will tell you that most of what is needed to run is still good.
C) Hot wire the VP44. Note; when attaching the positive wire to the pump you can hear solenoid in the VP44 click (good sign).
D) It took me lots of cranking with three of the fuel lines cracked at the injectors. NOTE: while cranking I never did get a lot of fuel / pressure coming out of the lines. Had to crank for 45 seconds with lines loose, then tighten them up, crank for 45 seconds. Had to repeat this 4 times before any sign of life from the engine. Note: let sit 2 min between cranking cycles to let stater cool.
E) When the engine finely started to run it was only on two / three cylinders and would only run with the started engaged. Sounded like hell.
F) Removed the hot wire from the VP44 and then reconnected the computer to the VP44.
G) Started engine but it was still running on three cylinders and the starter was engaged. While still running I lightly depressed the gas (diesel LOL) pedal and the engine came to life.
H) Shut down engine and cleared all codes that were logged from having the VP44 disconnected from the computer wile it was barely running.
I) Restarted engine and now runs like a top.
I have driven over 2,000 miles towing my 32 foot enclosed with no issues to date.
Lessons learned.
Do your own research and plenty of it. Most of what I finally used to get it back up and running was from other sources and not here.
Reach out to people like https://www.bluechipdiesel.com/
They will help you for free over the phone and not try to sell you a pump you don't need. Have your questions ready so as to not waist there time and yours. There web site has a lot ou usefull trouble shooting info on it.
You can see my complete post here from my starting problem
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...estart-331464/
Happy Mopar
Arron.
Hope this helps,

NMSUAGGIE

Update 7/15:

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to give an update 2 months after the fact... Basically, I had a timing issue which was caused by a smashed woodruff key on the VP44 shaft. Although I took plenty of pictures during the disassembly and rebuild, I failed to take a picture of the 3 digit stamp on the key. Looked for a replacement key online but was unable to determine which key was originally in the pump and heard that each key was offset and pump specific. Called thoroughbred diesel, and they sent me a rebuilt pump with a warranty. After assembling the entire front end and driver side motor back on, I reinstalled the new injector pump after doubling checking that the key was in the right slot. One of the best moments of my life when the truck started with no issues. Thanks again for everyone's help! I now have a leak on the vacuum pump... Should have rebuilt while the whole motor was disassembled.... haha.

SkyHarborCowboy

Thanks for finishing your story.