While changing my oil today I noticed that the seal on the vacuum pump is leaking more than ever. The oil went down half way between the safe and add in 4000 miles. It has been wet for a few years but never lost that much oil. Will this thing keep getting worse over time? How bad do they get? I know you can buy a seal kit for them but I don't want to take on the job myself so does the Dodge dealer fix them or will Cummins do it? How hard of a fix is it anyway just in case I have no luck getting someone to look at it. I don't drive the truck that far and wouldn't mind adding oil here and there but I am planning a road trip in August and will be putting 1500 miles on her in a week or so. I am loosing my love for these trucks almost weekly, I have to think they are not very tough. I have had sooo much trouble with mine it makes me sick. I was looking today at a stack of bills for the truck, I bet there was 30 or so in the last 5 years adding up to at least $8000.00 and that's all little stuff. I don't know how long to hang on before I get bit big time.
Anyway sorry to complain but any advise would be great.

 

The actual seal repair is not difficult.The hard part is taking off the pump.....it isn't technically difficult, just not much room to work.

 

I agree with mrclean, I have done the repair many times. Just follow the directions that come with the seal kit. Remove the oil supply line to vac pump. Then remove the two 15mm bolts , one 15mm nut that holds P/S pump to bracket. One nut that holds P/S pump hose to pump. Pull pump away from housing then remove four 15mm nuts that hold pump to P/S pump. Leave P/S pump attached to the hoses. Separate the pumps, then take Vac pump to a clean work bench and follow the directions on how to replace the seal. I have done many of them and takes me about one hour, first time it will take you two hours maybe a little longer. If you use some weather strip glue or gray silicone to hold gastket to vac pump will save you problem of gastket falling off pump when trying to install the vac pump back on to the engine. Make sure the drive coupler is fully engaged into vac pump before tightening nuts or it will bind up on you and could damage pump.

Read the TSB gives step by step instructions Good Luck
Bill

 

I am waiting for my seal kit now. I also did not really want to mess with it. So I called around to see what the job would cost to have done. Place number one said I needed to bring it in so they could look at it and give me a quote. They said they could do it but would have to look at it to give me a price. No thanks. Second place said they don't really recommend a seal as they always leak. They wanted me to purchase a new vac pump and steering pump with 3 hours labor which came to $1300. Again no thanks. Third I called fixinrams http://www.fixinrams.com/ and ordered the seal kit and am going to do it myself. I also am going to take this opportunity to replace my steering gear box with a Red Head box that I ordered and is on its way as well.

 

I don't mind working on stuff but this one scares me. I guess the diesel this scares me more than anything. Will these things leak worse as time goes by and will they get really bad and loose all the oil on the road?

 

Not that hard to do if you have basic tools and some wrenching knowledge. Follow the TSB and keep everything in order as you disassemble the pump. You will be working with aluminum housing so follow the torque specs. Pre-oil everything with engine oil when putting back together. Don't forget to put the oil supply line back on the bottom of vac pump, the pump will seize up in a few minutes if you don't.

 

I'm going to let my service guy look at the tsb and see what he says, he is a great mechanic just not too sure if he wants to tackle this or not.

 

Piece of cake, you don't have to disconnect any P/S hoses or drain P/S pump. Just unbolt it from vac pump.

 

Talked to a Cummins mechanic today and he is going to gear me up in about 3 weeks. Makes me a bit happier to know that it will be fixed.

 

This is a simple repair and any DIY can do it at home especially after looking at Peter's vid. You may have to replace the line that runs from the block to the pump. Mine was rusty so I bought one from Cummins. Be sure to have the wheels off the ground when bleeding the gear box.

 

Thanks junk man, I hate to tell someone else how to do something, especially a cummins mechanic. I thought I would go to the Cummins shop because if I needed something else they should be able to gear me up. If I had more ba--s I would do more of this stuff myself but I work everyday and when I get home I want to relax and enjoy my toys.

 

took me an 1.5 hours to do it theres 1 bolt or nut that was a pita to get to, no need to disassemble the ps pump lines, just slid it out of the way and when installing make sure to make a mental note of the postion u leave the vac pump in so the tangs on the ps pump will slid in. Im pretty sure those scammers would have just cleand the vac pump up and resealed it for $10.00. I was told i needed an steering box for my '99 10 years ago. its still doing its job.