OK, many people here have fear of this failure, but many probably don't know how to recognize the signs of it.

Let's say I bought a truck from a shady dealer or person , and the VP44 is going "south", is there something we can do to find out ?

If there's no codes, fuel pressure is good, etc.

 

Unfortuanly mine didn't have any symtoms. The only thing that told me was,"the truck cut off" then the codes showed up. I ran with low fuel pressure for a month without knowing it. I found out in florida, and installed a Fass, the truck ran with know problems for a yr after that.

 

When I bnought mine the vp was going south, but I didn't know what to look for...now I do. Some of the signs are excess smoke at startup, dead pedal or the pedal cutting in and out, loss of power. For mine the tell tale should've been that the guy selling it to me told me that you couldn't drive the truck at all until it was warm or else it would fall flat on it's face. Also, it had a blueish white smoke to it when it would idle. Unfortunately mine went out on me the day I bought it, 200 miles from home and it had to go into a dealership to be repaired, I had to get a loaner car to go home with, and had to return back there the next weekend to pick the truck back up...complete with a $3000 bill! That sucked..hopefully you won't have to go thru this

 

At 60-65 mph, it may not accelerate as you push the accelerator (dead pedal). Fuel consumption may be on the high side. I did not have any smoke. And of course - read the codes off the truck. Autozone will do it for free. If you see 0216, it is the sign of dying VP44.
-P