Just bought my first 3rd gen and Id like to know a few things about them. Its a 2003 6 speed thats bone stock. Do they have the same lift pump problems as the 2nd gen trucks and how much can the stock clutch hold? ALso is there any thing I need to know or do to this truck and Id like to go with the PPE programer because I can get one cheap is there any downside to those?


Thanks, Coop

 

The 03 has the same lp problems. I put the Glacier Walbro 391 kit on mine at about 30k miles. I don't know if my clutch is stock cuz I bought it used. The truck only had 25k miles so I think it's stock. I just switched from the Diablo Pred/Puck/Quad BF stack to the TST PMCR. I've tried the hot tunes with both the stack and the pmcr (~800 tq) and my clutch didn't slip at all but I'm careful not to nail it down at low rpm. I got rid of the eom turbo and muffler before the power mods cuz they are terriblely restrictive. Craig

 

Very clean fuel is needed for the 3rd gen common rail injection. The injectors are very close tolerance and work at very high pressures. The best stock filter is the Baldwin BF-7977 at 5 microns. Second best is the Fleetguard and the MOPAR filters at 7 microns. These are absolute ratings, other filter brands are listed as nominal and also may not be good fuel/water seperators. Water will destroy an injector very quickly. The failure of an injector can do major damage to the engine if not caught in time.

Many are adding extra filtration using spin on filters to 2 microns and fuel/water seperatrors. You can do a search for AH64ID posts, he has done a lot of research on filters which can give you much more info on the subject.

If you still have the lift pump on the OE filter canister, it will probably fail. It is most likely that it has been replaced with one in the tank or with an inline after market lift pump. The failing of the lift pump will not cause damage to the injection pump, the engine will just quit running.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. C Schomer you said that the stock turbo is restrictive? What turbo do you run now and about what would it cost me to upgrade. This truck is going to be my daily driver for the next 10 years probably so I don't want to go wild with it but I definitely want to open it up some.

 

Sence you want the truck to last 10 more years do not add a programmer that ups the rail pressure. Look at the Smarty or Smarty Jr. Increasing rail pressure can shorten the life of the injectors.

 

on your 03: If equipped / a cat, it needs to go away. Find a turbo (HE 351) and exhaust elbow off a 04.5 or newer. Run the PPE down on lower settings and enjoy.