Grey Goose

Ok guys, here we go again, I am just about ready to pull my hair out. Starting from the beginning, my truck was running extremely bad, no power what so ever, hard starts, poor fuel mileage, had a lot of fuel return off of the injectors. I broke down and pulled the injectors out and sent them to DonM to have redone. He told me there was absolutely nothing good in them and did complete rebuilds on them, while they were there I had them upgraded to Flux 1.8's. I went through TRE to have them done so while I was at it, I ordered a Smarty POD and a rail pressure gauge. Got everything in last week. Don had sent word and said it looked like algae problems in the fuel, so I dropped the tank and drained it completely and blew all of the lines out to make sure we were clean. Bought some algae kill and put it in the tank along with some fresh fuel. Installed the injectors and RP Gauge and man what a difference. The truck was also acting like the batteries were dead so I bought two new batteries and installed them as well. Course with all of the long cranks ( i had smelled the starter and saw some smoke a time or two)(extreme long cranks) I figured a new starter was going to be coming too. When I got it all back together, the truck would turn over like it had too much compression, just one turn at a time, so figured would get a starter this week. Sunday I decided to load the Smarty, so i loaded SW 2. I watched the RP and would idle around 6800-7000psi. 65mph was around 17000psi or so and a good run was about 22000psi. Everything was great. Refueled up Wednesday and was at work most of the day, just moved around the jobsite and idled most of the morning as it had been the first few days. Ran to town around 1 or so and took off and noticed the rail pressure had dropped to around 15000 when i was running through the gears. Since then, the hard start has come back. Having to turn over and over to get it to fire up. I have changed the filter again twice and drained the filter housing so many times I can't count. It has died on me a couple of times when taking off and pushing a bit too much on the throttle causing the rail to drain too low. I have noticed that if I take off and push it a bit hard the rail pressure will drop considerable then as I let up on the throttle it will surge to over 20000psi. Some times the idle pressure has been eratic, 3000psi at times, 5000psi, and today it was idling at 11000psi. I can kill the truck and crank it back up and it goes back to its normal place, 6800-7000psi. Noticed a rough idle and throttle response has been off since all of this started. Also noticed today that the cranking (turning over) has not been so bad, its like it turns over easier..but by far like it should, still need to get the starter. Just at a loss on this. Could the injectors have failed already? I have fuel pressure so wouldn't think its the cp3 or the lift pump. It really acts to me like the filter is plugged , when I ask for fuel it struggles to give it to me. Why would it run so GREAT for 4 days and then do this? ANYBODY Please help...DonM I hope you chime in on this too, would like to hear your input....

homewrecker

Could be the fca acting up.Theres not a good way to check it on your own.If the long crank is occuring regularly you can try unplugging the fca and then try cranking the truck.If it and when it does crank shut it down quickly because this will allow the RP to go to max.If it cranks instantly you may be needing an fca.Really sounds like you need to go for a ride with a DRB hooked up and watch command vs actual RP and see if this sheds some light.Other possibilities that come to mind are the Rp sensor/connector and weak relief valve.What RP gauge are you running?Some trucks have had issues with the DiPricol causing strange problems,usually in the connection at the RP sensor.

JFlory

Take off the RP gauge for starters. Then get a rail block off for the relief valve. If your still having issues, you may have to send the pump back to John for a looking over. The same crap that screwed up the injectors the first time had to go threw the FCA and cp3, too. FCA's are extremly touchy and it donesn't take much of a piece of junk to throw it out of wack.

Good luck.

Green04HO

I agree with JFlory. I would not try to run the truck without having the CP3 inspected. If the algae is in the pump your going to end up pushing it back into the injectors.

JIMCTD

I chased algae bacteria problems through 1 engine and 4 sets of sticks - it was bad enough that it eventually caused #1 to hang open and fried the piston. After the engine was replaced (Should'a seen that battle with the factory rep, they never diagnosed the fuel or the injector, and blamed it on the FASS to kill my warranty). I won out eventually, but still went through numerous sets of injectors. One tech finally dropped the tank, and found the crud growing there. Here's some scoop that may help you - if you have comprehensive insurance coverage, call them and see if they cover contaminated fuel issues. State Farm paid to have my entire fuel system, head to tank and everything in between, replaced minus deductible. Total bill came to $8K plus. SF told me they have to deal with his all the time, and even cover "ruination" from putting gas in a diesel!
You'll need to have a tech check it out, and certify the problem to the adjuster. My tech told the adjuster that the only way to get rid of the problem with certainty was to replace the entire system due to the factors mentioned in previous posts. 6 months after the job was done, I got another load of bad fuel with algae.
Since then, I have StarTron diesel treatment in every tank - Google them and check it out. Their tech support told me that the tank cleaner will completely get rid of the crud throughout all system components. Of course it won't fix hard parts, but I can attest that running a full course of the tank cleaner will get rid of it - tank ended up pristine inside, and the fuel treatment has kept it that way.
Hope some or all of this helps - but you are gonna have to chase and eliminate the algae through the entire fuel system. Problem is, bactricide treatments kill the crud, but the dead bacteria/algae clumps and clogs nooks, crannies, tubes, injectors, pump components, etc. StarTron works by enzymatically breaking up the clumps into individual microscopic form, which is passed through the fuel system and burned by ignition.
Good luck!

PaulG

Just curious since this truck is an 04.5? Have you done anything to upgrade the lift pump or has it been converted to the newer in tank style? Or is it still the stock one on the canister?

Grey Goose

My lift pump was replaced at 98,000 and some change to the in tank pump...