Hello,

I have a 98 2500 turbo diesel (stock except for exhaust manifold) with 194,000 miles on it, and it's giving me some problems which I hope are related.

Problem #1 - Oscillating Idle
When idling (warm), the engine RPMs will go up and down. It will almost stall, then kick back up again to normal ranges. Only does it when warm, so far...

Problem #2 - Stalling when shifted into Drive or Reverse
Automatic transmission (rebuilt around 135,000 miles by "Fast Eddie"--should have gotten second opinion) that when warm, stalls when shifted into reverse or drive. Also sometimes "bucks" when shifted into gear. I suspected low tranny fluid, but checked out fine this morning.

Any ideas? After searching the site for 20 min, I suspect it may be the lift pump or the adjustment on the lift pump which moves over time. I'm not a pro by any means, which is why I'm not running outside to try and find the lift pump adjustment right away...

Thanks for your help!

 

I didn't see a FP gauge in your sig.....here are a couple of things to check, BUT! You should get a gauge ASAP, monitoring the health of the LP can possibly save you $$$ for the VP...

Sounds like fuel starvation / issues - Did you recently change the fuel filter? If not, maybe you need to, it may be plugged - that's a quick first-check item in troubleshooting. Did you recently get fuel at some strange station, you may have bad fuel...

LP adjustment? Somebody else will have to chime in on that one, I've not heard of it??

You may be getting air into the system, these can be hard to troubleshoot / locate, I believe you need to pressurize the fuel tank (to less than 10 psi, if I recall) and follow the fuel line up looking for a leak.

 

I wouls say it sounds as though you may have a bad torque converter. Maybe talk to another reputable Transmission shop and get a second opinion.

 

Replaced the fuel filter--then it wouldn't start. Bled the canister, cracked the injectors and bled them as well. Wouldn't start. Bled injectors again, wouldn't start. Got frustrated, so I went inside and did some work. Tried again, didn't start. Bled the injectors again, and while bleeding it almost started....?

Tightened the injectors back up and tried to start it... Nope. Tried again. Nope. Tried again, and the faintest sign of life kicked once. Nope. Tried again, and it turned over! Sounded like it was gonna stall, so I pressed the accelerator. Ran rough for about 5 sec, and belched a good amount of white smoke (water?). Started running well, let idle and ran like normal. Now for the test drive.

Took it for a spin and first thing I noticed was that it lagged off the line. I didin't peg it, but it gave a good hesitation before it decided to get up to 65mph traffic.

With warm engine, pulled over and left in drive. Idle continued to oscillate up and down. Tried reverse, same thing. At home, put it in park and let it sit for a few minutes while I read my chilton book.

Fired it back up, and when I shifted into drive, it stalled. It didn't stall 100% of the time, but would come close--the rpms would drop to 500 and then come back up to 750. Same thing in reverse.

Any ideas? Throttle cable to the tranny, maybe? Gremlins?

 

Take the truck to autozone and have the codes pulled and get back to us. Sounds like the injection pump might be going out.

 

Got frustrated and took it to the local diesel shop yesterday as I was on my way to AutoZone. It was funny to watch the mechanics swear when they couldn't get it in gear--ahhh--feel my pain!

They called today to say there were a host of fuel injector codes and found 0 psi from the lift pump. Currently are replacing the lift pump, and hope that will take care of it. Could be injector problems too, they warn.

Will keep y'all updated, and appreciate your help thus far!

 

...start saving your money, if the LP has been running low presssure, your IP is on the way out.....sorry


Note: I've heard of SOME IP's that seem to survice this, but we're talking about a vanishingly small percentage....

 

I doubt the injectors are bad. A 2nd gen 24v injector going bad is very rare. The injection pump on the other hand, well......

 

I called the shop right before they closed today to get an update. Changed out the lift pump and it would run again, but got injector codes... They claim the injector pump did not survive and will need to be replaced. I guess 194K on the original pumps is all one can expect.

Can't wait to pay off this truck so this isn't so painful.

 

194k is pretty dang good for a un-monitored VP44.

Oh, the white smoke you saw wasn't water, but a mistimed injection, which is what a VP44 will do as it is going T-U.


phox

 

Ugh--more bad news.

The shop took it to a more experienced tranny shop (Amco) to look into the "bucking". The diagnosis (of course) was free:

"The shop thinks that the torque converter is coming apart. There is a pressure loss in reverse that indicates the pump is no good. They think there is an internal crossleak that is causing the truck to die. None of this can be verified without a tear down."

They want to charge $2837.70 for a 3yr/75K rebuilt tranny, adn $731 in labor. The stink of this is that the tranny was replaced when I first bought it back in 2003 with a rebuilt Mopar w/ a 3yr/36K warranty. The milage back then was 135K, now it's 194K--so I'm outside the warranty by milage.

What do you think? Should I get another opinion? This shop has been fair with me in the past, so I have no reason to doubt them.... BUT, I blew $3219 back in 2003 for a rebuilt tranny (done by "Fast Eddie" I later learned) and don't like paying this much for a truck that gets used as a farm truck!

 

I should probably add: Fast Eddie works for a different shop in town--the current shop did not install the last tranny.

 

To wrap a bow around this whole thread, I am installing a 3yr/75K Jasper transmission in this truck, and it better be the last one I have to pay for.

The local shop wanted $2837 for the Jasper Tranny, a quick call to Jasper direct got it for $2472 and it will be at the shop on Friday. $731 to install.

Thanks for all your help!