okay heres the thing. i have a "dead pedal", i have been looking on here about it and everyone is saying its a vp44. i sure hope not. why is it that i can clear the p0216 code or do the reset thing with the batteries and the truck will be fine for a couple of days? then it comes back. i need to figure this out cause it just don't make any sense right now!! any help would be great, (i don't think its my vp44 though)

 

It sounds like it is in early stages of failure and is still somewhat intermittent. The fact that both the symptom and the code reappear somewhat regularly tells me that it isn't just a fluke, and there is indeed a problem. Check and make sure you still have an adequate fuel supply to the VP44 while the failure is occuring, as this is the one other thing that can cause the code. If it's not starving for fuel, ask Santa for a new VP44.

 

Do a search for the apps re-calibration. The one where you hook up a volt meter and re calibrate the apps. 1998.5's are weird (at least mine is). I have had P0216 show up many many times but never when the original vp failed 7 yrs ago.

If it's running fine and only the dead pedal prob then the re cal should fix it. I drove for several years with dead pedal and finally replaced the apps w/ a used one but I did re calibrate it when that thread came out.

Getting a fuel pressure gauge is essential for our year.

HTH.

 

An apps can cause DP, BUT it won't though the 0216. It would be a apps code. Like said above, check fuel supply pressure first. But you will probley be need to get that call in to santa.

 

x2 on that!!

 

I have heard tat the P0216 code relates to the mechanical failure of the VP, instead of an electronic failure.

 

I have had the very same symptoms and decided to replace VP before I am stranded out on a 4wd trail in the mountains. Replaced it, and never had the dead pedal or the code since (one year on VP).
From what I read here, 0216 is a stranded-on-the-shoulder type failure waiting to happen, it may take a day or a year but the VP44 is doomed since the code means that the pump can not achieve the timing advance commanded by the computer. It is pretty much a mechanical failure.
-P