I had to rebuild the hydro-boost on my rig for a leaking seal. Found a YouTube page with very good instructions for the repair. They did recommend replacing the brake light switch also as it was a one time use only item. If you didn't replace it your brake lights would stay on all the time. Seems like it loses it's setting once the brake peddle is disengaged. Got a new switch and the install was fairly simple.

Took the old unit apart to see if I could "reset" it. I was expecting a small circuit board of some kind but it was totally mechanical. Not sure I'm seeing what could be out of whack just by removing and replacing the switch on to the same peddle & rig. It's just a plunger with several ears (cams) engaging and disengaging a few micro-switches.

Anyone know for sure if you can reuse these or not?

 

 

That tin foil between the VP44 and the block will do nothing. 

 

What does do something to keep fuel temp down is NOT pumping fuel from the sender basket. That is the hottest fuel and will soak the VP44 with even more heat. I pump fuel from the tank directly and return to the basket the fuel temps are roughly 20 to 25 degrees cooler this way. Even hauling my RV all the way to Arizona I never got over 140*F. 

On 8/13/2021 at 5:20 PM, Mopar1973Man said:

That tin foil between the VP44 and the block will do nothing.

Will do nothing? I wouldn't make that comment unless you've had an Infrared Gun on the VP before and after the foil barrier. That was a little trick the boys over at TDR (Turbo Diesel Register) came up with 20 years ago when the VP44 and it's PSG started failing due to heat. Is it a "make or break" solution to injector pump heat issues. Nah...but I'll take every degree of heat reduction I can get. Besides, I just checked with a tin foil expert (my wife) who says even a thin sheet of foil can be the difference between a well cooked turkey and charcoal. BTW...weren't you the guy who fabricated a small tin sheet between your exhaust pipe and transmission and recorded lower tranny temps? Just sayin!
As to cooling the fuel I'm right with ya there. A lot of my return fuel goes back through the filler neck. I also tend to keep my tank full whenever possible. Cool, clean, well lubricated fuel is key in my book.

I think a lot of heat related problems with psg were resolved with remaned boards with better solder 

8 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

I think a lot of heat related problems with psg were resolved with remaned boards with better solder 

I think you're right. If I remember correctly the FedEx folks were the first to get Bosch off their butts and come up with some revisions. My OE pump was replaced around 2006 or '07 so I'm not sure exactly what I have but it's coming up on 125K miles. I'd be OK with replacing injector pumps every 150K or so. That's a pretty good service life to me. BUT, if I can stretch it out longer...I'll do what it takes.

Now that most guys are running fuel pressure gauges, after market LP's and the latest updated VP44's you don't hear anywhere near the failure rates we had in the early 2000's. The dealer I bought my rig from (Dave Smith Motors, Kellogg Idaho) said some of the early 2nd gens would lose a pump before it left the lot.

43 minutes ago, MikeH said:

I think you're right. If I remember correctly the FedEx folks were the first to get Bosch off their butts and come up with some revisions. My OE pump was replaced around 2006 or '07 so I'm not sure exactly what I have but it's coming up on 125K miles. I'd be OK with replacing injector pumps every 150K or so. That's a pretty good service life to me. BUT, if I can stretch it out longer...I'll do what it takes.

Now that most guys are running fuel pressure gauges, after market LP's and the latest updated VP44's you don't hear anywhere near the failure rates we had in the early 2000's. The dealer I bought my rig from (Dave Smith Motors, Kellogg Idaho) said some of the early 2nd gens would lose a pump before it left the lot.

It seems that with reman pumps it's normal to see 250k on average heat or no heat through the pump. Seems most failures now is timing piston finally seazes up.

28 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

It seems that with reman pumps it's normal to see 250k on average heat or no heat through the pump. Seems most failures now is timing piston finally seazes up.

Good to hear. I'm not sure on mine whether the replacement was a new pump or remanufactured pump. Like I said it was around 2006 or '07 when the dealer replaced it. Do you happen to know when they stopped making the VP44 and is there a way to tell if your pump is a new Bosch pump or a rebuild?

1 hour ago, MikeH said:

I'm not sure on mine whether the replacement was a new pump or remanufactured pump.

 

I am fairly certain it is a remanufactured pump.  My VP44 was replaced at 87,000 miles under warranty in August, 2005 - 0216 code and you could hear that it had a timing issue.  The code was actually being set one year and 20,000 miles earlier in August, 2004, but I continued driving the truck.  I learned how to drive around the limp mode.

 

When the warranty work was completed, I was bummed that I got a remanufactured VP44 - not a new one.  But, after lots of research, I learned that Bosch had several problems with their VP44 injection pumps, such as rotors that didn't get deburred, timing pistons/ cylinders that were made from inferior materials, PSG's that had solder issues, a plastic diaphragm to absorb pulsations, etc.  Bosch addressed these issues, but did not mention the details to the general public.  After learning all of this, I changed my mind and I am very happy that I got a remanufactured VP44.  I currently have just over 270,000 miles on my replacement VP44.

 

So, by the time we got our 2002 trucks, I think the remanufacturing process was beginning to take care of all the afore-mentioned problems.

 

- John

When I got my truck about 10 years ago po told me that original owner had vp replaced under warranty, so I'm 3rd owner, I got it with 123k it has 180k I think it got changed around 80k from what I can figure out and around 2008 so it has 100k on it now and 13 years. This was exactly the reason I joined this site chasing issues with surging, I thought it was a bad vp but ended up being between ac noise and injectors. Still has the VP that original owner had changed under warranty, lats week I got 21 mpg hand calculated, I think it's still good. 

48 minutes ago, Tractorman said:

I am fairly certain it is a remanufactured pump.

Yeah...I thought at the time I was getting a new pump but like you said nobody was mentioning exactly what was going on your rig. Reman is good with me as the latest goodies should be in place. I lived with a 216 code for over a year. Some surging and white smoke at times but it never let me down. I finally had it replaced just before the warranty gave out. So far (knocking on wood) it's been running like a champ with good starts hot or cold and decent mileage.

I'm at the 125k mile mark and if this pump last 250k as mentioned I'll be one happy camper. 

Because I had to go through this with my 2019 2500, some "Reman" items from the dealer are actually new. My father is a customer parts counter person at a dodge dealer. He has said that at least the radios/uconnect system are brand new not remanned. Price difference is ~$800 for remanned, over $1500 for new.. 

 

It might also be new due to its a new body style and interior and needs the cores to get built up for full remanufacturing.

 

Just saying that just because its remanned, doesn't always mean it's actually been used already anymore. Whether or not that what happened ~15 years ago I don't know.          

99.9% of all VP44's are re-manufactured and the body is reused but all the guts typically is gone through. Then the pump is place on a Bosch 815 test stand for 3 hours to calibrate the pump for the PSG unit. After 3 hours if it pass all the test the PSG is flashed with all the settings and the pump is ready. This is only Certified Bosch Rebuilder that do have a test stand. There is vendors like Blue Chip that re-use the PSG and have to ship there pump to be calibrate hence part of the price. This is why I started a Bosch certified list years ago.

 

 

My last pump was a Blue Chip pump purchased around 2011. It came with a new PSG. It lasted about 275k miles. At the the time it was the only one I could find that offered a new PSG. They do still sell them both ways as does DAP. But they are darned pricey at BC.

21 hours ago, dripley said:

But they are darned pricey at BC.

 

This is because BC does not have a Bosch 815 test stand so they have to buy time on someone else's test stand to get the new PSG's tested, calibrated and flashed but each pump takes 3 hours. This is part of the cost problem I'm sure. In a 9 hour day you'll only get three VP44's done.

I love how you guys are KISSing this switch to death, lol

21 hours ago, Evan said:

I love how you guys are KISSing this switch to death, lol

Can you elaborate on the kiss thing, you mentioned it few times now and it's starting to bug me 

Like I mention you can pull the pin out carefully it will ratchet out. But be careful this can't be done too many times. Brake light switch is pretty cheap.

Well ok if I must.

We just have to

KEEP IT STUPID SIMPLE i know how hard this is sometimes to accomplish. If you cant fix it with a welder and sledge hammer im out

I took a brake light switch apart one time to see the locking part of the pin and it so SIMPLE design. The bad part was getting all back together. Once I did it worked flawless. The second one I pull it out and carefully pried on the pin till it clicked twice and the n re-installed and that truck the brake light were stuck on. After the two clicks outward it was off.