Hi all, I am new to this forum but have posted on the cummins forum. I got a 98 24 valve with the hard start problem and need some help. The parts store charged me 17 dollars for the 11 dollar relay. I didn't get a socket with it, is it ok to attach the wires directly to the relay or do I need a socket. Can I just trace the yellow white wire back from the lift pump and cut it and attach to the relay. I have looked at the schematic that moparman provided. I see that pin 86 goes to ground and 85 ties in with the brown starter wire, can I trace the wire from the starter up and tie in anywhere? The yellow white wire must be cut and connected to pin 30 and 87a. Sorry to ask some stupid questions but it cost a lot to take it and have somebody else fix it. These are hard times for the working man.Thanks for any help!

Let me ask do you have a stock lift pump or a aftermarket like FASS or AirDog???

This is a long story, I will cut it down. My vp44 went out. I knew nothing about the pump, took it to a shop, they replaced it. Two months later I am getting the hard start stuff when hot so I go searching on the net. Find out about the lift pump problem. I got a pressure gauge and screwed it into the top of the fuel filter housing and it read 5 pounds and did not move when I increased fuel. Took it back to the shop and they said the fuel pressure was fine. I put a new airtex fuel pump on and I put a fuel pressure gauge on it like you suggested on your web site. I know it isn't a pump that you recommend but it is what I could afford and now I could monitor it with the fuel gauge. When my truck is hot 75% of the time it wont start. The fuel pressure gauge will be over 20 pounds up to 22 to 23, when trying to start it. So I was going to try this fix and needed some help. I have done the muffler delete and am saving my money for the big honking air filter. I have the auto trans and the mileage hasn't improved much at all. Thanks

Yeah you could try the lift pump trick then... Next time its hard starting pull the lead from the lift pump and see if starts easy...If so then you need to tap into the wiring... I really hate to tell anyone to cut wires on a orignal OE harness but since you don't have a AirDog or such you got to do on the stock wires... So yes the relay is fine to use with normal blade connectors/crimps... So what I would do is get a male and female connector on the yellow/white wire so if later you fix the problem you just hook the male female connectors back together and stock wiring is back in one piece. So the you'd have a male/female set going to the relay.ECM -> Female -> Male -> Lift pump (Omitting the relay)Or ECM -> Female -> Male -> Wire -> Male -> Relay (Single lead to relay)Tie the brown lead in at the starter with a ring terminal crimp.