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On September 6, 2016, I wrote the article "Adding inline power steering filter with system flush" and posted it in 24 valve 2ed generation/Axles, Suspension & Brakes. This is the follow up to that article. Update...7/25/2025 It has been 8years 9months and 44,888 miles since I installed the Magnefine filter and flushed the power steering system, so it was time to flush the power steering fluid and replace the filter again. I used an oil syringe fluid evacuator pump this time to remove and refill the fluid at the power steering pump. The picture below shows the first time the fluid was removed from the system It took 5 remove, refill, and run engine for 4secounds to get the fluid to this clear color, about 2qts. Here is the filter cut open. It looks like the filter could last 60,000+ miles before changing. There was just a fine film on the magnet.

Yup after all the years and miles driven I've had a bad speaker on the passenger side. @Tweety Bird said, "Get this fixed! Time to get new speakers in Beast!" @Tweety Bird and I went to a stereo shop in Lewiston ID to look at speakers and prices. Great quality is really pricey say like $350 for a pair of speakers that really sound rich in frequency. Being budget mined I jumped over to Amazon and found. Kicker Dodge Ram Truck 1994-2011 Speaker Bundle - CS 6x9 coaxial Speakers, and CS 5.25" coaxial Speakers. Yeah Dodge and there strange wiring schemes. I'll list out the positive and negative wiring for each speaker. You can see I cut the factory OEM speaker plug off and wired in the new blade style terminals. Be aware of the polarity of each wire and speaker lug. In this set, the Kicker makes the ground with a black strip, and the positive lug is marked red. Left Front + Dark / Green Left Front - Brown / Red Right Front + Violet Right Front - Dark Blue / Red Left Rear + Brown / Yellow Left Rear - Brown / Light Blue Right Rear + Dark Blue / Orange Right Rear - Dark Blue / White

I thought I’d share my recent drivetrain upgrade I put in my 01’ 3500 (SRW converted) 6 spd. On transfer case side of things swapping a NP271D in is pretty common for a 2nd gen. I wanted to take it one step farther. It took some trial & error finding what parts will work and what doesn’t. It’s pretty much a modified Ford design. I found a used 08’ NP271D and rebuilt/modified it. Eliminated the leaky Dodge slip yoke tail housing and utilized the rear fixed flange yoke setup from a 06’ NP273F. I bought the rebuild kit, some updated parts & specific seal installers from TorqueKing4x4. I also installed the Ford style companion flange on my Dana 80 along with a new washer, nut & seal. ***Snap-On # M3586 is the correct thin walled 1-7/8” socket if you ever need it.*** Initially had a 5” aluminum driveshaft but the Sonax slip yoke kit is quite expensive so I had a 4” steel one locally made and upsized it to 1480 greasable ujoints (OEM are 1410). T/case fits perfectly. There’s 1/8” of clearance at the frame and no contact at bottom of cab. The 2nd Gen linkage rod (11”) is a tad short so even set at max travel the shifter will be off just a touch. So I replaced it with the 3rd Gen 16” one and now it’s perfect. I don’t have the cad Dana 60 so the momentary ball switch from the old NP241D-HD just swaps over to make the 4wd light come on. I have the LRG trans crossmember so I didn’t have any interference with the front driveshaft. APPS delete ✅ Midrange power steering ✅ Electric vacuum pump ✅ Next project: Dynatrac high pinion 35 spline Dana 60 3.73 gears with an electric locker… Enjoy!

Mike if you lived closer I would kiss you. I had to remove the t-case boot to replace some wires and left it in neutral. 🤦‍♂️

Transfer case in neutral?

Well the news isn’t good, after talking with the folks at GoECM they have confirmed the processor is bad in my ECM and is not repairable. Thankfully they are applying my repair cost towards the purchase of a new(reman) unit. I would assume this may be why the ACS repair didn’t work. I don’t know enough about these things to know if they would have been able to test this in depth. Their cost was much cheaper than GoECM so I’m not going to say anything negative about them. According to the info ACS sent me it sounds like they tested and repaired the parts I knew weren’t working. I’ll update again when I receive the new ECM and get it installed.

I hope they find what the problem is. Please let us know how it works out with this ECM repair shop so we can update the article "List of Verified and Reliable PCM/ECM Rebuilders" in the 24 Valve 2ed generation engine section.

Here are some threads to peruse that may offer some insight. I have performed both mods about 1 year ago - well worth my time and expense. John

I will have to take you up that. I thought I had a slight grasp on it before the accident but after with the TBI and my memory loss Im not making head way. Nothing like waking up to that smell...🤮 Possibly, tomorrow might be better. I got this late and were cooking dinner then showers etc and all the fun stuff before bed time. Ill make sure to plan it accordingly, can we do around 6pm tomorrow? My listed phone is fine. Thank you @Tweety Bird for the kind words!

Hi Stanley! I am so sorry to hear of your circumstances! 😬 I am also so very sorry regarding the loss of your sweet baby girl!😭 I have had a lot of loss of loved ones, but I never had any children (1st husband passed away from Cardiac Arrest in 2006 so we had too much to deal with his congestive heart failure at age 26, then heart transplant, survived 6.5 years post transplant). I can only imagine what you and your wife had to go through with such a tender loss of an infant baby girl!❤️ I am glad you are still with us, despite all of your trials and near death. 😲 If everybody shared their life experiences, we would find that many people have suffered much tribulation, like ourselves. You have been through so much! We welcome you to post any of your diesel vehicle repairs or modifications, on the website...pics would be nice also! Keep on trucking🛻 along, as you have been! Pun intended!👍🙂 Oh...and, thank you very much for all your service in the Army (my dad served 23 years in the Army)🫶 And...Congratulations on your little baby boy!!🥰

Here you go...., John

This is pretty accurate. One of my other cars is an Evo with a stroker engine that was built when I was still stationed in Japan. The builder told me that with the clearances, i need to run 20w50 oil, and that my minimum hot oil idle pressure is 15psi ( factory engine minimum oil press is like 5psi, gas engines are a wee bit different). The builder had used Motul engine oil, but that stuff was CRAZY expensive in Japan. I used LiquiMoly, hot idle pressure dropped by a few psi, still above the minimum, but it dropped. Then I tried ELF racing oil, and that could barely hold minimum psi, car ran noticably rougher. Enter Valvoline VR1. That stuff is AWESOME. I do not know what valvoline puts in there, but its amazing! super resilient against breaking down, holds hot oil pressure even better than Motul. And it is very reasonably priced. Mind you, this poor car gets hammered and abused every single time I drive it. It really brings out the pissed off teenager in me. Lesson here, all these oils were 20w50, and while in theory they should all perform somewhat similar, this couldn't be further from the truth! And now I have a case of VR1 on the shelf at all times. Also, I checked the AMSOil dex 3, and its cold pour point and cold flow performance are FAR superior, but it is synthetic of course. research will continue.

Long posts are appreciated - especially when they are informative - like yours. I'm leaning toward your new low-stall converter triggering this issue. A stock converter has a stall speed of about 2,100 rpm, so it does not put much of a load on the engine when "drive" or "reverse" is selected. Your new converter probably has a stall speed of around 1,800 rpm, so shifting into gear will load the engine much heavier, especially in cold weather. I vaguely recall that there was an ECM update (referred to as "Anti-stall") around 1999 for these VP44 trucks. I think it was geared for the manual transmission trucks, but possibly the automatic trucks as well. Maybe @Mopar1973Man will chime in on this topic. Have you tried taking the Edge EZ completely out of the circuit? John

Give details of your bucket test. Have you ran the engine while drawing fuel from the bucket with a separate power source to the lift pump? I'm having a hard time with believing it to be a VP44 overflow valve problem. Did the FASS representative explain with detail on exactly how an VP44 overflow valve problem would adversely affect lift pump pressure? Also, if there is a restriction in the fuel supply anywhere in the lift pump circuit (especially the suction side), then unpredictable fuel pressure could be expected. What it the GPH rating on your lift pump? John

@Tractorman Those o-rings are square cut and you would need to order from Cummins for replacement. Might be a good idea.

On my truck the tee at the back of the head started to leak fuel about 15,000 miles ago (at 390,000 miles). At the time I had the transmission out while doing a clutch job and I noticed the leak. The connections were loose, so I just tightened the them from below. They have never leaked since. A leaking tee fitting (even if it's only leaking air) can cause long cranking times, but it will not affect fuel pressure after the engine is running - so, not likely to be your problem. I haven't tried accessing the tee fitting from the top of the engine. I would probably remove the valve cover and use a mirror to inspect the connections and then blindly reach around the back of the head to tighten them. John

Same speakers I put in my truck three years ago. They sound all right. My son says I should put a small base thumper under the seat so that I can "feel the music". Just what I need to go deaf faster.

Timbo is a repackaged Williams Control. WC 131973/133284 is what they actually are.

But..., before you replace any parts - make sure the transfer case shifter is NOT in neutral. Just sayin'... John

He removed both units and installed a gear driven power steering pump directly onto the accessory drive gearbox. He also installed a remote power steering pump reservoir. Here is a link to his original post regarding the conversion. You will need to scroll through the whole post as he talks of other conversions, as well. I made the same conversion myself - very happy with the results. It's nice having an accessible see-through reservoir. The direct mount power steering pump definitely out performs any of my previous pumps, including the OEM pump. John

I bought my parts from a combination of allstate gear and torque king I believe. I had to replace the input shaft, main shaft and counter shaft. Mine was pretty trashed. I also replaced the tail housing, OEM was an aluminum peice, I replaced it with a cast iron piece from torque king.

Glade to hear it. This means that GoECM fixed what ACS could not. A big plus for GoECM.

Praise the 8lb 3oz. baby Jesus my truck lives!!! I reassembled everything, hooked the batteries up and did a TPS calibration and it fired right up like it was running yesterday. Not to proud to admit I shed a tear or two of joy. 🥳

as always, I get freaked out if my truck is "down" and opted for the fastest (most reliable) fix. This is why I try to be proactive about maintenance instead of reactive.

After some thinking and talking to the wife, I’ve decided to send the ecm to someone else. I think the problem with ACS may be that their repair is based solely on the information I give them. The shop that fixed my turbos recommended a place they use out of Texas. I called them today and they test and check the entire unit. Just found out today my daughter can’t take drivers ed for a few more months so I’m gonna use the money we saved for that to get it done.

Sadly I have nothing to "work" it with... it is back to daily driver status... I may hook onto the trailer and go pickup some firewood but even that isn't "working" it like I KNOW the truck likes. :) and the NOT WET status inside and down stream from the turbo is what most perplexed me... I was expecting "wet" as well.

:) only 300 miles so not really put it to a test yet.... but I haven't noticed any more peppiness. But you have to remember, my turbo was creating boost... just sending oil along with it.... so I am seeing the same boost levels.... I don't expect much to change minus not consuming oil.

SO... new turbo installed, apparently (only a 100 miles in) I no longer am losing oil. A few things to note... NO ONE knows what the "w" is for on the HX35w, I"m calling it "W" for WING... because the HX35 has a bracket for the waste gate which won't work on our trucks... the true "W" does. After I ordered my Rotomaster Reman Stock Turbo 99-02 I did find some actual "W" turbos for less... but considering I had to send mine back for a core $560 was not bad...just knowing it was all American... $250 and not sending my core in would have been nice, I could have rebuilt it myself and had a backup for when the Chinesium turbo failed.... I did paint some items to match. Here are the photos. One of which was the OLD oil drain into the crank case... I THOUGHT the wastegate tubing was going to come in blue... so I'll replace it later. IT BLEW BLACK smoke the first 10 miles, I am pretty sure that was just getting rid of the soot that had built up in the tail pipe.. because after it ran clean.

Heater hose will work for the drain to block connection.

Observing soot at the end of the tailpipe is normal for this era of truck, especially if you have larger than stock injectors. Disconnect the compressor discharge plumbing from the turbo and inspect for an oily mess. Then, disconnect the exhaust band on the exhaust side and inspect for the same. It is possible. The hone pattern intentionally put into the cylinder walls is used as a mild abrasive to condition the outer wear surface of the piston rings for the first 1,000 miles or so of driving. During this period of time, the best mating of the rings to the cylinder wall will occur, resulting in the least oil consumption and least engine blow-by. Using a slippery synthetic oil during break-in reduces the effectiveness of the abrasive characteristics of honing the cylinder walls - it will have a more likely effect of polishing the piston rings and the cylinder walls, resulting in more oil consumption and more engine blow-by. Try performing the oil cap rattle test for the poor man's method of checking engine blow-by. John

Just remember just one wire pinched in behind part, bolt, or bracket could do it. I had one where the PCM burned up because one wire was rubbing on the trans dipstick tube and fried the voltage regulator.

They listed a ton of possible causes for failure to check. Basically every sensor on the truck, damage to the harness, TSB’s, faulty grounds, etc. The truck ran perfectly and has for the last ten years when I pulled into the garage so I had no clue what to even look at. I did check some of the harness and found one tiny hole in a wire possibly from a probe, it wasn’t close to touching anything but I wrapped it up anyway. If I have time this weekend I plan to go through the whole thing and check all the grounds and fuses.

I ordered a front drive shaft from Torque King today. The sell strap and bolt kits for this application. https://torqueking.com/product/40709/qu40709-universal-joint-strap-and-bolt-kit-for-spicer-1350-or-1410-yokes/?searchid=1393311&search_query=driveshaft+strap+and+bolt+kit

The only thing I can suggest is contacting https://idahodrivetrain.com/ . You should be able to get information from them,

So far I have found nothing! It's not difficult, just time consuming. I have this old power supply that I'm using to help load test the wires! Good to know! Im a cheap *** and prefer to struggle my way through this LOL.

I appreciate the phone call as well. Good to chat with someone that actually knows what they're talking about! I hope to update this next week with a solution! This has been an ongoing thing for years now!

Looking back on the thread, Mike mentioned this a few days ago “Remember Bosch stock injectors are NOT made as a set. You could have low end of 293 bar you the high end of 327 bar. This can affect idle performance. Ihigh suggest AGAINST using stock injectors. Buy+50 HP from any good injector shop and they are balanced as a set within 2% of flow rate” I still think it’s very likely both sets of your injectors have been mismatched. I learned this the hard way over the past year or so. Had your same stall issue after I ordered and installed a matched set from the same outfit that did Mikes injectors. Pulled them out, had 2 shops pop test them and they ranged from 290 to 330 bar (both shops showed same numbers on each injector). Pulled them back out, send them back and told them specifically what I wanted (310 bar-I believe they set them up at like 308 normally) they sent them back and I had them independently tested again and they were still off-not as much but by then I was mad. Keep in mind this was a “premium” set, not their normal budget injectors. I tossed those and went with the Mach 1 from Flux bc the owners are still directly involved with building their injectors and they’re perfect. For whatever reason my 2000 model is very sensitive to matched/balanced injectors and it sounds like yours is too. This shows my truck stalling after shifted intro reverse. On a slight hill, if the initial fuel input didn’t create enough force to back it up it would just drop and stall. The pics below show the idle RPMS from 2 different tuners. Roughly 750.IMG_6135.mov IMG_6162.mov

This photo is of a typical 12 valve engine. No crossover tubes. Fuel line are connected directly to the injectors, so injectors can be shimmed. John

Hi everybody, it s ok. The truck works now..... intéressant is no cut off.... The culprits: rebuilt injectors 75hp more, and tps ( I don t understand why it worked before... electronic 😁😁, like the vp44 😓😓). Thank you very much for your great help ! ! If one Day you go at Monaco send me a mail , it s with great pleasure !

Running boards ready for dry fit. I know I have notch something for the cab mounts.

My buddy traded me a first gen 6bt to do some body work for him on his truck. So several patch panels later I got a "free" engine.

I'll see if I can get a picture of mine during lunch.

The factory heat exchanger not only cools transmission fluid, but all so heats the fluid to operating temperature in cold weather. With the average winter low temperature of 9°F in your area it would be prudent to retain the heat exchanger for winter drivability.

Basically, in a nutshell, the alternator charge line is hooked to the passenger side battery. The engine grounds for the ECM and VP44 are separated and relocated to the driver's side battery, so the ground cannot be cross-polluted by the fact that the positive charge line is run next to the master ground for the engine. AC noise jump in that 4-foot run of wiring. So the mod was to separate the positive charge line away from the master grounds for the VP44 and ECM. Ground on the left (black/tan) and alternator charge on the right (black) then the crush crimp of ground wires under the black tubing on the black/tan wire.

Personally, I would keep the CAD unit in place. I did so and turned it into a 2WD / 4LO truck - very beneficial for slowly backing heavy loads in tight areas. I purchased and installed a vacuum solenoid valve and a toggle switch with a lockout (switch shown below). I bought my truck new and did this conversion over 20 years ago and over 300,000 miles ago. It has never failed and the 4WD indicator lamp works as it should. John

Plug condition is good, I just had the two swapped mistakenly, caused back feed issues as the wire connector paths are different. I did use dialectic grease before putting the dash back in, thank you for the advice though

I recommend keeping the heat exchanger but replace the OEM unit with the one Full Send Diesel designed, which is an all-billet solid unit with two totally separate areas which cannot rupture and cause crossover contamination between the coolant and the trans fluid. These units also cooler far more efficiently due to being solid billet design. Combine this unit with their heavy duty high flow transmission cooler and your transmission will remain cool even in the most extreme conditions. My coolant temps with sensor in the deep pan never gets above 150 degree in the month of August in Florida.

If you opt for a new connector then you might ask @Auto Computer Specialist for a pigtail. There are some out the but watch the price on them.

cab off to blasting today!

Glad to hear it's working right after 1k miles.