Mopar1973Man

Yeap... Its a cam cover gasket and its about $25 from Napa...

I think 31 is a connector...Fuseable links are just forward of the starter relay and the starter relay should be mounted on the driver side fender.

David is right we need to get a bit of information from the truck in the form of error codes and fuel pressure to see where we are at.

Are you going to buy a pop tester and quit your job? :pant:Seriously with your talent and skill for the older 12V truck if you had both a pop tester and a compression gauge you could make some money doing diagnostics and such...:thumbup2:But I need to bring the thread back to topic again of OP... As for starting smoke a puff of any color is normal but as for continueous smoke of blue/white color is not good.

CumminsDieselPwr -><- Mopar1973Man Ouch... (Rubbing hiney)

Wiring diagram is a bit crude but it should help out...So check the starter relay and then check to see if there is 12V from the yellow lead from the ignition switch... It might also be a safety switch like clutch or auto trans safety...

Are you getting 12V to the solenoid terminal when the key is turned to START position? Possibly a key switch issue. But you could do a voltage drop test...

Subscribing...

If you do you'll end up pop tuning my injectors... I'm curious of the compresion values you get...

So very true...

Sorry guys during the change over of the ad banner software there was vendors that came up for renewal and the old software was diabled and the new software was in-complete. So I'll take "My Bad" for that one...

Typically yes...So just for the sake of knowning... What's your fuel pressure and what error codes do you have?

OMG! The crazy crap people can dream up to do with there Dodge vehicles...Talk about roasting the tires of the rim...

Sure thing... Not a problem... :thumbup2:As a matter of fact Outlook scheduler is constantly nagging me to charge batteries here on the property...

Normal...Watch the start of the this video...

Are you by chance getting problems with trans dragging or something dragging on the engine causing the governor to keep fueling heavy?The only time I see black smoke is 3 cylinder high idle, exhaust brake on, and the grid heater hitting then the governor throttles up and blows black smoke.

Pretty simple really...Coat the batteries terminals with engine oil and leave wet. Once or twice a month I put a battery charger on them and let them charge for over 24 hours. The reason why is that you look at all the short trips you do through out the day. You'll fire up and drive 3-5 minutes shut down. Yes, the volt meter shows 14 volts but is the amperage down to near zero? Who knows... But the simple fact is batteries can be bulked up in a hurry but the final charge require hours to complete. So hence most batteries fail quickly.Keep the electrolyte up. I check my batteries every month and top off with distilled water and then drop the charger on them. It does no good to top of the batteries with water and leave them sit. The water and acid need to be stirred into the batteries. At this point to do it right you would disconnect the batteries and place a charger on for 15.0-15.5 volts and charge till the amps where low. This will make the battery boil and become gassy but the boiling action stirs the distilled water into the acid. Like even on my RV I've got a boost mode that kicks the charger to 14.6V and it automatically drops of time but the batteries get a little gassy allowing the distilled water to sir back into the batteries.If you batteries are ever ran low. (<12 Volts standing) then you need to immediately place them on a charger. Don't just drive till 14 Volts are shown. Once again the fact remains batteries will bulk up to 13-14 Volt quickly but as for getting the final charge will take HOURS!!!

Well I finally gone in done it... I yanked out the factory batteries and replaced them with a set of WalMart Batteries. I was shocked I to find that the Group 27 batteries where only $89 bucks a piece and they are 850 CCA batteries. I was smart and brought my tools along and changed them right in the parking lots and wheeled the tired stock batteries in the store and collected my $18 bucks worth of core charge. I got to admit the charging voltage is a bit lower and the starter seems to spin much easier. But after getting nearly 10 years from the stock batteries it was time to retire them.

Leave it to Katoom to bring out the inaccuracy angle. I do agree with you about that that why I'm push up wards to 19 @ idle and 17 @ WOT (Warm fuel) so when cold mornings come I'm dropped down to 17 @ idle and 15 @ WOT (< +32*F). Like yesterday I made a run down to Ontario, OR as I was travel through New Meadows, ID the the cold temp you can watch the fuel pressure sick just little. But in any case my pressure fall is the same 1-2 PSI empty and 2-3 PSI loaded with the trailer. So now assuming there is a +/- 1 PSI of slop in the system (overflow valve or the gauge) I still rather happy with the setup because worse case would put me at a low of 14 and a high of 20 PSI. But The Good Lord only knows how accurate my setup really is. But going back to the OP post of reaching well above 20 PSI at idle to make 19 PSI at WOT I still think is un-needed. So if the dash gauge and a test gauge are close to right and you well above 14 PSI but below 20 PSI you going to be fine. Pulling a quote from Blue Chip... So raising fuel pressure above 14 PSI isn't going to change HP/TQ at all but it will increase the cooling ability. But once again about if a little is good then a lot more is better doesn't always work. But here again if you going to improve cooling ability you would have to create a 1/2" or 3/8" return line kit to improve return flow to the tank. Because at any rate your going to be fighting the same old 6mm ID lines back to the tank which has a flow reduced flow rate than your 1/2" big line kits.

But the pressure inside the VP44 is only going to be 14 PSI because everything else is return to the tank. So there is no since in even trying...Just as long as the fuel pressure is above 14 PSI your golden..

Ahh... I had the same issues but got crazier... I got out the 1,200 grit and a pencil and tuned the connector tube to fit the lines. I had 3 line that when in bad shape and cleaned them up really well and carefully. A small scratch or pit in the connector tube or the high pressure line could cause what you taking about. I got to admit it takes a lot of patience with the 1,200 grit but you turn out a very smooth and tight seal fitting. Like I said take your time and do it right.As for the cause of the funk is from wahing the engine and letting it sit to air dry. If you wash the engine and drive it dry you less likely to have that issue. I had to learn this myself...

There was a guy that converted over to 12V cam and 12V lift pump and had 35-38 PSI going to the VP44. Needless to say he got ran off another forum for it. So as for knowing if it work or not I say it was running but as for long term damage I'll never know...Still I will not suggest crossing the 20 PSI mark there is no need for it...

Yes you injectors have to be re-popped because of the lower pressure of the p-pump. As for the p-pump where the gear is place on the pump shaft that is the timing its get all the way across the RPM span... As you see the pump shaft is nothing more that a camshaft. Now on the VE pump and VP44 pump they have a adjustable cam ring that move forward and backward in time to allow for timing changes. The VP44 is fully electronically controlled from ECM sensors and feedback and the old 12V had a single sensor for controlling the advancement cam and the rest was mechanical. But the P-pump its static fixed. So if the initial timing is 13* BTDC thats the timing for all the RPM span... VP44... Vp44 has a very dynamic timing table that is adjusted through engine coolant temp, Intake temp, boost pressure, throttle, and engine load. Yes I know the VP44 stock table is rather weak for MPG's why most people plug in a chip of some sort and get instant timing upgrade.

Don't need to actually remove the injectors but you'll need to wiggle the parts a bit so when you tighten again it will actually seal up. Dave from over at RamForum.com was the once that got me on the phone with the injecotr company and I listen to there conversation about leaking fuel lines. As I posted above was his suggestion and it seen to fix his problem as far as I know.

If it was me I would back out of the Quadzilla addons for testing purposes and see if the problems go away...