Mopar1973Man

IIRC it was P1222...

Nothing wrong with the PSG circuits. The biggest problem is stock pulls from the hot fuel in the sender basket then a lot of people went back to draw straw in the basket which is a very poor idea. Mine is drawing forward of the sender basket which is typically cooler fuel. I've never had a PSG failure yet. (P1688 and P1689)

Just a heads up if you have a 3rd Gen and happen to have a weak connection or on connection on the grid heater power wire it can and will pop the grid heater light and chime as well just like a fuel rail issue. If you pop the hood and don't see any fuel leaks then proceed to get to home or safe place. Get your code reader out and check I'm going to bet there is a code for grid heater performance. Once the problem is fixed and the code cleared the light will remain off. In my case I've unhooked it back in the summer time be I was having a charge issue for the batteries and forgot it was unhooked. No hard starts. Funny part is the light tripped after 30 miles of driving and the engine was at full operation temperature which was weird it trip the grid heater. That makes me ask does the ECM command grid heat while you drive as well?

You gotta ask what was inside his garage that was attracting the squirrel to chew on the seal? People don't think about what the animal is looking for the smell of food possibly? Warm place to be? If you remove the smell of food and warm animals typically don't work as hard trying to get in to what ever being a garage or a vehicle.

Don't pull the trigger too fast. I need to get more snow be everything melted already. You might be ready for spring but I need to see another good snow storm to have enough water for summer. Heck this year was the least amount of snow removal work. I only plowed once. My yard is bare and nothing but mud.

A heads up if you draw your fuel from the tank and not out off the sender basket fuel temps are much much lower. Mine follow the IAT temp and typically match. Most of the winter I see +20°F to +60°F then summer 80°F to 130°F no issues with fuel temp.

I've sent injectors back to Diesel Auto Power for pop testing. Fair prices and you can even do custom pop pressure setups. Like I sent my OEM injectors in and had 7 x 0.010 nozzles installed and pop at 320 bar. After 150k miles my stock injectors were 260 bar. Hence why I will tell anyone to replace injectors at 100k miles.

Might ask @Honey Badger what she has for an idea... She is a good herbialist.

W-T Ground mod. Bad fuel pump relay. Would be my first two thoughts for low voltage at the VP44. Double check the main power lead to the PDC.

I did a set of AC Delco ball joints over 200k miles ago and still running on them at 460k miles and still tight. (Personal opinion below here) The leveling kit does require adjustable control arms being the thrust angle is now wrong. As you level the front axle your changing the caster angle and also as it is lifted the factory track bar is fixed length and pulls the axle to the driver's side. Need adjustable control arms and an adjustable track bar too. Wide tires tend to eat ball joints up pretty quickly being the leverage angle of the wider tires increases the stress on the ball joint hence the quicker failure rate. Sadly, even expensive ball joints will not last with wide tires and/or lift kits. Physics is in control at this point. Doesn't matter what brand of ball joints or axle bearings you use it will fail quicker as long as the leveling kit and wide tires are used. It's the nature of the beast and the only way to fix the problem is to remove them and go back to stock. Yup, I know I'm still trying to get all the stuff pulled off Thor on my 2006 being the previous owner install wide tires and a 2-inch leveling kit and it's eating the front axle up and turning into a mess. No adjustable control arms or track bar so the thrust angle is still screwed up. Eating the tires up and wearing out ball joints and tie rod ends and already dumped $520 of wheel bearing in last summer. What I've done was bought a set of factory steel 17-inch wheels and go back to 265/70 R17 tires and now I got to get time to pull the leveling kit out so it doesn't look like a squatting truck taking a dump. Beast is all stock and everything last forever... Ball joint, tie rod ends, brakes, shocks, brakes, etc. Why do I know this stuff??? I had a 1972 Dodge Power Wagon (Old Blue) before Beast. I actually destroyed the front axle 12 different times with wider tires and lift kits. I only owned the truck for 120k miles and made it into junk in under 5 years. I blew up wheel joints constantly, ate wheel bearings all the time, and had to repack them monthly, steering absolutely sucked. Power steering gear boxes failed all the time. Then the power steering pumps wore out prematurely. I made a promise to my parents and myself that I would never do modifications that would cause this kind of damage. To date, my front axle suspension and steering are still factory tight and drive like a dream single finger at 80 MPH on Beast. All I can say is understand the physics of what you are doing and why and you'll see why the failure rate is higher.

LOL... I've got a o-ring kit sitting in Thor and just grab one and place it on the tip of the steel line and then screw it in. I never order a o-ring for just the power steering system. Oh where did I get that at? Amazon order a o-ring kit of all the common sizes and thats all. $20 dollars for a full kit of o-rings.

I never bait any trap and place in the truck your just making a invitation for more to come because they smell the bait. I just don't plug in my truck because once the engine goes cold like last week when it was -2*F. Rats and mice are not going to hang out under the hood. My previous time I was keeping the truck in the shop and the block heater plugged in the mice and rats moved in to hang out on the engine. Since then I've never used my block heater again. Again baiting trap you asking for them to come to the truck and hang out. Plug in the block heater you giving the wild life a warm place to hang out. Do not make it inviting and don't leave food in the truck you'll never have a issue. Same thing with my RV I've had mice getting in I used metal mesh and expanding foam to fill gaps and holes. I would never bait traps inside because your asking for them to enter the RV. Once I found the entry points and seal them no issues afterward.

Need to read... https://mopar1973man.com/cummins/articles.html/24-valve-2nd-generation_50/51_engine/swapping-vp44-cummins-engine-between-985-00-01-02-r429/?do=getLastComment&d=4&id=429

Good reason to have a Quadzilla because that data can be displayed while driving and data logged for abnormal changes. Compared to my Innova tool only displays but doesn't data log.

Should get a email of what happen to the ECM so let us know.

If you have a live data tool or a Quadzilla you could verify the APPS signal for abnormal spikes or drops. It's possible to fail within specs.

Time to do a W-T ground wire mod if it has not been done. Ground on the VP44 and ECM are ran right beside the alternator lead and AC noise issues don't help either. Seriously I would look at doing the W-T ground wire mod and then look at the +12V side for corroded pins or sockets. VP44 get power from the fuel pump relay. ECM has constant +12V and keyed +12V double check both too.

@JAG1 I just got to got to Riggins ID and turn and go up Seven Devils Road which is 17 miles long to the end. Starting at a elevation of 1,800 feet and at the summit at Heaven Gate it just at close 8,400 feet. I can look from there and see you waving at me with a telescope. Heavens Gate is the highest point in all of Idaho and can see 3 states from that mountain top. I wait for your smoke signals when your in trouble...

If you find a good stater and alternator rebuild shop they do much better than any part store rebuilds. Like myself I use DuroBuilt in Nampa ID which does all rebuilds in store.

What worries me is the P0253, P1688 and P1689 which could be a bad VP44. Then the P1698 is the PCM not communicating...

Stellar idea. I wonder how much weight it can push...

Yeah I was squinting hard but still not quite seeing you wave...

Just a tidbit of info... I worked on a 7.3L with a grind issue. The flexplate was damaged around the ring gear in a about 3 places. I ended up replacing the flexplate. Shortly afterwards it start to do it again. Then found out there is a high torque starter and direct drive starter. We replaced the direct drive with a high torque starter and the problem stopped as far as I know since the owner moved from Idaho to Northern Cally. Cummins starters are all high torque starters. The biggest thing is having the solenoid contacts in good shape and the 4 brushes for the armature in good shape. It's possible the solenoid is getting weak or the solenoid linkage to push the pinion gear out is damaged causing a miss. I've seen even just loose starter bolts do the same thing. I've seen personal on Beast the contacts fail twice on the OEM starter. Then the last go around the armature brushes failed. This cause it to burn up the armature and cause a weak start. Another weird one was a NAPA rebuilt starter that got soaked with a diesel fuel leak and caught on fire and burned up internally. Yes it had smoke coming out of the drain hole in the bottom. Yes it was burning that fuel internally!

I had the wipers fail on Thor. It broke loose the passenger side wiper linkage. Be aware that system technically is not repairable like the old school truck where you could get the new plastic joint cups for the linkage. I ended up replacing the entire assembly as a unit for $250 bucks. Sad part is even Minnie it uses the same system and I had to replace a wiper motor. Cowl bowl was filled with standing water and rotted out the wiper motor internals.