Mopar1973Man

I typically burn through about 3 quarts to gallon of power steering fluid getting the system flushed out. I flush it out till the output line is clear fluid. As for brake fluid a quart is barely enough to load a empty system so I typically get at least 2 quarts. Brake system I pull all 4 calipers and disassemble, clean the calipers, inspect all seals, and weather boots while all 4 lines are naturally draining the system out. Then reassemble and bleed out the system. The only reason I do it this way is if you leave it all hooked up and bleed you just force the dirt to the bottom of the calipers and will cause then to bind out later on. Done this mistake once already. As for fluids I normal just use standard power steering fluid (change every 30k miles) and standard DOT 3 brake fluid (change at 30k miles). Remember being that the power steering is a unfiltered system it you choose synthetic you still have to change it at 30k miles. It's not that the fluid broke down but you have to still flush the debris out of the system. so there is nothing to gain from synthetic use in power steering.

Something odd happened this morning. I packed up to head for Ontario, OR today. So my truck was parked in a unheated shop where the temperature was 44*F. Fired up move out on the yard to load up some old tires and wheels. Yeah my old Cooper STT and white spoke rims are gone! Then parked back in the driveway. Wait for MoparMom to get together and left. Well the first 5 miles going down the road if I throttled it at all it was bucking or surging just enough that even MoparMom asked what was going on. Which I told her I didn't know. I had 17 PSI fuel pressure. Rolling light to build engine heat. But unusual to feel it surge like that. After it warmed up fully it was gone never seen it again. Even after getting cold down in Ontario, OR and firing back up ran fine. I figure I would post this up maybe some else seen or had something like this happen.

So now start from bottom up and redesign your mod's the way you want them.

Actually it designed that if the ECM no longer sees a crank signal to shut down the fuel pump.

Add Oregon to that list too now Oregon is mandated to sell B5 for diesel fuel now.

I would crawl under the driver side and look up past the body and transmission and you can see nearly all the back of the head. There is a freeze plug back there. Like CUMMINSDISELPWR said there is a return fuel rail back there. Yes even #6 injector line could be leaving a wet mark like mine is right now. If its a coolant leak take a cooling system tester and pump it up to 14-16 PSI and grab a bright flashlight and watch the back of the block it will dribble out for you on a cold block.

Sounds like a Bank's Box. You might try removing all that stuff and returning to stock and see what you get.

In regards to running 15w-40 in everything. I've don that too at one point but found out the efficiencies of the other engines that require a different weight tend to degrade in MPG's. I was doing the same and using 15w-40 in the 966 Dodge. But now like this winter put the recommended 5w-30 in and the MPG rose gain from the summer grade of 10w-30 and rose even more that originally using 15w-40.

Can you verify with a second mechanic gauge?

I used cheap clear vinyl tubing on the 1996 Dodge for replacing the vacuum tubing. It works but if routed near hot parts it does suck flat. So the fuel line would bee a bit better.

So there is a slight flat spot not a failure. Might be something you consider replacing soon but its not you cause of misfire. Might be easier to grab a live data tool and just watch the data while driving. Then you see everything the ECM sees.

Sorry... That's sucks to end up with a fat bill. But at least its fixed.

Tell him "thanks"... But as for odd behaviour I would have to say try taking it to a Dodge Dealer and having the ECM reflashed. Maybe during the flash process the DRBIII tool might sense something or there is a checksum that might not be right. I work off a 2 smoking gun rule. I need two separate test that show a failure before I would commit to replacement. Right now we really don't have much. The only thing I could suggest is swapping ECM's with a friend and see if the problem goes away.

MnTom idea what I was thinking...

Double check all your vacuum lines I've seen cases where they have melted closed or dry rotted and crack open but the crack is so tiny you can't see it. ISX posted a while about how the little rubber boots would leak too.

They are a certified Bosch rebuilder too with a Bosch 815 test stand... Sorry to say most everything I know of is closed on Sundays...

Take a vacuum hand pump and put a good vacuum on one port at a time and watch and see if the vacuum falls if so the diaphragm is leaking.

Well good at least the ECM appears to be working correctly then that means one of the errors most likely is the cause of the limp mode.

Yea...

Ouch. The limited pedal worries me. That typically points to ECM issues. Could you do a AC voltage test on your alternator? Basically just use a good quality digital volt meter and measure the voltage at the BATT terminal on the alternator. If the voltage is over 0.1 AC volts then the alternator failed. How about the Wait To Start light? Does it come on instantly or does it lag a few seconds? Hot start is typically excessive fuel pressure at start up. Check your cranking pressure it should be bouncing between 7-12 PSI roughly. Anything higher causes hard starting.

You might have to separate the plug and add some di-electric grease and socket it 3 times and then snug the screw back up. That should help gain your connection.

I guess you going to measure the lift of each push rod correct?

P0216 code is going to be a wear issue code. The timing piston is most likely wore out and seized up. It could be low fuel pressure issues too but most of the time is the wear issue.

I found out on my 1996 Dodge the CAD unit had a vacuum leak in the diaphragm. So this made it weak to pull in both directions and typically had lag. I replace mine the problems are gone no issues. The NAPA vacuum motor was like $90 bucks but came as a full rebuild kit for that CAD unit.

The wild oil pressure reading tend to lead down the ECM path. But the common thing like a whole list of lo or hi volt codes. Typically the coolant gauge goes full swing and trips the check engine light and check gage light. Random revving of the engine and dead pedal.