Mopar1973Man

Have you pop tested your injectors to verify them?

Whoa... Time to think again why is someone like me getting such a good run out of my VP44? No transistor issues, on overheating issues, no P0168 codes, etc. Once again consider the thought there are people that can get long life from a VP44 without a bunch of modifications or alterations to the VP44. Time to figure out how I'm doing it. I'm wired tapped running a Edge Comp on level 5, don't exactly grandpa the truck around some days I play and other days I'm conservative. I see up to 115*F for summer temps and then swing as cold as -25*F for the winter time. So why can I go so far without any issues?

One wire should be +5 volt and the other sound be a signal ground.

Unless some one done a cheap shot sucked the fluid out of the reservoir and never really bled the brakes down. Even then I'm not exactly a fond of doing just that. When some bleeds the system down like that you tend to pump the debris from the reservoir down to the calipers where it settles in the bottom and start binding up the pistons. If I'm going to flush the system I pull all the calipers off and disassemble, clean, check the fit of the parts, check the seals and boots. Then by then the system is self drained, now just install the calipers and bleed the system.

You have to remember there is a certain amount of timing effect from fuel temperature. As fuel is warmer it will ignite easier so less timing advancement is needed. But as fuel cools or gets cold then the timing has to advance to give time for the fuel to convert from liquid to vapor in the compression. So its very possible you got excessive timing from overcooling of the VP44 and timing was over advanced and got the engine to run backwards. (Think in theory... )

Heck propane fridge will run for a very long time on 30# bottle.

@Katoom Exactly. It was running backwards. When you alter sensors by abnormal cooling or heating you can adversely alter timing and other thing causing these weird things to happen. I've seen it on older 2 1/2 ton military trucks fire up and be blowing exhaust out the air filter. Weird sight to see put it in a forward gear and it travels backwards. The good thing you shut it down rapidly because the oil pump is running backwards too so its blowing air bubbles in the oil pan.

Here you go the entire charging system.

The owner didn't know what a gear puller was so they used a pair of crow bars and pried it out of the gear. So a wonder member here happen to notice this VP44 that not worth the core being the whole nose is trashed. Which now is the photo shot VP44 for the site. So if anymore pictures are needed I still got it here.

Colder the better. The colder the temperature is the more the field is excited on the alternator. Blue wire should be positive 12V with the key on and the green wire is a variable ground from the PCM which is controlled by the battery temperature sensor. So the colder the battery and temperatures the more the alternator is working. On hot days it typical to see charging voltage as low as 13.2 to 13.5 Volts depending again on battery temperatures. I've seen charging voltages as high as 14.9 Volts in the dead of winter with -25*F starting temps.

I have a really good understanding of the auto vs manual being I own both. The 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 is a 46RE and the 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 is a NV4500 5 speed. Don't get me wrong the automatic does tow rather well but the control of power and hold back power is really poor. Now the 5 speed does much better because it being a manual. But still I would rather put all the working load on the manual and light duty towing on the auto. Like hitching up this evening the BigTex utility trailer throw all the trash cans, garbage, and lawn debris and make a haul with the auto. No biggy. But hitching up the Jayco to the automatic it really struggles pulling that monster of a trailer.

Sounds like a typical RV refrigerator but instead of propane flame your using a kerosene flame. https://www.lehmans.com/p-3505-dometic-kerosene-refrigerator.aspx?show=all

I'm pretty sure is lower right corner. Correction lower left...

I'm going to reach out on a limb here for that transistor which is most likely for the fueling solenoid on the VP44. As the fuel solenoid has to work harder controlling the fuel pin be it seizure, debris, bad wire tap, etc. I can see the transistor taking a mild beating. Once again I'm using a educated guess here and from what I learned from pulling apart that VP44. Here is the VP44 rotor disassembled and the fuel pin and solenoid.

Ok. So pointing to the solder. How about thee ECM and the PCM? Why is the ECM mounted to the side of the hot coolant jacket and most likely made with the same solder too so why doesn't it fail quick?

Well worth it bumpers and do save the front of the truck. But... I hate working on those trucks the most typically a pain in the rear to climb up the bumper and kneel on the bumper or radiator support. Without them you can kneel on the OE bumper and work for hours comfortable. But... Again at least it saved you hundred of dollars on doe damage...

Battery temperature sensor under the drivers battery will sense the battery temperature and adjust the charging rate accordingly. So if the batteries are warm to hot the charge voltage is reduced to prevent gassing of the batteries. Cold start is the best time to test with grid heaters cycling in. Then the alternator is charging cold batteries and voltage is higher and the load is heavier with 95 to 190 Amp loads. Do your check at idle.

TIPM??? Ok.. Never mind got the answer... Thank gawd for acronym function.

Still 130*F is nothing... Even my CPU in my desktop get's hotter.

I personally can see the heat soak issue with a factory lift pump (35 GPH) with fuel pressures between 8-13 PSI. With the lower fuel pressure you couldn't wash out the heat in a timely manner. But now like myself I've got a idle pressure of 17 PSI and WOT PSI of 15 PSI which is not a issue with holding the overflow valve open and wash the heat out in a very fast manner. Even after driving in 100*F heat barely 130*F after shut down isn't a issue. Even 10 minutes of heat soak still at 130*F. But again I'm on top of my truck and keep it right. But now looking at the average Joe Farmer stock fuel system, stock filter, weak lift pump. Oh yeah... Your going to have heat soak and tough time cooling the PSG unit. Then again I've got a 10 year old VP44 still running strong with 183k miles on it. So how much is it design issues, owner issues, or plain ol' don't care...

Well the owner came back to have this issue dealt with. Changed the A/C Transducer and the plug. (Not cheap either). But the code remains. 5 Volt at the plug. Ground appears good, But still having issues. So the owner has been referred to another shop with a bit more high tech scanners and computer tools. The funny part is this other shop happen to have another Dodge in the same year with the same problem and required to have the PCM reflashed. (Internal software issue?)

Between work and chasing fire calls I'm a bit slow to respond... It should be in the archive of threads here...

Birthday present... Don't know...

Here is a old TDR oil testing results... https://mopar1973man.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=17565

Yes a bad crank sensor will prevent the VP44 from firing because the ECM doesn't see the engine turning so the VP44 won't fire.