whodat88

Thanks Wulf for the added info, so my sender is inop it seems. I thought reading this post that what I was seeing was normal, which didn't seem right.Just called around and the sender is $256! Geez for that price it should never break! Can anyone else jump in and confirm that what is happening to the truck is indeed a defective sender? I'd hate to buy it and have it not fix the problem.For everyone's info...I installed a new sending unit yesterday and now my oil pressure gauge is at 0 before starting and reads over 40 when running and up to temp. Feel much better seeing it functioning! Also for those reading this contemplating replacement, this is an easy job, BUT be aware that (as least on my truck) the old sender unit required a 1.25" deep socket to remove, and the new replacement sender only a 1.0625" to install.

Just wanted to confirm, the oil pressure gauge in my 01 is just an idiot gauge and does not really show oil pressure if the ECM has been reflashed? My gauge comes off of 0 and goes to around 60 when I turn the key on and don't even start. That doesn't seem to be correct.

I've been having problems with my truck hesitating after about 10 minutes. Felt like a fuel supply issue. After seeing my fuel heater actually smoking I pulled the relay and have not had any problems with hesitation, and actually it seems as though I have a bit more power. I've read a lot on several forums about symptoms similar to mine, but no one has mentioned the fuel heater circuit as a potential cause. I just wanted to let the forum know that I had this issue that seems to be cured by disabling the fuel heater. No idea why this would cause a hesitation problem, except if the fuel got so hot that the VP would shut down, but I've never seen codes to indicate this.

Thanks for the input on the lines. I thought maybe these would be a little sloppy as normal so good to get some positive reinforcement on that. Checked my fuel heater relay and it at first was open across both contacts, which is a non func, then I opened it up and moved the points and after that it tested as the manual says it should. Cycled it a bunch of times with 12 V supply and it worked everytime. Put it back in and drove the truck and within 5 minutes had the same problem. Pulled the relay and all was well. Pulled the codes and had three, the standard two: 0602 and 1693 and 0500 "no vehicle speed sensor signal", which I'll check out here in a few minutes. Just rechecked the relay and it works fine. Tomorrow I will disconnect power from the heater/temp sensor and see what happens. Don't have any idea why this is causing my truck to lose power - - - Updated - - - As most on here know, that P0500 happens when you have wheel spin. Since it's been cold and icy here that makes sense. Just wanted to save anyone replying to the previous post mentioning it. - - - Updated - - - Been reading on the fuel heater. I'm thinking I'll just unplug it and if everything works OK just leave it. I see a lot of guys don't use one at all on aftermarket pump/filter setups.

Thanks, I am going to pull the codes shortly and check the relay. I'm thinking if the relay is stuck closed the heater would run continously, which may make the heater get hot. But the heater must run continously whenever it's cold. I'm flying blind here...for now all I know is I disabled the heater and the problem went away.

I think I have found the problem to my "fuel starvation" problem, but wanted to get some opinions. These last couple of days my truck has been hesitating a lot, this after checking all the connections and finding some seemingly loose ones on the fuel supply and returns at the tank. I hadn't gotten any responses if this is normal or not, and have a call in to Eric at Vulcan. So today I fire the truck up and start into town, and it almost immediately starts to show the same symptoms, only worse. I am afraid it will die completely and pull over. Pull off the gas cap to see if maybe I am getting some vacuum issues that would restrict supply, but as soon as I start up again i get the starvation again, to the point of almost stopping completely! So I head home, and open the hood with the engine running and notice that the fuel heater that is mounted on the fuel filter housing is smoking! I feel it and it is hot to the touch, don't know how hot is hot, but it was smoking. So I pull the fuel heater relay in the PDC and it seems to cool down cause the smoking stops. I head out on the road and the hesitation is gone! So disabling the fuel heater seems to have cured my fuel problem. Question is why? Was the fuel getting to hot? I haven't pulled the codes to see, but I know Mike has mentioned that there is a code for too hot fuel. I will troubleshoot whether it's the relay or the temp sender that is faulty tomorrow, but why would a too hot heater cause this kind of problem? Also it's been very cold for here these last several days, but the heater works up to 70 deg or something I think I read, so too cold shouldn't have anything to do with this, right? Very puzzled:banghead:

I've been trying to figure why I have what feels like a fuel starvation problem about 10 minutes after startup. Talked to Eric at Vulcan and he suggested that maybe a line was sucking air. I felt around up at where the lines attach to the fuel tank module and both lines would slide around on the nipples. This seems like it could be the problem as if there were a slight leak, as the truck sat for a while the fuel pickup line leaking would allow the fuel to lose vacuum and cause an air pocket, that after startup would work it's way up to the engine. You guys that have some experience with this stuff...Is this normal? How do those lines clamp to the nipples? Since I can only feel up there I was hoping I could put additional hose clamps on them and tighten the connection.

I purchased a Raptor 100 and it failed within a month. Motor turned but it wouldn't pump. I just got another from Pureflow and installed the other day. I'm hoping this will run for a while. I'm going to take the failed pump to an auto electric shop and have them look at it. I could not see why it didn't pump, unless the internal resistance slowed the pump down so slow it didn't have the RPM's to pump.

First an update on my situation and then I have a question to pose to the forum:So I installed the big lines and the FP gauge kit over the weekend. I go to prime the fuel system afterwards and have no flow from the Raptor 100. Nada. I can hear it running, but nothing is flowing. I take it off and put on the perfectly good stock lift pump and it pumps great. Bleed the system and the truck runs fine, but the FP is only around 10-11 psi. I didn't want to drive it with that low a FP, so I take apart the Raptor on Sunday to see if I can discern what is the problem. Everything looks fine, I put it back together and am thinking that maybe the plug was not seated well enough (I've read stuff on here about that). So Monday I swap pumps (getting pretty good at this now, only 30 minutes!), and make sure the plug is really solidly connected, still nothing. Just to refresh I drove back from Western CO last week with this pump, and now there is no pumpy at all. So I call Air Dog in Indiana and after proving I actually purchased the pump they send me another one. Put it in today and it pumps like a dream. FP was about 14, I adjust it to 18.5. So I go out to see if the original problem is cured and within 10 minutes I get once again what feels like fuel starvation. FP fluctuates between 18-19 at idle and 14 or so WOT. The gauge jumps around a bunch put it seems to be in this range. This "fuel starvation" feeling happened for about a minute then everything worked great. Drove it all afternoon without anymore issues, which has been what has happened the other times.So my question is has anyone else experienced this? I look back and this seems to happen after the truck has sat for several days and within 10 minutes of starting to drive. Could it be I am just passing some air, and once it passes there are no other problems? Where would the air come from? This time maybe from residual left from bleeding, but other times I have not bled prior to it occurring. Just grasping at straws here. I want to go out and camp in Utah between Christmas and New Years, and if this is just a random thing that others have experienced and can explain I would feel a lot better. Don't want a $1000 tow bill if I can help it! I don't have any remote explanation of the Raptor failing. It must have functioned on the trip back from out west, but would not pump to bleed the system twice. Does not give me a lot of confidence in these, but maybe it's something I did that I have not a clue.:banghead::banghead:

Thanks, that's what I was going to try today. I had read somewhere that these pumps had issues with check valves or some such. I am going to search around for some threads on this now...

Because of the cold weather here last week, I didn't install the big fuel lines and gauge, and went on a trip to central CO. Leaving there yesterday my truck again hesitated climbing a slight hill like before, felt like fuel starvation. Took it easy all the way back and today I started to put in the lines and the gauge. Got all the lines in and went to bleed the system up to the VP44 by bumping the starter to get the Raptor to pump and guess what? The Raptor would not pump anything. I could hear it running, but nothing out. Not a drop. I had the old stock lift pump and installed that and had plenty fuel to bleed the system and start the truck. So tomorrow I will get the gauge installed. But here's the question guys...how could I drive this truck without any lift pump operation? Is it possible that the VP44 was actually pulling the fuel to it? Scary thought. I had the tank half full or more for most of the trip. Something doesn't add up here. I will disassemble the Raptor tomorrow to see why it is not pumping. I'm pissed that I purchased this aftermarket pump to alleviate any chance of fuel starvation to the VP, and it actually looks like it caused fuel starvation to the pump:mad:. I will be on the phone Monday to try to get some answers.

I've got an Isspro EV FP sender and gauge coming this week, as well as a bigline kit from Vulcan, with new non quick release fittings. I'm know this will give me much better diagnostics and am hoping the lines and fittings will cure that intermittent low power surge issue. Hoping this is not the advance warning of a VP44 failure.

A quick question... I'm installing the Frantz filter (under the truck on the rear of the front crossmember, upside down) and I'm wondering what is the best way to push the hose onto the barbed connectors. What have you guys done to make the easier?

So do you think I just need to adjust the FP? I hardly was under any load at all when this occured. - - - Updated - - - Does anybody have any ideas? I want to hit the road this weekend and now I don't trust my truck. I have the low pressure warning switch/LED and I know that is has never illuminated with the engine running. Perhaps the VP44 is failing?

thanks Mike...don't know the FP...put the Raptor in without checking as i had no immediate way to check. I figured the Raptor was pre set.

Hi Guys, my truck started hesitating while driving it this morning. This happened a couple of weeks ago when I started driving when it was cold and the problem seemed to go away when warm, so I thought the Smarty was limiting fuel till the engine warmed up. This morning it hesitated (feels like fuel starvation) after it was warm, did it for about 10 minutes and then everything was fine. I just got home and pulled the codes from the Smarty and got 2; P0602 and P1693. In reading other posts here I get that the 0602 is a normal code because of the smarty changing the fuel map, and the 1693 is a companion code usually in conjunction with something else. So I have a circular argument in that the normal smarty code is causing the companion code? If I understand what I've read here neither code tell what the problem is. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Back from my trip to Montana and Idaho with some real MPG numbers. Going up to Montana on I-25 and I-90, I got around 17.5 going 75 mph on cruise with negligible wind issues. From Bozeman to Boise going 60-70 on mainly 2 lane highways I got 19.3 no wind. Coming back on I-84 and I-80 with a 2K camper I was fighting a 50 mph crosswind gusting higher and really didn't care about my mileage, just wanted to keep the camper on the truck! This was all on Level 3 with the Smarty. I think if I were going to drive on the 2 lanes more often I would set the Smarty to L1, as on 3 it seems to hunt around a lot more on cruise. FYI what I do when I fill up is go to the surge cutoff, then measure my 2 cycle oil, then slowly top off till I see actual fluid fuel level at the bottom of the fill tube. I doubt I'm off more than a cup of diesel each fillup. I try to fill immediately before driving some distance so I'm burning fuel that might expand if it would sit for a while. I'm really happy with the power and ecomony. Maybe I'll put a turbo back exhaust on sometime, but for the present I'll stay with this. I'm now interested to see what MPG's I get hauling this camper.

Funny you should bring that up about the Smarty. Yesterday I took a little drive to see how the truck was running before I took off this week and forgot to change the Smarty setting back to 1 from 3, and noticed that the AV MPG on the truck gauge (I know it's wrong but I use for comparison) was higher than on 1. I figured I'd play with the settings on my trip. Also, at my altitude (5300') I would think this truck would need some tweaking to deal with the thin air, but haven't even gone down that road yet! I was reading on here about propane injection, and am I nuts or is this a no brainer for fuel economy?

Just wanted to update folks on here on what I have done so far to my truck. First I installed an Air Dog Raptor 100 pump with a low fuel pressure switch and LED. Then I put a Smarty in setup for economy. Adjusted valve lash to .009 and .019. All that I already mentioned I think. So last weekend I put some Michelin LTX MS2 265's and the Bosch RV275 injectors. The Cummins seems to be a little more aggressive with these installed. Also I have been playing around with the Smarty, now I have my ODO only 1.04% off the GPS ODO. And this last week I've been running around town smoking people in Level 3! LOL. Last night I replaced the rear diff gear oil with Amsoil. I will probably have to go up to the Northwest this next week so I should have some MPG numbers. One thing I have already noticed is how much better my mileage seems to be with the tires aired up to 70 or so PSI. When they were put on the fronts were only 55, which felt too mushy for me. I haven't read on tire pressures here, but 70 feels good. Guess I need to stay on watching the tread wear to see if that is correct or not. Thanks for all the input on this forum. You guys have been an invaluable resource!

Yes, but later I hooked up my GPS and discovered that my ODO is reading 6% higher than the GPS. So actual was 23.8. Now I convert to get actual. Which reminds me...does anyone here have experience in using larger diameter tires to get higher final ratios for better fuel economy? I realize that there is a tradeoff, bigger tires=greater rolling resistance, but also you would get the torque in the sweet spot at a higher actual speed. Thinking of putting some low resistance Michelin 265's on the truck for this reason. Thoughts?

Just joined this forum yesterday. I've been researching diesel trucks for a month or more and finally pulled the trigger and purchased an 01 QCLB 5 speed, 3.55. Exactly the same color combo as Mikes far as I can tell. I've driven about 2500 miles so far, best was from Buena Vista CO to Boulder at 60-65 25.25 mpg. Last weekend round trip to Taos 900+ miles at 65-70 got 21.4. I have just adjusted the valves today (216K) every one was loose, so maybe I'll get a little better mpg's now. Put in a Smarty at the economy setting, and a Big Filter. Doing the 275 injectors this weekend. Have aspirations of getting 25 at 70mph. Oh yeah, fuel in Taos $4.29, here in Boulder $4.29. Great truck!