RayNAz

Tractorman, IBMobile, Could I ask you both where you mounted your fuse holder? I'm not seeing too many good locations. For the time being, I'm mounting it on top of the same plastic piece that the coolant overflow bottle mounts to, right on top. This keeps the cable between the battery and fuse as short as possible and away from anything that moves. We'll see...

Thanks!

Yeah, the un-fused connection running all the way across the engine bay to a battery sounded like a bad idea to me for that exact reason. That's why I was considering leaving the existing fused cable in place as-is and skipping the upgraded cable. If I go with your approach, do you have a suggestion for a suitable fuse type and holder?

I just ordered a replacement alternator "Pure Power" from Tusconalternator.com . This is a 240A alternator and the web site recommended an upgraded wire kit. Long story short they recommend running an additional + cable from the alternator to the positive battery terminal while leaving the existing cable to the alt fuse in place. What do you guys think of this idea? I don't think I'll ever be pushing anything close to 240A, I was really just looking for a bit more output than stock at idle. The only significant additional electrical load I have at the moment is the connection to my truck camper which typically pulls 10-20A and is fused at 50A. What are the odds that if I leave my existing cabling in place (other than checking/cleaning my grounds) that I will end up popping the 140A alternator fuse? Worst case seems to be if I were to run down my truck batteries while parked and then jump start the truck in which case it might charge the truck batteries at a pretty high current for a bit but I still doubt it would be 140A. What do you guys think?

Thanks, that link is a keeper. I followed it up until the "Hot Wire" test. So far all good but I'll work through the rest and see what I see. I'm not sure how many miles are on the injectors. I bought the truck in the spring of 2020 and have put around 60k miles on it since. Total miles are 258k. The motor is spinning over fairly fast however it's warm out, batteries are fairly new and fully charged so I think it's normal. I'm not hearing any uneven sound too it like one cylinder is different or anything like that. Update. I cranked it over for quite a bit longer and did eventually get some fuel out of the injector line that I'd loosened. Still didn't seem like as much as I'd expect but it was something. Question, is there any chance the pressure relief valve (sorry I don't remember the correct name) could be stuck open and if so should I be able to tell by looking at the fuel pressure gauge (it's still the same 20psi that it always is when the pump is running).

On Wednesday I had been on the freeway for about 15 minutes and the engine just shut down and I ultimately got it towed home. I still had/have normal fuel pressure (about 20psi) and the computer appears to be working at least well enough for my code reader to connect but there are no codes showing. Battery voltages is good and the terminal connections are tight. I swapped the Fuel relay with the horn relay and it still worked and also did the same with the ASD and Security relays just in case. At this point the starter motor cranks nice and fast but the engine doesn't even try to start. I tried loosening one of the injector lines and cranking it and I'm not seeing any fuel coming out. Back in May I replaced the VP44 with a reman from DAP and until now it's been mostly good. I say mostly because over the last week or two I've felt that it might be down on power just a little but I've been chalking it up to high temperatures (long drives at high altitude with ambient temps hovering around 100 degrees. Is there anything else I should be checking before contacting DAP?

Thanks Tractorman. Fuel pressure is good. I added a pressure gauge when I did the lift pump a few years ago and it still idles at around 22psi and is at around 18psi on the freeway. Re new/reman PSC it looks like about a $500 difference. I also notice that some listings on that site say that a wire mod voids the warranty and some say it's okay (once again for more money). Do you think there is any physical/electronic difference between those 2 or are they just pricing in the likelihood of a warranty claim? I'm guessing the latter but just asking. Re: Driving style. As far as I could tell, about all I could do to keep it out of limp mode was to keep my speed under 55. Unfortunately I have to get up on the freeway in order to go pretty much anywhere.

Yesterday while on my way home from out of town, I had just finished filling up, the engine sounded "odd", louder and with a rattle. It sounded like my older Ford Diesel when started cold with the cold timing advance engaged. About 10 miles down the road I lost most power, felt like I had maybe 20% throttle available and the CEL came on. I pulled off but couldn't pull a code. It felt fine at low speed so I reset the CEL and continued on but the problem returned after a few miles on the freeway. I was eventually able to pull a P0216 code and I've read up on what that usually means. Ended up limping home at 45mph taking back roads when possible. I thought it could have been bad fuel but my last stop was at a high volume station and there really wasn't any water in the separator. Do you folks agree that it's probably new VP44 time? Does this look like a good choice? https://www.dieselautopower.com/bosch-027-vp44-fuel-injection-pump-standard-output-235hp-wire-tap-ok-1-year-warranty-vp44027tap-13584

I mostly use my truck for longer trips, sometimes vacations with my truck camper and sometimes 2+ hour each way work trips into pretty rural areas. My long time practice has been to try to keep a pretty complete tool kit as well as some spare parts (heater hose, serpentine belt etc) with me. In general if I find myself needing a particular wrench etc while doing maintenance at home then I try to have it in the truck if practical. That said, with this Dodge I feel like my tool bag is getting kinda huge. This thing has metric fasteners, a few SAE, torx, etorx hex and that one darn 10mm 12pt socket needed for the starter. Plus on my last adventure replacing the vacuum pump I needed probably 4 different combinations of 15mm wrenches/sockets/extensions just for like 6 bolts. So with that winging out of the way what do you guys carry with you on road trips and how do you organize and store it? I currently have two bags, one with the most universal tools and one for the more in depth potential repairs. Universal contains: * Set of short metric sockets + extensions * Set of deep metric sockets * Stubby and normal 3/8, long/extendable 1/2 ratchet stubby 1/4 inch ratchet. * Short 1/4 sockets * Set of stubby wrenches * A few larger metric wrenches * Torx sockets * Short and long screwdrivers with bit sets * Several different kinds of pliers (long nose, standard, wire cutters etc) * Medium and small adjustable wrenches * Double ended sockets for lug nuts. * Multimeter * Tire pressure gauge * Tire plug kit * Fixed blade knife * Razor Knife * Duct tape, zip ties, hose clamps etc. Secondary bag has: * Better wrench set (flex head ratcheting) * Crows foot sockets (for lines etc) * More largish wrenches * Some SAE Sockets and wrenches, mostly to help others on the road * Large pliers * Hack saw * Ratchet straps Separately I have a jack, breaker bar, and tire inflator. A tow strap and related bits Jumper cables Jump starter

I just want to follow up and let everyone know that Tractorman called it. I pulled the Vac and PS pumps, separated them, and used a 1/2 inch open end wrench to engage the dogs on the Vac pump and vise grips to turn the wrench while holding the gear side of the pump. It didn't take a lot of torque at all, probably single digit ft-lbs to get it to slip. I'm still kinda surprised that it was producing significant flow like that but it was. I swapped it at NAPA and re-installed, purged the air, and was back on the road. At this point I have a small drip coming from where the oil feed line connects to the fitting on the Vac pump. I've tightened it as much as seems wise and will probably have to replace the fitting. Does anyone know of a compatible fitting available at the normal auto parts stores? Thanks again to everyone who helped out with ideas, pictures, diagrams etc. Good stuff.

Anyone know what size wrench/socket is needed for that fitting? It looks like about 26mm or 1 inch but I thought I'd ask.

Completely forgot but I'll check when I have it out to check the pressure relief valve. I did take measurements as you suggested and that, at least looked acceptable.

Thanks ! The fluid was pretty old when I started this whole mess (since flushed) so it's certainly possible that the screen got clogged when I was maneuvering the pump out of the truck or the valve is otherwise gunked up. I'll pull the fitting and valve etc and have a look.

Update: Work intruded for a while but I had some time today to take another shot at this. I started by removing both the VP and PSP from the truck, separated them and inspected the dogs on the VP and the matching ones on the PS and they looked pristine. No shavings, dings, etc. I re-installed both, this time using the origional PS pump since I know it worked before this whole fiasco started and frankely it looked like a higher quality part than the reman/new unit I had installed. As an experiment I routed the return from the steering box to the filler of the PS reservoir, pointed a camera in there and observed a reasonably constant flow while the engine was running. I did note that if I pressed and held the brake for 10+ seconds the flow from the steering box return would slow to a drizzle. Not sure if that's normal. I then re-attached the return and went through the air purging process. This time I left the cap off the filler and pointed a camera in there so I could observe the bubbles generated while I worked the steering back and forth. I never really got to the point where small bubbles weren't being generated but I did at least get to the point where it stopped burping large bubbles. I put it on the ground and took it for a drive but still no power steering or brakes at all. Got back, raised it back up and observed the filler while working the steering back and forth and noticed lots more bubbles including some fairly large "burps" and I did so. At this point all I can think of are: 1. I just have a lot of air and have to keep trying to purge it. 2. I have some source of air intrusion, would pretty much have to be from the return line from the hydroboost since the return from the steering box seems to have constant flow/pressure and would probably show a fluid leak. 3. That pressure regulator in the pump has gotten stuck open and even though I have flow the pressure is too low to do the job. 4. I damaged or clogged the high pressure line at some point with the same result as #3. I plan to pick up a new high pressure line (pump to hydroboost) as well as some new return line but it sure would be nice if I could measure pressure being output by the pump. Any thoughts on how I can do that? Any suggestions welcome. Thanks. In general, does it come back a bit at a time or all at once? As far as I can tell I have zero power to the brakes or steering. I'm also not really feeling or hearing any feedback from the pump through the steering wheel.

I should have said that it's being forced out from aroun the installed cap. It's not a large volume. Thanks a lot for the description of the system. Do either of you think that I'd see anything useful if I replaced the return lines (temporarily of course) with clear tubing? I'm guessing the air isn't too visible under even the return line pressure.