timsch

Yes, that's me giving it the throttle. I can ease it up to speed, but any greater acceleration and it starts cutting or bucking. The more throttle, the more likely it's bucking. And it's consistent now. Thanks for sticking with me John. Edit: One thing I keep going back to in my mind is that the PO said he'd replaced the fuel pump a couple of times. So, a couple of possibilities: either something in my system may killing these pumps, or I'm dealing with a reman pump of not good quality that's failing. I recall reading on the forums that there are recommended rebuilders and you don't want to go cheap on that.

No progress yet. Here's a video showing minor sputtering around 10-13 sec, and then major from 20-25 sec. The shaking is just from the miss. Typical road bumps all other times. Log at the same time showed no red flags at those events. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E14BZAQJ3RQUKvTiRCBajmeTOiAcBrsw/view?usp=sharing

Here are the data logging options for the VP44 on my AutoEnginuity program. Here are more:

No apologies needed. I appreciate your help. It's not urgent, as this is not a truck I rely upon now.

Looks like I'm out of luck for now getting a comparison VP44 log. Then I need to do more focused troubleshooting on the electronics between battery and IP. To get better access, I'd like to remove the original fuel filter housing. The PO bypassed it using the FASS, but left it mounted so that the wiring plugs could still be plugged in. Any problem running with these plugs dangling?

I have a good mechanic friend who has a 12V 5.9 - so close, yet so far.... I do have a co-worker with a Gen3 which should be the same IIRC. He'd probably be willing to let me plug in and take a similar log. Thanks for the suggestion. That 1st friend is a pro, so has the good equipment. I'm close to asking him to plug his in and see if the results are the same. My $400 setup may be lacking being consumer grade. The bottom horizontal scale is the number of lines done during the log. Looking at the CSV file (attached)ueoa, a read is done every 180 milliseconds, and with 4 datapoints captured, each line is ~750 milliseconds. When it cuts out, it feels stronger than just one misfiring cylinder. It's a pretty decent stumble, but this is my 1st Cummins (or large diesel even), so I'm not sure what a single cylinder misfire feels like compared to all dropping out. I'd guess more the latter. When I'm driving normally and it stumbles, I ease off to try to get it to stop immediately. Last night, I was powering through them for logging purposes hoping to make a dramatic chart and was a little surprised that it didn't really bog down on me, but rather climbed through them. Dodge-Cummins-2000-December 04 2025.csv

Here is a log I ran tonight. I had several accelerations where it cut out, some multiple times. Every significant acceleration had cutouts. Some patterns here, but not 100% consistency. Battery voltage @ pump has improved, but still has drops; they don't match up with the cutouts though.

No log this morning, so I do not know about the voltages. I do have a pressure gauge in the cab, and it reads a steady 16 psi. One thing I've not looked into is the throttle position sensor (I forget what it's called on the Dodge). I recall people having issues with that, but don't know what the symptoms of that are.

This morning was the 1st test after all of my wiring and termination work. There are a few details to finish up, but nothing that should be that critical. I did disconnect the ECM, sprayed it out with Deoxit 5 and reconnected it. I did not remember to check the wires as suggested in the Man's post on Oct.14th. It was missing worse than ever. Only at heavier acceleration though. Gentle acceleration is fine; cruising is fine; as soon as I need some get up and go when already moving is when it starts cutting out. I can gently get to highway speed, but that's about it. I did not log this time, so have no data to go with this update.

Congrats. All the best to you both.

I got some of the battery cable upgrading done. One part not done was rerouting the power cable from the alternator to the auxiliary battery. Now it goes over to the power distribution center. In my case it connects with one hole only. It has 2 holes and looks like it could mount through both and go to the 140A fuse. Is mine hooked up right? Is this 140A fuse not reliable, which is why I've seen using a 140A breaker rather than just hooking to the aux battery? Another thing - when looking how to get to the ECM plug, I noticed that my OEM fuel filter housing was there with the electrical connections plugged in. Does having those plugs disconnected cause problems? I've seen vids where this housing had been removed.

Is there a reference that shows what wire gauges are used? I'll need to order terminal lugs for each of the wires going to the battery terminals. I've measure OD of the insulation but don't know how thick the insulation is. I know the largest is 2/0, and think ground wires may be 10awg, but not sure. Not sure of the others.

Thanks. Now I see if I'd searched for "replacing seat cushion...", I'd have found several videos and writeups. Oddly enough, the ones I saw didn't go the route of removing those hex-head screws that hold the seat bottom to the seat frame. Y'all were right. Easy access to those 4 and it comes right off.

Yeah, if it weren't for this log, I'd think all was well. But if my main diagnostic software looks like this, I'm not happy. I've not pushed it yet, though. Just traveling easy around local roads @ 45mph max. My 1st shudder, and it was a biggie, happened when stomping it on an entrance ramp. Would have been easy enough to check codes when logging, but didn't. No CEL, so wouldn't expect any, other than the one that might show up because I don't have a stock lift pump, IIRC.

Man, that's good to hear; never would have thought. Yes, I only need to modify the foam to get some pressure off my tailbone. Is it pretty obvious - just start with removing trim and use your head?

Yeah, that'd make a difference. Your gap under the headlights is better than mine too though. Nice looking truck. Looks like another nice one next to it. I was thinking of just picking up a stock bumper from the junkyard, liking them well enough. Any particular reason other than preference to go to the Gen4?

Yours looks a lot better than mine. I guess its all in the brackets. I got mine like this, so no idea about it. I can't adjust it any better than it is with the holes it has that I can tell.

I haven't cleaned the ECM connection or checked the wires yet, but there have been some changes. The log below still has the dips, but they're not random, excessive and short like before. Now the dips coincide with when I'm accelerating and getting boost. Truck ran fine. I backprobed the MAP sensor connector had a Fluke 177 hooked up to that wiring, positive at the connector and negative at battery ground terminal. The meter never showed any of these dips. The slight increases at moderate acceleration did show on the meter. A mechanic buddy recommended I use the MIN/MAX feature since the digital MM might smooth out dips, so I did a run using that, and it never showed the drops down to just above zero. Min was like the shorter drops adove, at 0.321V. I also hooked up an analog multimeter, and it also didn't show dips to zero. Regarding MAP voltages, I read that the values are supposed to be between 0.5V and something higher. I get 0.51V at key on engine off. Once I start, it frequently is dropping down into the 0.4+ range and staying down there a bit, although it doesn't look like it on the graph, other than the dips. The CEL is still off. I have not run the dedicated ground from the gear case cover directly to the battery yet. It's still wired like in the post above. I need more terminal lugs to complete that.

I want to remove my driver's seat to modify the padding. The only video online I found showed that both seats and the center console came out as a unit. Several people in comments complained about how they weren't separable. At some point in time they were separate. Any advice on how to best do this?

Yes, that's the one. I thought the W-T mod had been done because the wiring going to the alternator had been modified, but I missed that they hadn't done the 4-wire connection. There is a 2nd wire coming off, but it goes to the ground on the top of the front corner of the fender (original location?), rather than the battery. I'll reread the W-T mod article again and try to get it all through my dense head.

I've decided to do some upgrades to my cables & connections before digging any deeper. Marine grade battery terminals should be in tomorrow. I need to get some more cable lugs though, because the kit I have is not up to spec. The W-T ground wire mod was done prior to me getting the truck, and it had a splice with the 4 wires connected to a 10 or 8 AWG stranded wire. I didn't know the condition of the splice and felt the need to verify it. Once I got it open, it looked to be in good shape and was well sealed from the elements. I wouldn't guess that would have been the problem, but coincidence or not, the CEL went off on the test drive after redoing the connection with all 4 wires crimped in a lug and connected to the same ground location as the single lug was. I was still seeing spikes & dips in voltage as before though. Problem is, I'm not confident in the long term reliability of my connection. The lug is bare copper, and the tab is thinner than a good one would be. I did solder the wires to the lug after crimping and put marine grade heatshrink over the joint, but I can't help think it is inferior to the wiring as it was before. I've seen mixed reviews about splicing though. Any recommendations?

I have no good reason not to replace those terminals sooner rather than later, so I'll get some on order. I've seen Marine Grade terminals recommended enough times that I plan on going with some of them. It'll be my 1st time having to deal with cables this large. I did clean all corrosion with those wire brush battery terminal cleaner sets.

Glad to hear of your success. My cable battery terminals also need replacing since one of the ground ears is cracking, but it can still be tightened down on the battery post, so don't think I'll be so fortunate.

The problems we're having appear to be very similar. My thread If you look at my October 13th post, it has a link to a graph for some logged voltages, that are erratic just as yours are. I've not figured it out yet, but tonight I plan on running some wires to my MAP sensor & ground and monitor voltages in the cab with a multimeter to see if I see the same voltage drops. Hopefully a solution for either one of us will help the other.

I was wrong to say that I'd cleaned all of the major connectors. I didn't know about the ECM. Now that I do, I can still hardly see it. I see your instructions on how to remove it, but that doesn't go into any steps before that. I suppose that removing the fuel filter housing would be a mess on top of letting air into the fuel system. I read elsewhere that removing the battery and intake would help. Any recommendations?