WesHawkins

John I will give an update on the truck and how it performed on our trip. I’ve only got a couple hundred miles on so far with no loads or towing and it’s been great. Don’t even feel it shift. I’ve been binge watching videos on this transmissions and haven’t found any yet that doesn’t like it. I’m 69 in July so I’d say I hope to get as many years out of this truck as I have my 2000 but if I’m still alive in 23 years I probably won’t be driving, lol.

Well the new or rebuilt pump from Industrial Injection got the old girl back up and running. I took the opportunity while there was access to replace the gasket on the pushrod cover, reseal the vacuum pump and replace the alternator. Of course the wife, after riding home with our son in his 2024 Dodge Ram Diesel, decided we needed a new truck. So over the Memorial Day weekend now we have a 2025 Dodge Ram 2500 diesel also. Told her I’m not selling the 2000 truck.

We would be happy to meet a member of the forum and help out if we can. Think it over - you can private message anytime you want. I also have been turning wrenches most of my life, and have a shop and plenty of tools should they be needed. Thanks John, my wife has already reserved us a spot at the rv park in town. If time allows I’ll try and message you. Maybe breakfast or lunch. I read the forums here about the AC ripple getting into the circuits. I’m considering a new alternator also this week but haven’t checked locally if new one are available. Don’t like rebuilt units if I can get new ones.

IBMobile, your lucky, only four days. Took me four weeks to get this one from Industrial Injection last year.

Very very interesting. My truck is a 2000. Second owner but bought it 2002 with 42,000 miles on it. Ya I put the FASS pump on it to be proactive but it sounds like that was futile. I bought a remanufactured vp44 last year from Industrial Injection and keep it under the passenger seat because of the time it takes to get one from them so I’ve got a pump. Ate the core charge but I didn’t want to be in bum F nowhere and have it failed and wait weeks for a good pump. Kinda of embarrassing having my truck come home on flatbed since it’s everyone else’s vehicles getting delivered to me on flatbeds. I’ve been a mechanic for 50 plus years and had a shop at home for 38 but am limited in diagnosing these. Have two customers with second gen Dodge Cummins that I’ve recently put pumps on and it took 6 weeks to get the one. I live in Grass Valley, Ca and we’re coming your way in two weeks on our way to Wallowa Lake. We’re staying a couple of days in Baker to see some of history museums and maybe a day trip to Sumpter to check out the dredge and mining history. I’m going to look for that relay and replace it but I think I’ll replace the pump either way. My wife was with me yesterday and our son came to the rescue to tow the travel trailer home and she road with him in his new 2024 Dodge 6.7 diesel. She loved it, quiet, smooth riding and twice the power of my 2000. She gave to ok for a new truck but I don’t know, love my 2000. Thank you.

John, thanks for the response. I didn’t try swapping the VP44 pump relay. It was 8pm by the time the truck and trailer were towed back to my house. Are you talking about the lift pump relay because I put a FASS direct replacement pump on it over 40 thousand miles ago and I have plenty of pressure and volume coming from it. John, I misread your comment, sorry long day. I’ve owned the truck since 2002, only has 128,000 miles on it. Put a FASS direct replacement pump on at 86,000 miles some twelve years ago. Was hoping that would make the pump last longer than this. Only power adder is the ez-edge three position toggle switch power box. Eliminated that and still didn’t start. The truck was running along perfect, crested a small hill, let off the throttle a little and it just shut off.

Well, driving home with the travel trailer in tow today pulling a hill at 55 minding my own business truck running great, crested the hill and bam, engine died. Coasted off to the side of the road. Checked fuel pressure from the FASS fuel pump, all good. Still no start. Get it towed home and have codes P0232, P1689 and P1688. Looks like I need an injector pump.

Well everyone, sorry so late to get back and respond, work never slows down. I got the truck figured out and repaired. It was the injector pump. I remember an old trick of spraying a/c refrigerant on an electrical component to see if that allows a bad solder joint to cool down and contract and make contact again. Sprayed it on the injector pump when the truck was acting up and it would start running find for a few minutes. Ordered a pump from industrial injection, installed it and truck ran flawlessly.

Mopar73Man Thank you, I had no idea. I have three customers who have 98.5 to 2001 Dodge’s with the 5.9 Cummings. I’ve done basic service work on them but little diagnostic work for running problems. I’ve done upgrades to their trucks and mine based on information here on your site so drivability issues have been minimal. This is very good information. At this point I don’t know if I’m dealing with a failing VP44 or a failing cam sensor. I’ll be working on in July after I return home.

Tractorman Thank you. I was assuming it had a crankshaft sensor because my 2000 does. I haven’t had a great deal of time to spend diagnosing it but now will look to see if it has a crank or cam sensor. Each time I’ve had the truck it has run and driven just fine but when he drove it home from my house the second time it died on him and he towed it home. I’m leaving on vacation for three weeks so it will be waiting for me when I return.

I’ve got a friends 2001 Ram 2500 that run rough, dies and doesn’t restart but this is intermittent. It will run fine for miles before it starts acting up. There was no check engine light but I checked for codes anyway and it had a P0320. I graphed the injector pump timing with my scan tool and the timing showed to be all over the place. Truck has 179,000 on it, original injector pump but has direct replacement FASS fuel pump on it. It also has the original crankshaft sensor. Questioning whether it’s the injection pump or the crankshaft sensor. Any ideas are appreciated. Thank You.

I’m hoping, fingers crossed. Of course I’m the third guy in line that has to fix it right this time.

I rechecked the draw with my DVM and it came to almost 10 amps. I think the old pump that was replaced a year ago after going out damage this fuse and holder and no one bothered checking it. I upgraded the fuse holder and put in a 20 amp fuse and all seems good now.

Thanks John Thanks for the response. I’m going to recheck the amp draw using my voltmeter here in a little bit. I don’t think that pump draws to much amperage give the small size of the wire running from the relay to the pump. I’ve changed out a few VP44’s but I’ve not had to diagnose many of these lift pumps, they usually have already died. I changed out the factory lift pump on my 2000 Dodge before it went out with a FASS pump about ten years ago. I’ve never had any issues with mine except the APPS while up at McCall, Idaho years ago.

I was using an amp clamp at both the power lead going into the relay at the firewall and at the power wire along the frame rail back by the tank. I did replace the fuse holder with a larger wire one and it doesn’t get hot anymore but current draw is the same. I cut the old fuse holder and removed the contacts to inspect them, they were corroded and burnt. Fuel pressure is 14.5 psi between the filter and the injector pump. I moved the fuse holder away from the battery post and connected to the positive post at the under hood power distribution box. I’m going to replace the relay also and recommend to the owner that he/I install a fuel pressure gauge. I was surprised the truck ran at all without lift any lift pump pressure.

I have a puzzle to try and figure out. A friend brought his truck to me because it was bucking and surging. I drove it, it was. I checked fuel pressure and found zero fuel pressure from the lift pump. Truck was running without lift pump fuel pressure. He said to me he had just replaced that intank pump about a year ago. This truck had the original lift pump on the side of the engine replace ten or twelve years ago so this is the second intank pump. What I found was when I bypassed the relay the pump would run, put out about 14.5 PSI. I found that the in line fuse that is in the power feed line to the relay was disintegrated. The only thing left were the prongs of the fuse. When I put a new fuse it the pump ran but the fuse holder got very hot to the touch. I checked amperage draw of the pump, it was 1.48 amps. Is this to much and causing the fuse holder to get hot and the fuse to disintegrate? Or did the previous intank pump cause this when it went out? I check the amperage draw on my truck with the FASS pump and it’s only .5 amps. Now that I have pump pressure restored the truck runs great.

Me78569 & IBMobile, thank you. I’ll give them a call.

Wondering where the best place is to purchase a quality remanufactured VP44 injection pump. I have a 2000 Dodge, 5 speed, 4 inch exhaust. Everything else is stock. Appreciate any suggestions.

I had read some other forums where guys were saying the vacuum pump could cause excessive blow by by pressuring the the backside and into the crankcase but this is vein style pump and I looked at a new/rebuilt unit this morning and don’t see how that can happen unless it pushes back through the oil lubrication return. Two years ago it grenaded the turbo and I replaced it and cleaned the inner cooler and all the intake pipes. It most likely ingested bits and pieces and he’s seeing the results of that now. We’ll see what this guy wants to do. The overall condition this truck is in it’s not worth a rebuild. He could buy a used truck and be way ahead of the game.

Well after being evacuated for two days I’m back out in the shop working on this poor truck. Compression tells the story I think. #1 cyl, 260psi, #2 cyl, 300psi, #3 cyl, 290psi, cyl 4, 5 &6 320 psi. If the two really weak cylinders were next to each other I might look at it being a head gasket but I think she’s just worn out.

Haven’t looked at it in two days, had to evacuate because of a fire plus I just got the adapter to use for the compression test. This thing doesn’t come close to passing the blow by test.

I’ve got the injectors out but the kit I purchased two months ago doesn’t have the adapter for the Dodge Cummings so I’m waiting for that adapter to show up. Probably tomorrow.

This truck has 297,623 miles on it and it has not been well cared for. It lives in a hostel environment if constant dirt, mud and snow. I’m going to do a compression and leak down test also so I can give the owner as complete a diagnosis I can. With the condition of this truck it could be an all of the above.