LiveOak

Yep........I found that out in a big hurry after the installation of the Formula 1 Mach 1.6 injectors.

Hood Latch, Opinions will vary but, I have read enough accounts of the DDRP either failing, not performing properly, or not being much better than the factor pump that I personally could not justify the $275 cost of this pump. Some have had good luck with them, more than a few have not. It is your call. The price alone for me would justify paying another $225 and get the Air Dog or spend $162 and go with the Airtex 7153 pump. There is a saying about pursuing a "middle of the road approach" Those in the middle of the road are the first to get run over. I recommend going one way or the other and closely monitor the fuel pressure gauge.

LDTexas, Welcome to the forum! I suspect the power steering fluid reservoir was low (and/or in poor condition requiring replacement) and air became introduced into the fluid when the engine was started and the pump started circulating fluid. The cold weather aggravated this condition by greatly increasing the pour point or ambient temperature viscosity of the fluid. Try replacing the power steering/brake booster fluid. I replaced mine and the wife's truck by drawing the old fluid out of the reservoir with a oil suction pump I used to use on my Sea Ray when I had it. I have also used plastic 2 stroke oil mixing syringe I purchased at Walmart. In anycase, you want to draw the fluid out of the reservoir as much as possible and ideally empty it, replace with new synthetic fluid (I used Valvoline power steering fluid). Once you have filled the reservoir back up, start the engine and turn the steering wheel left and right, lock to lock. Shut the engine down and repeat this process until you are drawing out nice clean fluid. It may take a few repetitions of this to achieve the desired clean fluid, but this is the simplest and easiest way I have found to flush/replace the power steering/brake booster fluid. This cold weather has been tough on just about everything.

So what turned out to be the problem?

I agree with the above. You might try cleaning or replacing your IAT sensor. http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/sensors/IAT/clean.htm

Sounds to me like your Power Steering/Brake Booster fluid is foaming up and is not flowing well in this cold weather. I suggest you try replacing the fluid with Valvoline sythetic blend power steering fluid. You can use a turkey baster or like I used......a 2 stroke oil mixing syringe the drew out 3 ounces of fluid at a time until I emptied the reservoir. I then filled the reservoir back up, started the engine and turn the steering wheel lock to lock several times and repeated the above procedure until I had nice clean fluid. There may be other better ways to do this but this is how I did it. I am going under the presumption that you have already checked your reservoir and it is at the proper level. I did this about 5 years ago and Valvoline was the best fluid at the time, there may be better fluids to use now. I am sure others will jump in with some suggestions.

I have mine mount up on the outside frame just under the cab. It is up high enough that anything that could damage the pump would have to take out the lower cab and fender skirts.

45-50 mph seems to yield the best fuel economy for my truck. The fuel economy goes down from there with increased speed. Definitely a far right lane only speed.

Todays high is gonna be around 29 degrees and it is going down into the single digits tonight. The farm animals are NOT liking it.

Ed, just a thought and I suspect you have probably already looked into this possibility but just in case not; have you looked at the data plug? Could be the male of female side of the plug connection is intermittent or a pin/connector segment is damaged. I used to run into connectivity problems all the time when I was working the flight line troubleshooting aircraft with electrical problems. Many times it was a matter of cleaning and reseating cannon plugs. A quick spray with some electrical cleaner, then installing and removing the plug several times to ensure a good solid connection. Probably not the case here but figured it might be a long shot.

http://www.madselectronics.com/Smarty03.html you can find them for about $650 with free shipping.

Dan, the Airtex pump is a direct drop in replacement pump for the OEM Carter, engine mounted pump. It fits upto and uses the existing factory fuel fittings the Carter pump does. I used the exact same fittings the Carter pump did when replacing it with the Airtex. The only thing I had to do was to make a very small been in the fuel lines going up to the Dorman fitting by the pump to make them align with the slightly different position of the fuel pump inlet. When I changed the location of the Airtex pump I put on the wife's truck from the OEM stock locatation to the frame below the fuel tank, the pump made about 3 psi more fuel pressure. It was a very straight forward drop in, plug and play pump replacement.

That was my reason for suggesting the Airtex pump. For a stock application, they do just fine. Call Eric at Vulcan and ask him what kind of return/failure rate these Airtex pumps have. I did a year ago. At the time, he said he had sold 100's of them and of the returns that he had, there was nothing wrong with most of them and only a few had failed. For $162, you can buy 2 Airtex pumps. Install one and keep one for a spare if you want to really be sure to be reliable and you would STILL have less money spent and 2 of these Airtex pumps I suspect would last beyond the life of the truck or you. Is the Airtex pump as good as an Air Dog or Fass or even a Raptor.......heck no but they cost less than 1/2 as much and they get the job done pretty good on stock trucks.

Dan, the Raptor is $389. If you are gonna spend that much you may as well spend the extra $110 and get the Air Dog 150. In my opinion, there is no reason to have these Raptor pumps. They cost nearly as much as an Air Dog or FASS and are not nearly as good. It is likely something you will eventually upgrade to in the future. Why pay for it twice?

That is what I initially posted the link to back on page 1 of this thread.

I am excellent at making things clear as mud.

Not quite. The Big Line Kit will allow you to relocate the lift pump to the truck frame below the fuel tank and allow the lift pump to hook up to the factory OEM line running along the truck frame. I believe the OEM fuel line along the frame is 5/16". The 1/2" rubber fuel line would run from the relocated lift pump on the frame. The rest of what you posted is correct. In order to get a true 1/2" fuel line from the tank to the lift pump, you would have to install one of the 1/2" Draw Straw kits in the tank such as: http://www.vulcanperformance.com/DrawStraw-V-HiFlow-p/dsv.htm or you could replace the entire fuel tank basket: http://www.vulcanperformance.com/DrawStraw-V-HiFlow-p/jlfmds.htm For stock application and even mild performance upgrades, the OEM fuel line will work. If you use the OEM fuel line on the frame, you just have to cut it off to proper length and clamp a piece of rubber fuel line the proper size so as to adapt to the inlet side of the relocated lift pump. Did I make that clear as mud???

Once the 2 stroke oil is mixed, it stays mixed in solution pretty well. Perhaps over a really long extended period it may settle out of solution.

A headlight harness such as one of these makes a real nice and easy plug and play upgrade to the headlight system by wiring them directly to the batteries via relays. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRF-30817/ http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRF-30815/ APC used to make this kit but they are no longer available (at least that I could find) : http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AMC-509102/?image=large I installed one of the APC headlight harness on my truck and it made a noticeable improvement in headlight brightness and beam length.

Andy, that is a VERY SHARP looking setup! :thumbsup: The powder coat finish to match the underhood color theme is a great idea. The words that come to my mind are "that is the cat's @ss!" Nice looking truck. Got an estimate of what the powder coat would cost?

Be mindful that going to larger fuel injector lines may have an adverse effect on idle and "drivability" issues with an automatic transmission. They are known for causing or amplifying a "lopey" idle.

Agree with the above. What I found works out good for me is using a Stihl 2 stroke Oil bottle that treats 5 gallons of gas. I believe the bottle says it holds about 14.1 oz. but if you fill it up to the top, it holds about 16 oz. I never allow the fuel level to drop below 3/4 of a tank as shown on the fuel gauge which usually nets about 16 gallons of diesel when filling up. This is just about the right mix ratio. I dump the bottle in before refueling and try to use the big over the road truck fuel nozzle whenever possible. This makes it easy to carry around the 2 stroke oil in the back of my and the wife's truck ready to use. On a side note, I also carry another Stihl 2 stroke oil bottle filled with Amalgamated Diesel Fuel additive. I use the Amalagamated TDR-WDA formula additive in winter: http://www.amalgamatedinc.com/tdr-wda.aspx And I use the TDR-S formula additive in summer: http://www.amalgamatedinc.com/tdr-s.aspx This may be a little over kill but it sure beats dealing with gelled or frozen fuel and fuel lines or a frozen Air Dog water separator filter in winter and helps fuel mileage a bit all season. As Randy Walker at Amalgamated explained to me "the TDR-WDA treats at 1 to 300, has a cummins L-10 Detergency, added lubricity and winterization for year around protection. We have recently dynoed this product on a IH 1466 tractor with a straight 6, DT 436 motor and gained on average 3 percent gain in horsepower. Pricing - 1 5-gallon pale is $100.25 plus $35.00 shipping via FED EX. Our mailing address is 6211 Discount Dr., Fort Wayne IN 46818, the day we receive your check we will ship the product." I ordered the fuel additive about 6 months ago so the prices may have changed since then. Give Randy a call and ask him about pricing before you send the check.

I strongly agree with Mike on the Vulcan Big Line Kit. This kit will make the installation of the fuel pressure gauge a lot easier and convenient. With no banjo fittings to mess with and 1/2 rubber fuel lines is is a matter of cutting into the rubber fuel line between the fuel filter cannister and the VP-44 and joining the 2 pieces with a fuel pressure Tee: http://www.vulcanperformance.com/Fuel-Pressure-Tee-1-2-push-lock-p/fpt8.htm Vulcan sells a ISSPRO EV 0-30 PSI Fuel Pressure Gauge Kit that includes everything you need to mount the fuel pressure gauge minus the mount. This include a 30 in universal fuel hose that with threaded ends that will thread into the fuel presure Tee and the fuel isolator. If you are just installing a fuel pressure gauge, this mount worked out great in my wife's truck. There was no cutting or modifying the truck interior, just had to remove some of the gauge brass mount stud on the back to clear the inside of the pod housing: http://www.vulcanperformance.com/Fuel-Pressure-Tester-with-Schrader-Connection-p/scp.htm My recommendation would be to install a full set of gauges on the A pillar but that is a lot more expense and work. In my wife's case, I was lucky to get her to pay attention to just 1 fuel pressure gauge. She would be overwhelmed with a boost and egt gauge. That would just be TOO MANY "thingies" to keep up with. I gave her a quick instruction and demo to let me know ANYTIME the fuel pressure drops below 15 psi. So far this lift pump setup has performed very well and adequate to the task. It does its part and makes 18- 19 psi fuel pressure. The only time fuel pressure has dropped below 15 psi is when the fuel filter became restricted. I think there is either some crud in the fuel tank or diesel fuel quality is just not up to par because I have been required to replace the fuel filter about every 1,500 to 2,000 miles since I started using the Baldwind PF 7977 micron fuel filters. They catch a LOT more fuel contamination than the Fleetguard filters. A much better filter in my opinion. The Vulcan Big Line Lift Pump Relocation Kit will give you 1/2 inch fuel line from the lift pump all the way up to the VP-44 AND relocate the lift pump to the frame below the fuel tank which will make any potential replacement or work on the lift pump a snap and a matter of about 30 minutes to replace taking your time. In my opinion, this is a great alround setup for a STOCK power train. Again, I remind, if you stray from stock.......install the Air Dog or FASS.

That is not a good place to take fuel pressure. The pressure the VP-44 is seeing is very likely considerably less than the 5-7 psi you mentioned. You should take fuel pressure AFTER the fuel filter so you can be alerted to a restricted or clogged fuel filter. Most folks just tape into the VP-44 schraeder valve. I hear ya about money being short and time being tough. As long as you take it easy on the go pedal, you should be able to maintain the fuel pressure in the upper range and nurse it along until you can get a new lift pump. As a rule it is VERY wise to keep a spare, especially if you are out in isolated/rural area's where you may not have access to a parts store. Sorry, I missed the part that you are in Canada. WOW! That is a BIG difference in price. Good luck with it and hopefully she will hold up until you can get the new pump installed.

Dan, I would disagree. Your lift pump is at the bare min. allowable pressure at idle. The owner's manual calls out 10 psi but in my opinion, anything at anytime less than 12 psi and damage to the VP-44 is possible. In my opinion, you need to replace that lift pump ASAP. You should also replace the fuel filter as the large pressure drop differential indicates a potentially restricted fuel filter. Most of the OEM replacement pumps are the Airtex E7153 that you can purchase as most autoparts stores. They run anywhere from $140 to $170 and do an adequate job for stock engines. The Airtex pump on my wife's truck still makes about 18-19 psi static and will pull down to about 14-15 psi on a hard pull with a clean fuel filter. The nice thing about these Airtex pumps is that they are drop in and fit in the same place on the engine the OEM Carter pump did. You can later move it to the frame below the fuel tank when and if you decide to install a big line kit. The Airtex is plug and play. Mounted in the stock OEM location the Airtex pump looses about 2 - 3 psi as opposed to the frame below the tank location. Another nice thing about the Airtex pump is that if there is a problem with it during the warranty period, you can just return it and get another one at the local auto parts store. My experience has been that they are very reliable and run much quieter than the junk Carter pumps. Advanced Auto has them for $161.99 http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Electric-Inline-Fuel-Pump-Airtex_18770617-P_52_R%7CGRPFUE2AMS_1146135335___ A bit of a warning.....DO NOT install or even attempt to test fit the 90 degree dorman fitting on the Airtex pump UNLESS you are going to install it in the stock OEM location with the stock OEM Dorman fitting. Once you install it (you can hear a little click when sliding it on) it IS ON. There is no way to remove it without a special tool to release the spring clamp inside. Ask me how I know this. :bang: Yes, the Air Dog and FASS are far superior pumps and the best option. In my opinion, if you are going to install the Raptor, you may as well install the Air Dog of FASS. If you are gonna stay stock.......get the Airtex.