Bulldog

With that being said I'll go back to part of your quoted post above. I would and have strongly recommended to run 2 stroke in the fuel to owners of VE pumped 6BT's and VP pumped ISB's many times. Reason being is fuel lubrication was a whole lot better pre-2007 fuel which is the fuel the VE and VP were designed for. I think most VP failures pre-2007 fuel were likely due to Cummins poor choice in lift pump which didn't carry enough volume and pressure under load. Then we had Daimler which is the current owner of Freightliner, Detroit Diesel, Mercedes Benz, and many other brands come up with a brilliant idea of retrofitting our Rams to an in-tank lift pump which was a minor if any at all improvement over the Cummins / Carter lift pump. IMO if a constant 15-20 psi of fuel with 2 stroke oil which will get fuel condition closer to what Bosch designed the VP to operate with will greatly improve performance and longevity for a VP44 pump. Most people who buy these trucks don't know much about diesels in general and would not be willing or even know how to add 2 stroke lube to the fuel. That was my point. Those of us who know both the electrical and mechanical side of the newer trucks still cringe when we have to work on them for friends. If we were being paid to do it might be more fun, but after spending months diagnosing a Ford 6.0 with $500 in parts needed every month (yes, I said every 30 days), or it would not start. That's no fun. Whats going to happen because of all the expense, unreliability etc, is that the whole industry is going to change and there will be no more diesels (as we know them) very soon. And NO. I totally disagree that a diesel has to be expensive. As long as you have mechanical and or electrical skills, these trucks can be run very cheaply. I've paid at most $5200 for any one truck I have and I STILL expect them to go more than 500k without major repair, and they do in most cases (excluding the 2001 24V). I paid $2500 for my 1995 12V and it still runs after 445k miles of running every but cat piss through it. As an engineer I know that Bosch has fuggered up on these designs, and they know it. I however do not have much data on reliability of the 2010 and newer trucks, so I can't speak much on them. The Achates engine and others will most likely take over just as Hybrid electrics become the dominant force because of these issues along with emissions becoming more strict.

Thankfully I have the skills to design and build the entire computer system from scratch, ECM, and all other modules if I want to. Second, I don't care about any other issues including the cruise control, I can fix, or build the cruise control system as a modular electronic block and have full control over it. Third, being able to run different fuels is a huge plus for me since I get free Jet-A from my aircraft mechanic friends. I also like to run 50/50 veg/#2 diesel and filtered crankcase oil/#2 diesel mixes in the summer in my 12 valves and have been for hundreds of thousands of miles, so having this ability back in this truck is also a plus. Fourth, in my case it would It will cost me $1500 to do the conversion. The wife is telling me to "throw a new VP-44 on it and sell the piece of ****, and just keep driving the 95'" (her words, not mine). Which is an even easier option. She used to driving her little Toyota's that get 400k miles with not much more than timing belts and oil changes, so she's not real happy as to the amount of work I've put into the 2001 Dodge.

Ask any professional diesel mechanic that same question, and you'll get laughed at. Ask any consumer on the street that same question, you get a blank stare, or a laugh, or a shrug. You should not have to do anything but fuel the vehicle with quality fuel, and drive it. Change the oil and filters on schedule and get 500k to 1 million miles on these Cummins engines. This is the mileage a quality diesel engine with inline injection pump normally gets. My 12 valves get at least 500k to 700k, no work other than oil changes and filters before I rebuild them. On top of that, I've seen an average of 25MPG (empty) on one of my dually 1 tons! Bosch knows the VP-44 design is flawed. Cummins knows this design is flawed. Bullydog, Sheid, DP, DAP. All of them also know it, but they sell lots of pumps to guys who keep throwing Benjamin Franklins at them 10 at a time, so they keep their mouths shut and keep rebuilding pumps. I'm sorry, but these are the facts, but don't take my word for it, ask a few 60 year old diesel mechanics. Or ask the many who have p-pumped their 24V engines. You'll find the majority say it's the best thing you could do with a 24V engine.

Unfortunately I'm used to working on highway tractor, and older designed diesels with inline injection pumps (Mercedes, Isuzu also) engines that go 1 million miles. My 12 valve was a scaled down version of those engines minus the sleeved block. Unlike other people I don't like being bent over for a new injection pump every hundred and fifty thousand miles @ $1200-$1400 a pop. They might be made of money, but even if I was Bill Gates I would not be spending that kind of cash on a failed pump design just on principle. As a mechanical and electrical engineer I tell myself the following about the problem: Fuel lubrication of the injection pump fails? No Problem, don't lubricate with fuel! Can't pass EPA standards with the older style inline injection pumps? Then figure another way around it, without adding failure points to the design. Engineers are required to pull off miracles sometimes, we're used to it. P7100 is my only logical option. I need extreme reliability. I could care less about anything else, even if it halved my horsepower, that's what I need. When I throw a gooseneck on the back of this truck and decide to go boar hunting in Texas, I need to know I will get there absolutely without issues. I can rebuilt this engine on the side of the road if I need to, but I don't want to, that's the point.

Sounds like it's time to pull out the spare P7100 and put it to good use........

Crazy seeing people ok with a Vp-44 failing at sub 300k miles. We have highway engines that go for 1 million miles no problem, injection pump gets rebuilt at that point, and yet it is ok for VP-44 to only get 150k to 200k miles at most? My 95 12V keeps going at 445k with no problems. I can run black sludge through it and it runs all day pulling the backhoe at 35k pounds total! I hop in my 2001 at 300k miles for a trip to the feed store and I get my second P0216! Even with 20 PSI at the VP-44. Son of A! Call me crazy, but this design is the worst I've ever seen in my short 47 years of working on diesels..........