MikeH

"It seems like it de fuels for a second before jumping right back where it was. Could this be an injection pump issue?" That sounds exactly like the injection pump. Mine did the same thing when I lost my OEM VP44. It would also go into limp mode as yours is doing. I lived with it for ~1 year and had it changed out just before losing warranty. My guess would be you're looking at a new VP44.

That's exactly who I was looking at should I ever need any machining work done. Let us know how they did.

"already got the head shipped off".... Just curious, who's doing the work on your cylinder head?. I noticed there are several machine shops locally (Boise area) but don't know about their reputation.

Yeah...it's done but thanks anyway. I've just never seen such poor electrical work. A simple household wire nut would have been ten times better.

Check! I also pulled that loom along the firewall to the PCM. Same poor construction as the grounds found prior to the W-T mod. 3 or 4 wires squished together with some kind of glue. Unbelievable!

Along with the above tips I usually go over all chassis grounds to check for loose/corroded connectors. Nothing more annoying than spending the day running down an intermittent electrical problem only to find a loose ground wire. I also like to pull every sensor & electrical plug I can get my hands on, clean the contacts and apply a some dielectric grease. These 2nd Gen rigs are getting old and need a little TLC to keep them going.

Timbo APPS for sure. Don't even consider the OEM APPS. Over priced and a complete POS.

You might want to check the valve seats for cracks also. Seems to be a common problem especially on the 24 valve engines. Would hate to see you get the thing put back together only to drop a seat later on down the road.

That study I posted was obviously sponsored by Amsoil. Still, the results were interesting in that the 75w-90's seem to out perform the 80w-90's regardless of brand. I'm going to give the 75w-90 synthetic a try this fill. No way to know what's going on inside the differential without a temp probe but it's hard to believe a synthetic would perform worse than a dino oil.

I'm coming up on 200K miles on the rig so the tranny and differential will get flushed. They usually get drained every 50K but since the mileage is going up I might start changing them out every 35K or so. The truck is set up with a fairly heavy Caravan Camper shell (all steel) and other gear that stay in the bed all the time. We're retired now and take off camping at the drop of a hat. Anyway, it's a modest load so I don't see a need for an 85w-140 differential oil. I think the 75w-90 will actually run cooler and using a synthetic it should hold up 'til the next change. That study I posted ab

Yeah, I'm looking at the Mobil One 75w-90 LS (limited slip) for the next change. It came in second in this study but is half the price of Amsoil.

Comments on various Dodge/Cummins web-pages were all over the place when the subject of differential oils comes up. Anything from 75w-90 to 80w-140 were suggested for the Dana 80 regardless of Dodge's recommendations. Then I found this study which looks like it was at least sponsored by if not conducted by Amsoil: http://www.syntheticwarehouse.com/brochures/g2457_gearlube_study.pdf If you scroll down on the chart to page 19 you'll see who the winner was (spoiler alert...it's Amsoil). I've always stuck to an 80w-90 except when we were full time RV'ing. Looking at that chart I'm wonder

Well I bled the PS system the right way instead of making a few circles in the parking lot. Jacked the rig up and moved the wheel lock to lock as I added fluid to the correct level. Definitely got more air out. Power steering is working like a champ now. Lesson learned!

You're right (I edited). I was thinking they worked together. Regardless, still don't know if an over fill would do more than puke some out once it got hot. I did do a lock to lock on a test drive several times after the refill so should have been good to go. Not sure what happened but air trapped in the lines seems the likely culprit. All's well right now but I'll keep an eye on the level for a while.

Just switched out my power steering fluid. Nothing wrong with the steering but I had some Walmart crap in there and wanted to flush out most of it. I didn't do a complete flush but drained the reservoir several times and replaced it with O'Reilly PSF which is Dodge MS-5931 compatible. Got in the rig this morning and my power steering and brakes were gone. YIKES...did I just lose my PS pump??? I'm thinking not (wouldn't that be a coincidence) so checked the reservoir and found I had way overfilled it. Drained it down to the "Cold" level, started up and in 30 seconds I had my PS and brakes