Po216, blue smoke from exhaust

[Steven cash]

I have owned this truck for 15k miles and almost 1 year. It has never given me an issue. I have just installed a Quadzilla Adrinaline on my truck yesterday I took if for a drive on level 0 and the truck acted like normal but then fell on its face and would not go above 10 mph in 2nd gear (6 speed) no matter the throttle position.  No black or blue smoke on first drive. Drove it back home and checked all connections, all were good. I double checked the pump tap and there was no issues there. Before I installed the Quad I had a edge EZ on the truck and on the max power levelthe EZ never gave me an issue. Now when I start the truck it'll puff some blue smoke. If I rev it it will have a large puff of blue smoke followed by constant blue smoke at idle. The vp44 on this truck has been replaced at one point. The previous owner installed an airdog on it an it is working well. Is the Vp44 dead? Thanks in advanced for advice.

[dripley]

Then 216 is not a good at all. The only time I have seen blue smoke out of mine was when the oe VP crapped out. You could disconnect the the Quad just to rule it out for peace of mind.

[Mopar1973Man]

P0216 code is a timing piston code. More than likely the Quadzilla called for some advancement and piston bound up. See if getting pump up to temp helps and add a shot of 2 cycle oil to the fuel.

[Steven cash]

Thank you both for the replies. I have tried disconnecting the quad to no avail. Mopar1973Man I will try that. Should I just let it idle for an hour or so? Maybe give it a few sharp revs to try and free the timing piston? I'm assuming if this fixes the problem then it's just a temporary solution. I have always ran lucas fuel additive then amsoil fuel additive in the winter. I have had my Vp starve for fuel very briefly twice, one time the fuel froze and was driving down the road then pulled over within 20 secounds, the other time the fuse to my airdog blew and I pulled over quickly after that. That was about 10k miles ago. If all else fails, fortunately, I only live one hour from thourough bred diesel. In the mean time I'll take my 01 auto 2500 cummins, it has just recently received the Edge EZ treatment ?. The left leg will thank me later after coming home from work in rush hour traffic. 

Edited September 8, 2018 by Steven cash

[Steven cash]

Update, I started the truck, I tried revving it cold and found that with my foot to the floor it took a solid 8 secounds for it to get past 2,500 rpm. When I do give it a quick rev while cold there is a lot of black smoke followed by blue smoke, keep in mind the quad is unplugged amd everything is stock exempt an S&B filter and 4in banks monster exhaust. The truck idles and starts perfectly and never dies down unless the throttle is pushed. I pulled the lever on the apps to rule out any loose throttle cable with the same results ( the APPS is new). Once the truck warmed up it would rev like normal but occasionally it will die down and the injection noise will get quieter when this happens the there is no large amount of smoke but if I look closely I can see a haze of blue smoke. I took it for a drive and I did get it to 5th gear about 45mph and it will accelerate like normal but die down intermittently while accelerating. The injection noise does sound louder than usual when the truck does accelerate and almost metallic which I thought was odd. It can't pull 6th gear very well at all. There is no visible smoke when driving. I made sure all grounds were good, vp44 wires are tight, cannot find any striped wires, I swapped the relay to rule that out (the relay does not get hot), checked the pump tap to make sure I did not cut through the wire that checks out fine, the airdog is pumping I can hear it,  though I do not have a fuel pressure gauge. Have I missed anything?

[JAG1]

I would get a fuel pressure gauge ASAP.  I have an aftermarket Raptor lift pump I had to change. Got to a point where I had to turn up the fuel pressure about every 5,000 miles. I kept having to adjust it back up to 19 at idle only to find it going down too close to the 14 mark again hauling up hills. 

 

 I have the fuel pressure gauge to tell me if I'm starving the VP. If you starve it enough, it will usually get the 0216 error code, bad timing piston in the injection pump. 

You need that fuel pressure gauge with the needle shut off valve as soon as you can and feed heavy doses of 2 stroke oil. American fuel has too low amount of lubricity for these older injection pumps.

Edited September 9, 2018 by JAG1

[Mopar1973Man]

14 hours ago, Steven cash said:

I have always ran lucas fuel additive then amsoil fuel additive in the winter.

 

Be careful some of these can be just as dry as the fuel itself. No to mention raising the cetane and reducing BTU's. After clearing 243k miles on my last VP44 with just 2 cycle oil I seriously doubt any other product can do as well at lubrication. 

 

As you can see this timing piston was galled up badly. I had to heat the pump body with propane torch to just remove it. The timing piston movement are based on fuel pressure and lubricity. 

 

39 minutes ago, Steven cash said:

I took it for a drive and I did get it to 5th gear about 45mph and it will accelerate like normal but die down intermittently while accelerating. The injection noise does sound louder than usual when the truck does accelerate and almost metallic which I thought was odd. It can't pull 6th gear very well at all. There is no visible smoke when driving.

 

VP44 is having timing piston issues. This is just about what mine was doing when it failed at 243k miles. Mine was horrid in the failure being it was in full advancement with heavy knocking and max speed of 30 MPH then when it let go it would run fine for at least about a mile then the timing piston would stick again. Power would drop pulling my max road speed down to 30 MPH with heavy knocking. When I got home you could smell the hot blow by from the excessive timing. Still got me home 15 miles away though. 

[JAG1]

When first bought my truck and brought it home from the dealer I wouldn't drive it anywhere till I got the fuel pressure gauge. These trucks can afford a long sweet spot without any troubles if you set them up right and use two stroke. Yes it has been tested to be effective in a fuel lubricity test.... up near the top for some of the better additives.

[Mopar1973Man]

Basically, there are 4 ways of killing a VP44...

1. Fuel pressure - Optimal is 14 to 20 PSI of fuel pressure at all times.
2. Filtration - Double stacking filters like AirDog 150 and the stock filter is optimal.
3. AC Noise - Should replace your alternator (or diodes) in you have over 50mV AC then consider doing the W-T ground mod.
4. Lubricity - Bosch states that fuels should be 460 HFFR or less. US fuels are already 520 HFRR or higher at times. 

[Steven cash]

I guess it's a new vp44 then? I tried running 2 stroke oil and allowing it to run on that and then try driving the truck but I keep having the same issues with the pump intermittently giving out and the blue smoke at idle. I ran amsoil anti gel additive due to the  water in fuel freezing problem which I never had after I started using amsiol with lucas. Jag1 I strongly agree with the poor modern day diesel fuel lubricity. 6.0 Powerstroke guys have had a lot of injector failiures due to this. Mopar1973Man, I will take your advice with the 2 cycle oil whether I can get this old pump to work or get a new pump. Any particular brand? I have also heard of people running straight motor oil for lubricity, seems like a little much to me what's your take on it? I will order a fuel pressure guage now.

[Mopar1973Man]

22 minutes ago, Steven cash said:

 I ran amsoil anti gel additive due to the  water in fuel freezing problem which I never had after I started using amsiol with lucas.

 

Ummm... Neither is needed. That what water separators are for. Then buying quality fuel from fuel station with water block filters and the pump. Never had a single water issue in years. Even with winter temps down to -30*F never gelled. All I use is 2 cycle oil that all. I've never used an anti-gel product ever!

 

24 minutes ago, Steven cash said:

 I have also heard of people running straight motor oil for lubricity, seems like a little much to me what's your take on it?

 

Highly suggest against using ATF and engine oil neither are designed to be burned. Both are extremely high in ash content and with cause injector problems. ATF has anti-scorching compounds retard burning and friction modifiers. Now with engine oil there is zinc and other soft metals added that is your ash content.

 

Ashed injectors. Tell me that's not screwing with spray patterns? 

 

More about this here...

 

 

 

[Steven cash]

I'll be sure to run 2 cycle then. I got the vp44 off, took a picture of the key position, replaced my leaky gaskets, I did notice that on the fuel feed lines to the injectors from the vp44 3 of the lines have some carbon deposits on the tips wereas the others are perfectly clean. The lines were pretty tight, I though that was odd. I red about the W-T mod, I will do that soon. I'm gonna go ahead and replace the cam sensor with a new cummins brand one just for piece of mind. I would like to run a compound turbo setup on this truck and was wondering so long as I'm putting on a new pump, should I put a HO or SO pump on?

[JAG1]

Key position should be at the top when removing the VP. Then set new and old VP's next to each other and turn the shaft on the new pump to match as close as possible with your eye to the one removed. Make sure new pump has a tight fitting key and won't fall. Even though you pulled the VP with the key on the top the pump gear will be floating in the gear case and flop a little bit when pulling the VP moving the key away from a true 90 degree. thats why you match them side by side on the bench to make it easier to go back in.

 

Put a little dab of white paint on the key to be able to see line up when installing. I used regular white out from the office. If key falls out make sure key is put back in with the arrow on top pointed the right way.

Edited September 9, 2018 by JAG1

[Steven cash]

Thanks for the tips. I have a 6 speed HO truck but in about a month I'm gonna order a compund turbo kit from Crazy Carl's and get some injectors. Should I put in an SO pump for the higher fuel volume potential? Would an SO pump last longer than an HO pump when turned up a lot? 

[Mopar1973Man]

I suggest talking to @trreed or @TFaoro they can get you set up good.

[Steven cash]

Thank you for the help. I'll send one of them a PM.

[Steven cash]

One more question, I'm gonna buy the quadzilla fuek pressure sensor, do I need a 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch threaded T for the fitting to screw into. So a 1/2 inch to 1/2 inch fuel line to a 3/8 inch or 1/2? I hope that doesn't sound confusing. 

[trreed]

There are cheaper options for the pressure sensor.  I'm using a $20 oil pressure sensor from a Mercury outboard motor I found on eBay.

 

As for the fitting.  The pressure sensor is 1/8" NPT.  The question becomes what AirDog did the PO install? is it like the AD 150 with the full 1/2" fuel lines? If so, then you're looking for this: http://www.vulcanperformance.com/Push-Lock-Fuel-Pressure-Tee-1-2-p/plt8.htm

[Steven cash]

It's a 100gph pump with the 2 stage filtering. So probably 3/8 inches. 

[trreed]

Measure to be sure but: https://www.dieselautopower.com/vulcan-push-lock-fuel-pressure-tee-3-8