Questions questions questions

[Ravewolf]

Ok, well, as some of you know, my trucks tcase pooped the bed on the way to my new job. It's home now, safe at my friends shop. I'm 900 miles away though, so I can't do anything but think about what I need to fix, what I should do, etc. 

 

Now obviously the tcase is priority. Once that's fixed, she's good to go. But given that the last two times this truck has gone on a long trip and left me stranded, I'm leery about some things. 

 

The truck has 265000 on it (I think). I think the vp is the original. Not sure if the previous owner had it rebuilt, or replaced, or anything. He said he had the transmission rebuilt, but that was an obvious lie. So I choose to err on the side of caution and believe it's the stock one. 

I have a FASS titanium fuel pump, and it has a huge line going from the pump to the vp,and has push loc fittings. So I know it's getting fuel. 

How long does a vp usually last? I also have bigger injectors (they're supposed to be 150s, they haze at idle when it's cold, and dump fuel like crazy, but I plan on changing them as well), and every now and then it idles funny (yes I know I need to monitor fuel pressure, that's coming soon) but no drive ability problems. When I had her on the road last, she ran real good,so I'm probably being paranoid. 

Why? Because when I drive to work I have to drive some desolate and empty roads in cold snowy back country, and I don't trust the truck enough to chance driving if there's a good chance it'll leave me stranded. Most of those places have no cell service, so I couldn't call for help if I needed, and it gets cold. Really cold. It's literally a life and death situation at that point. 

 

I'm seriously considering doing a p-pump swap to get rid of that possibility, but damn it's expensive.If the vp pump can make power and last, it's the cheaper alternative. 

Lastly, my turbo is an aftermarket turbonetics unit. I think the specs are 65/63/.84, and it has no wastegate. Is this too big for a single? It doesn't spool until 2000, but it doesn't built steam until 2500-2800(i think), then it flies until the computer cuts fuel. It smokes like a freight train though. Like, alot of smoke. ALOT. It's fun, but laggy. I'm not sure if that's because of the fuel, programmer, or something else.I have an hx35, so I could compound it if need be. 

I hope this isn't too much to digest all at once. But after two strikes, she's on my crap list. If something else happens again, she gets sold to the highest bidder. Then I'm buying something else. 

 

[cumminsdog]

Buy a Subaru, they are good cars !

[Ravewolf]

1 minute ago, cumminsdog said:

Buy a Subaru, they are good cars !

I like my truck better. 

[Me78569]

the vp is a reliable pump, but anything can break after 100,000 miles of use.    ppump swap would help reliablity, but even those can break down.  maintence is key for reliablity.  

 

Your turbo is not a great choice and you wont be able to twin it with a hx35 as the 65 is too small.  the tuning and the injectors also dont have the control of newer era tuning.  

 

 

 

[Ravewolf]

2 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

the vp is a reliable pump, but anything can break after 100,000 miles of use.    ppump swap would help reliablity, but even those can break down.  maintence is key for reliablity.  

 

Your turbo is not a great choice and you wont be able to twin it with a hx35 as the 65 is too small.  the tuning and the injectors also dont have the control of newer era tuning.  

 

 

 

Thank you for the info. I guess I'll stick that turbo on another project I have in the future,and go with something else. 

 

Like I said I'm just paranoid right now as I had no idea what I was buying into when I bought the truck. I should have been more patient and done more research. Oh well, it is what it is. 

 

As for the tuning, do I need new injectors on top of a new programmer? I am going to get a quadzilla instead of a p-pump swap I think. I like the idea of on the fly tuning vs having to mess with fuel plates and such. 

See, these are things I wonder about. I hope I'm not spamming up the forum with my questions. If so feel free to delete. 

[Me78569]

If your injectors are hazing at idle they are likely worn.  

 

You can have them checked out.

 

For the cost of a ppump swap you can likely buy a spare vp44 and have it ready for when they vp does fail.

 

150,000/200,000 miles is not uncommon for one.

[dripley]

14 minutes ago, Ravewolf said:

Thank you for the info. I guess I'll stick that turbo on another project I have in the future,and go with something else. 

 

Like I said I'm just paranoid right now as I had no idea what I was buying into when I bought the truck. I should have been more patient and done more research. Oh well, it is what it is. 

 

As for the tuning, do I need new injectors on top of a new programmer? I am going to get a quadzilla instead of a p-pump swap I think. I like the idea of on the fly tuning vs having to mess with fuel plates and such. 

See, these are things I wonder about. I hope I'm not spamming up the forum with my questions. If so feel free to delete. 

 You are are not spamming up any thing. Asking questions and sharing  answers is what we are about here. 

 These trucks can be very reliable, it just takes some effort. All depends on what you start with. I have had mine for 17 years and 457k miles. I have had it towed 3 times in all that time. Twice for a failed ECM, once for the oe and once for the pos of a rebuild.

 Iam on my 3rd VP. After getting the fuel system right and running 2 stroke oil the 3rd one has 240k miles on it. Hope it lasts a lot longer but she might blow tomorrow but she works fine for now. Learned all of this here.

[Mopar1973Man]

243k miles on my last VP44. I'm at 362k miles now. 

 

1. 50k miles under warranty P0216 code lift pump failed no gauges. 
2. 243k miles and failed P0216 code stuck full advanced!
3. Still clicking along. 

[Me78569]

I would also say it is pretty rare to see a VP just up and quit.    the vast majority of the time they give clear signs that an issue is coming.