1999 Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab short bed box start issue please help!!

[Cumminsguy5.9]

@Mopar1973Man

Hello , my name is Eric I’m new to this whole diesel thing so go easy on me I’ll try to giv as much info as I can. 

I bought this truck beginning of February and it needed some much needed tlc the kid that had it before me left it it kinda rough shape. I replaced a lot and a new coat of paint and some body work to fix the rust, new lift pump and a new tuner with a monitor to top it off. (Edge juice with attitude cts2 monitor). 

Recently I’ve had some issues I can’t quite explain , a couple of weeks ago the truck would act like it was in limp mode it was almost like it was stuck in 3rd gear maybe and if I would step on it I would get no power, ( so I immediately thought trans was the issue) drained the trans replaced the filter and new fluids for it too. Took it for a test drive and same thing limp mode but it would only do it so often say if od kicked in and I was going up a hill or something like that. Took it back to the house and if I put it in neutral and revved it only sometimes it would dump white smoke. So I started thinking fueling I checked my fass 100gph titanium signature series lift pumps water separator for water and no water. Reprimed  the system and still white smoke. Okay maybe bad vp44 called cummins and yup they confirmed all my symptoms pointed to the vp. I should add that I can also not get any codes to show none pending I have checked with a scanner and key trick. Okay so I started doing a little research and I found that the map and iat sensor could also cause this issue and I tested the iat and ohmed out within specs and when I checked the map sensor I left it in the block and watched my boost gauge revved it up to about 2500 rpm and got about 3psi of boost on a stock turbo with the adaptor for the wastegate from edge I assume. To me kinda seemed low. So I had to wait for parts to come in, so I parked the truck and when my parts came the next day I went to go and start it and no start so I checked pressure at lp and I have ~19 psi to the pump, cracked injectors and I found no fuel squirting out so I was thinking the go finally let go this time.  Got it into my drive way and cummins said they thought the input shaft snapped off the vp, pulled it and I was able to spin the shaft and I saw fuel squirting out the outlet port so that tells me no snapped shaft. Did some more digging around and I found two wires underneath what appears to be a holifex sensor that is tapped off the edge? So I did continuity checks and looked good re insulated them because the insulation dry rotted off of them and threw it back in, reprimed it bam like clock work I have fuel to my injectors weird thing though is I forgot to tighten #5 and with the key in run and engine not running but the lp running it was spitting fuel out of it. The truck refuses to start off of a shot of ether directly into the intake (I had the air horn and grid heater removed so I just sprayed it in there ). My buddy told me maybe the ground from the grid heater was my issue so I reinstalled that and still no fire and still no codes. So my question is is why no go I guess 

could it be a bad cps or something? I have not tried the bypass for starting the truck with out the ecu/ecm whatever it’s called these days. I do have 12v at the vp connector. I am still very confused as to why fuel was comming out of an injector line when the truck wasn’t even running/cranking. 
 

1999 Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab sport 187k edge juice with attitude/ cts2 monitor fass 100gph titanium signature series everything else stock with some minor rebuilding and a paint job

[dripley]

First off welcome. We can try to work thru some of this until others come along.

Is the white smoke present all the time and what does it smell like?

What kind scanner are you using for reading codes? The key trick does not work on a 99. A lack codes is a bit odd.

A failed MAP sensor will lower power considerably. The ecm wont command much fuel without some signal from the MAP sensor. A failed sensor should set a code. Free reving the engine in the driveway will produce very little boost, the engine needs to be under load. I don't think you would see any white smoke with a blown MAP anyway.

Not sure what the "holifex" sensor is you speak of. 

Your lift pump is capable of pushing fuel past the VP if it is on and the motor is not running. Nothing unusual at all.

[Cumminsguy5.9]

I’m not too certain on the white smoke anymore as it’s been too long I can’t remember. 
 

the scan tool is from autozone I believe. It allows me to check pid’s dtc’s and some other stuff as well, the edge cts2 monitor also has a code reader feature as it plugs right into the obd2 port. 
 

as per the holifex sensor or what I assume that is. It has two wires that go from the back center of the pump in between all the injector ports and they are the top set of wires that go into the control box. The two wires directly below them looking at the control box are the ones that dry rotted and were shorting together. And of course you need some special bit to even crack the pump open but I reinsualted them the best I could and it seemed to have fixed it ? Cummins said that these wires that were shorted are for some control module inside the pump. So I’m not sure if because they were shorted maybe they wiped out that thing on the pump. 

[Cumminsguy5.9]

Actually now that I think about it the white smoke burned my eyes. And it would dump a lot like I couldn’t see the road from my house which is about 30~ away from where I was revving it up

[dripley]

2 sources ofmwhite smoke are anti freeze and diesel. They smell like what they are. The only time I have had diesel was after a cylinder quit firing and she belched a good of smoke that wreaked ofmdiesel. I suupose the diesel could burn your eyes as I dont think the the anti freeze would. Does it smoke constantly or is it intermittent?

 Coud the "holifex" be a hall effect sensor? Both the cam and crank senor are that type. And the cam sensor is between the block and the VP with a 2 wire cable going to it. That sensor or the wiring could be your issue. It is a pain to get to with the pump on but others have done it, but not me personally. The cam sensor 5v signal source is shared by other sensors. So if the wiring is bad it can can affect others. I would think you should have code sensor wise at least. The control box you speak of is the ECM I believe. Those 2 wires should go back to the ECM or the main engine harness that goes back to the ECM. Since you have already uncovered one bad spot in those wire it would be good to check the length of them.

[Great work!]

The 4 wires that run down the back of the VP go the the injection solenoid in the center of the injector lines the lower solenoid at the bottom rear of the VP is the timing control solenoid. If any of those wires short to each other or ground out it's usually bad news for the VP.  Unburned fuel causes white smoke. If fuel is leaked or sprayed into the cylinder too early or too late after the compression peak you get white smoke.

[dripley]

The only time I saw white smoke out of mine was when the bridge on the intake valves fell out and nothing but fuel got in the cylinder. Put out a fair amount of white diesel fumes. Not enough to block out the view of the road though.