Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) 3 lift pumps in 5k miles...help!!!

[jkern]

ok... my original lift pump (LP) went crappy on me a while back, so i replaced it with the dual pump set up from jannety racing. install went great, life was looking good. 400 miles later the 14 psi pump at the engine died. called jannety, they said return it and they will send me another one... ok great!! put it on and things are looking good again... today about 5k miles later and with 27 inches of snow on the ground and my dad and in-laws stuck on oppisite ends of the county, they call on the mighty cummins and ramsey winch for assistance. guess what get half way where i am going and here comes the low fuel pressure light on that i have installed (5psi). don't have time to monkey around so i run it. both lift pumps are running and there is a medocare stream of diesel from the drain valve on the filter housing. my point is this... i am getting spittin and cussin mad at these d*mn carter lift pumps... doesn't somebody make a pump that will pump fuel reliably for 100,000 miles or so??? what about pumps that are in cars and other trucks, the are electric and the last 150 or 200,000 miles!!! why can't mine???



sorry to rant, but i have better things to do with 27 inches of snow on the ground that to work on a miserable fuel pump on the only vehicle in 5 mile radius that will even navigate thru this white stuff!!!!



jeremy

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Jeremy, have you checked to make sure the cap is off of the roll over valve on top of the tank? Go under your bed on the drivers side and look at the top of the tank. There is a vent coming out of the pickup assembly that should be vented to the air, if there's a red cap on it you should remove it. If that cap is there your tank will create a vacuum and cause a lot of strain on your fuel pumps. I would tend to think that you must have something going on in your fuel system somewhere that is causing a severe restriction and causing the pumps to over work. I went through 4 stock lift pumps from 24,000 to 60,000 miles, added a 7 psi carter pusher pump at that point along with a new pump at the engine and I'm at 118,000 miles now with no problems. I have also drilled out the banjo bolts but those are my only mods.

 

[Bill_L]

Jeremy,



Have you looked at the PE4100 or 4200 as your only pump?



I am going to be installing one of these on my truck. it will be mounted at the back as a pusher with nothing but -8 braided line between it and the filter. .



Bill

 

[rashwor]

Another thing to check...

Mine is a '99 also, but fortunately my vent did not have the cap left on it at the factory that some did. But, you might want to check to see if the vent to the tank is stopped up if there is no cap on it. Mine occasionally stops up due to all the mud and muck I run the truck in. When my vent is stopped up, my fuel cap will have a suction on it when you open it after the truck has run a while.



I am on my second liftpump (counting the original) and have 131,000+ miles on the truck, so I have difficulty understanding why some people have so much trouble with these pumps. Please do not flame me; I count myself among the very lucky.



Maybe you are just getting bad replacement pumps; you would not be the first.

 

[Turbo Trucker]

I replaced mine with the latest pump from Cummins, it's been working good for 28k miles. Maybe you should go back to the stock setup.

 

[troutlips]

pump failure

I think some engineering investigation needs to be done on not only the Cummins electric but the mechanical pumps used on the 12 valve trucks. What is failing on these pumps? Granted 100K miles is alot of miles but the pump should get you further down the road. My wifes german car which is a 1987 and has 204,000 miles is still on the original pump which is located back behind the right rear axle. Cummins replaced my sons pump (mechanical) yesterday (102,000 miles) and had to do it twice in their shop, same day because the first reconditioned pump failed. From what I have seen, mileage is no indication of on coming failure. Thanks for listening, while I go check my pressure.

 

[jkern]

...did some testing...

... and with a semi-reliable guage found that i have right at 5 psi at the fuel filter, so that leads me to believe that the pusher is ok and that the 14 psi one on the side of the engine is the bad one again... why can't the one on the frame go bad... it is easy to get to... the other one is a PIA oh, well guess that is the luck i am having lately!! here is a question... why not just use a 15 psi or something close back at the tank instead of two pumps... two pumps seem like double trouble instead of good insurance???

 

[mike r]

Crappy lift pumps

Hey Jeremy, I'm up the road from you and mine quits when it goes below 10 degrees. It's been doing it alot lately but every time the dealer gets it in the garage it works fine. Go figure. :{