Another 2001 Fuel issue.

[John Lubbers]

Hello everybody,
Im brand new to the forum and in diesel in general. A week ago I bought a 2001 Ram 3500 DRW 4x4 Auto quad cab from a friend of a coworker. It has 190k miles, 4" exhaust, cold air intake. Been driving the truck all week, maybe 600 miles on it since I bought it. No issues during test drive, no issues at all minus a little steering slop. So i was curious to what kind of mileage this truck got so I filled her up and been driving mix hwy and city. Tank got to 1/8 tank and the light came on, filler her up again calculated the miles got 15.8 mpg (ie miles ÷ gallons). Anyway two days ago while on my way home at about 50 mph the truck felt like it missed just a tiny bit. When i came to the hwy end the low pressure dummy light they had installed (prior owner) came one. Within 30 seconds of that light coming on the truck started missing and starving of fuel. Immediatly i pulled off the road and turned it off. Popped the hood, looked for any signs of anything abnormal No fuel leaks, no weird sounds nothing i could see wrong anyway. Got back in turned the key on started it up and it ran fine! Idled for 20-30 seconds so I thought ok glitch or something. I pull back out onto the road and within 1/4 mile the light came back on and started same thing, missing and no fuel didnt die though. Pulled over again and called the wife to come get me. Came back with my scanner and it showed a code 0230! Researched it, came back LP issue. The Liftpump is a raptor 100, new within last 5000 miles (according to precious owner) and looking at the vp44 it looks newer but dont know waiting on reply from last owner. Start the truck again after its been cooled down, was able to get it home driving slow about 2 miles. So the synopsis i got is that i can turn the key on, bump it over and the liftpump runs for 30 seconds or so then start truck it runs fine for 30 seconds and then its like it stops working, run out of fuel (truck dont die, just starts missing real bad). start again runs perfect for 30 seconds and then runs out of fuel again. I read a bunch of problems here and dont seem to have any exactly like mine. Ive narrowed it down to either the ecm or a bad newer pump! Although something weird happen, I happen to swap the horn relay with the fuel relay and truck would not start. Swapped back and it would start. Not sure if that is any indication of bad relays or not. Tonight I will be testing the fuel pressure. My other plan was to hook up the pump directly to the battery and start to see if it still runs out of fuel. Really sorry for the long post, I was just trying to give as much detail to what ive tried and did to truck that may cause symptoms. Thanks in advance for the help. This is my first cummins diesel truck.

 

[rkressg]

Change the fuel filter first, to see if that is the issue.
You probably want to check the fuel pressure with a mechanical gauge, to ensure that you actually have fuel pressure at the VP44.

For the p0230, check the grounds from the harness to ensure that the wiring/ground is still good. If I remember correctly, the PCM has a direct ground to the passenger side batter, ECM has a direct ground to the driver side batter, and the lift pump is grounded to the block. The ground wire at the block might have frayed or come loose, leaving the circuit poorly grounded or floating. It might be good enough for the relay on the Raptor to work, but not good enough for the ECM to think that the Lift Pump is working.

If the grounds look bad (frayed/loose wire or corroded), take them apart, clean the junk off of them, apply some type of dielectric grease to keep them clear of water, and tighten everything back up. After 190k miles, things start to wear out, causing weird things to happen.

 

[DavidC]

You really need some gauges, they are invaluable for troubleshooting. My latest fuel issue
https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/fueling-problem.266904/

 

[John Lubbers]

Thanks guys! I noticed that the batteries are both 6 years old as well. Getting two new batteries tonight. I know my 99 Dakota r/t was acting crappy with a weak battery! Im sure there on their way out. Working on gages too. Will clean all the connections up probably tomorrow and see if I have any improvement. Keep ya updated!

 

[BoeingDiesel]

J Lubbers, welcome to the TDR...you've come to the right place in addressing issues with these 2nd Gen trucks.
Unless I missed it, what are you doing for filtration and is the idiot light wired in Pre or Post filter position?
I'll 2nd what David said...gauges are essential for these trucks.

 

[DavidC]

When you get enough coin. Fuel pressure, Boost, EGT and trans temp. At least one of those will give you an idea of what's going on.

 

[John Lubbers]

@ BoeingDiesel its factory fuel filter, and the idiot light is wired to a pressure sensor thats mounted on the side of the VP44 itself. One of the ports it has coming off of it. Im not entirely sure if thats reading the pressure to the injection pump or the pressure the pump is putting out! Still researching it. But it deffinetly looks post filter following all the hoses. .

 

[BoeingDiesel]

John, which port is the sensor mounted to?

 

[John Lubbers]

1

 

[John Lubbers]

Ok, so this evening I put new batteries in the truck. Started it up, had all sorts of codes. Cleared them all. Still the lift pump would not stay on. My dummy light after about 30 seconds would come back on. Checked all the grounds that i could see. Used a volt meter and checked the voltage at the factory lift pump plug, not reading any voltage with key on, off or bumping. Plugged back in the lift pump, bumped the key and lift pump runs for about 30 seconds. Im stumped as to how I cant read any voltage at the connector but the pump turns on when you bump the motor over. So out of curiosity, i temporarily hard wired the LP to a keyed ignition source. Truck stayed running and no low fuel pressure light. So the lift pump does work. My problem is either in the wiring harness or the ecm is all effed up. Im guessing the ecm took a crap on me.

 

[DavidC]

I had almost the same problem which led me to install an override switch which I mounted on the bottom side of the dash on the left side in case the pump did not run. There is a very large wire harness plug on the drivers side above the valve cover area and I cycled that plug ( partially pulling apart and reinserting ) and the problem went away. That was almost 3 years ago. Maybe that harness gets a signal from the ignition switch it is suppose to run I don't know.

 

[John Lubbers]

@ DavidC I will give that a shot and see.

 

[John Lubbers]

Update!! As much as I thought it wasnt the newer lift pump gone bad, it was!! The recently replaced raptor 100 pump is shot! Seized up during my direct wire to the battery to check fuel pressure. I did however get to test the factory harness with a volt meter. I got 8.5 volts when key was turned to on! At bump i got 12.53 volts for about 25 seconds then it dropped to zero voltage. Im hoping the ecm isnt shot. Im going to buy a new lift pump (thinking the fass 100 model with the near tank rocation kit) or does anybody reccomend something different? Should I wait and save for a bigger 150 with the onboard filters setup? No near future mods in the works! Id like to keep it fairly stock. I am looking at installing the boost, fuel pressure and EGT's gages on the pillar.

 

[DavidC]

The voltages all seem normal, digital meters are usually not fast enough to pick up voltages during the key on cycle which is only about 2 secs.. It's up to you on the pump I try to keep mine basically stock as I do not want to be looking for specialty parts while on the road. The Raptor from what I have seen is a good pump, I have one still in the box I plan to put on in the future.