Buddies '04 quit

[Woodenhead]

Hi All,



A buddy of mine was on the road and driving his '04 for about 4 hrs when it suddenly died. He's called to have it towed to a nearby dealer and will hopefully get it fixed tomorrow. I only had a chance to speak with him for a minute while he waited for his tow but from what I gathered he had no warning it just quit. Is this something that's happened to any of you before? If so any clues as to what it may be, he'll be calling me in the morning to let me know how he's making out. I'm not even sure where he's at right now, somewhere 4 hrs south of Buffalo I guess.



Thanks,

Mike

 

[barbwire]

It happened to my 04 also. No warning, nothing! Turns out that the lift pump went out. Had to wait 2 hrs along side of road for a tow. I would almost bet that is what happened to his. I wish him luck.

 

[rbattelle]

I agree... I'd bet it's the LP.



-Ryan

 

[Woodenhead]

That was fast. Thanks for the repies. When I talk to him tomorrow I'll give him the info. maybe it'll help the dealer diagnos it faster. I guess with these fancy new trucks it'd probably be picked up with onboard diagnostics.



Thanks again,

Mike

 

[kblranch]

Does anyone know how hard it is to replace the fuel filter mounted lift pump? If it's not that hard I might think about carrying a spare. I really dont like the idea of being broke down on the side of the road with my horses.

 

[Woodenhead]

Does anyone know how hard it is to replace the fuel filter mounted lift pump? If it's not that hard I might think about carrying a spare. I really dont like the idea of being broke down on the side of the road with my horses.

I really know little to nothing about the HPCR engines but I know on the 12valve and 98. 5-02 24valves many people run a fuel pressure gauge which will give some warning of the lift pump starting to go. When the pressure behind the lift pump starts to drop you can pretty much figure it either needs a new filter or pump. Not sure if you can put a fuel pressure gauge on a HPCR engine.



Mike

 

[HOBrian]

You can put a FP gauge on a HPCR motor. Genos has a fuel filter cap that is tapped just for that reason.

 

[OHale]

Does anyone know how hard it is to replace the fuel filter mounted lift pump? If it's not that hard I might think about carrying a spare. I really dont like the idea of being broke down on the side of the road with my horses.

There is another long thread on the subject but the gist of it is that you can't get a spare LP from Chrysler. If your LP goes out they will mod your truck and install a tank-mounted pusher type pump.



You can get a spare LP from Cummins, that is what I did and have it in my truck as a spare.

 

[steved]

There is another long thread on the subject but the gist of it is that you can't get a spare LP from Chrysler. If your LP goes out they will mod your truck and install a tank-mounted pusher type pump.



You can get a spare LP from Cummins, that is what I did and have it in my truck as a spare.

The pump costs $307 from Cummins and takes two weeks to get (at least that is what the Harrisburg distributor told me).



The pump looked easy enough to replace... looked like 4 allen head screws, a wiring plug, and a hose lamp... might be hard to get at, but didn't look that bad. I was looking at it when I installed my FASS this weekend .



steved

 

[kblranch]

A spare filter mounted pump sounds way easier to deal with than a tank unit.

 

[steved]

Yep, and it is better than the tank pump as far as pressure and volume.



steved

 

[OHale]

Bingo!

 

[Woodenhead]

You guys called it. It was the transfer (lift) pump. DC said it cost $1000 but it's covered under warranty. He should have it fixed tomorrow and be back on the road. I'll try and talk him into a fuel pressure gauge setup to help predict the next failure.



Many thanks,

Mike

 

[barbwire]

$1000 ????

You guys called it. It was the transfer (lift) pump. DC said it cost $1000 but it's covered under warranty. He should have it fixed tomorrow and be back on the road. I'll try and talk him into a fuel pressure gauge setup to help predict the next failure.



Many thanks,

Mike

$1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :--) I don't think I'll ever have them put one on mine out of warranty, if thats the case.

 

[OHale]

$1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :--) I don't think I'll ever have them put one on mine out of warranty, if thats the case.

That's probably to make the in-tank conversion. Another reason I bought the spare LP. If mine fails, even under warranty, I will ask the dealer to put my spare on or I'll do it myself. I can mount a spare LP on the canister but I'm not too keen on dropping the tank and replacing that one by the side of the road. JMNSHO.

 

[MFalkinham]

Rather than just carrying a spare, I wonder how tough it would be to install the spare lift pump in parallel with the original? That way if one failed the other would still provide fuel to get you home. You could probably tap off the existing wiring, so the Y-plumbing would be the toughest part.

I haven't looked at my truck yet to see how much room there is, but redundancy is always nice to have.

- Mike

 

[rbattelle]

At $307 for a replacement filter-mount pump from Cummins I should consider selling the one I removed from my truck when I put my fuel system on.



Just goes to show you, Woodenhead, even in 2004 Dodge still hadn't solved the LP problem.



-Ryan

 

[RMalone]

Now I am confused some sources say the cp3 will still supply fuel without a lift pump. Now I hear that peoples trucks are puked out on the side of the road because the lift pump went bad. Looks like I need to address some issues with my low side fuel supply!!!

 

[machinemover]

$1000 is about right. I had mine go out, no warning, in Tallahassee pulling 20,000 lbs of trailer. Was no fun, waited 5 days in a motel and sat doing nothing, while I was at it I figured I would have him look at a power steering leek I had, well guess what? He never fixed it, it still leaks. Another faithfull DC factory trained mechanic, I'll tell ya. They have me by the balls when I'm on the road, don't know where else to go when I breakdown. Real monopoly. they think there God and have there heads in there!@!&%^3

 

[rbattelle]

Now I am confused some sources say the cp3 will still supply fuel without a lift pump. Now I hear that peoples trucks are puked out on the side of the road because the lift pump went bad. Looks like I need to address some issues with my low side fuel supply!!!

I think the "this truck will run sans lift pump" rumor is the result of a bit of misunderstanding precipitated by the Duramax. The Duramax uses a very similar injection pump to the CR Cummins (in fact, it might be identical), but does not have a lift pump. Many people (quite understandably) assume, then, that what's good for the DMax is good for the Cummins. The reason that's not true is that on the Cummins, if the LP fails it becomes a major road block: fuel simply cannot flow past it (at least not in enough volume to keep the engine running).



I've often wondered whether the Cummins could be run without a lift pump if it were removed and replaced by a nice -6 or -8 AN line running from the in-tank pickup, directly to the filter, then on to the CP-3. Of course, a hand pump would need to be included to facilitate priming after a filter change (which is precisely what the arrangement on the DMax is).



-Ryan