Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Great Mother's Day...

[Gary - K7GLD]

Quality time out in the garage:



-



... Up to my elbows swapping out a VP-44. 40K+ miles, started tossing P0216's, truck ran great, but can't ignore the codes, esprcially in a truck used for RV towing out in the boonies.



Thanks to the guys offering help and info to my questions regarding other possible external causes for VP-44 error codes.



And SPECIAL thanks to the guys on this board who provided documentation and helpful pointers on making the swap - you saved me at least $400, and doing the job myself, I got places cleaned on the engine a regular mechanic wouldn't touch.



All in all, a GREAT day, especially when old Betsy roared back to life with a new heart!

 

[PRout]

Congrats Gary! May your new pump live long and prosperous. .

 

[Rman]

Did you end up swapping the CPS as well? I didn't do mine when I changed pumps, wishing I had now.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Did you end up swapping the CPS as well? I didn't do mine when I changed pumps, wishing I had now.

Thanks for the good wishes - and no, I didn't swap out the CPS - might have if I had more time to order one. I did pull the old one for a visual inspection - a waste of time since there's really not much to see. I applied some contact cleaner to that plug and also the one to the VP-44, and that was about it.



But MAN, that thing seems nearly impossible to get to with the VP-44 installed!

 

[darkhorse]

Good work, Gary. That's a job I might want to farm out.

 

[keioga]

Its just to bad that with all the things we all do to make this vp last, it still cant be depended on. It would be nice if we could just drive and not worry about the fuel system, like we dont have to worry about the engine. Mine went out last month with close to 60000, I still wonder why all the 2002 ho's are going out. Right know I'm going to just drive it with the dealer installed intank pump and see what happens, but in the back of my mind I will always wonder when it will go. My wife has a 2001 golf tdi and the damn thing just runs, no worries

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

These things are nearly impossible to predict - or absolutely protect against failure!



On the negative side, I've run an Edge Comp since the truck was new, used the truck mostly for RV towing - had several short fuel-flow reducing incidents - but always had pressure - and have never babied the engine in the hills.



On the plus side, I've ALWAYS had additives in the fuel for max lubricity, and better than average fuel PSI with an added pusher pump - and for the last 10K miles or so also used a sub-micron fuel filter in addition to the stock one.



And still got what I consider a very premature failure...



Meanwhile, one of my brother-in-laws has nearly the EXACT same truck as mine - even the same color, he never does ANYTHING special for his, and it's got lots more miles on it than mine and is still putting along just fine!



BUT, I got my first P0216 over 2 years ago - some guys have gone thru several VP's in the same time/mileage as mine, so maybe the extra stuff I was doing bought me that extra 20K and 2 years...



All I can say, is I love this truck, it has everything and DOES everything I want - and I'll keep it even if I *do* have to replace a VP-44 every 40K miles - and I'll keep on with the fuel filters and additives, too!