Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) I have joined the Bad lift pump club!

[Mactruck]

DARN IT! Right on x-mas eve. Called Cummins Metropower... . Closed til thursday. Damn should of bought one and put it on the shelf earlier.



Heres the scoop. On my SPA gauge has always read 14 psi at idle and 7-8 WOT. Drove to work this AM and 7-8 psi @ idle and the lowest reading I've recieved is 1. 8 psi at WOT It happened so fast I thought when it would go it would just gradually go. Not like this.



Problem is, I'm supposed to drive up to Vermont to ski sunday night for a couplle days. Should I just park it or drive it without letting my gauge go below 3 psi. I'm still going to try to get a Lift pump Thursday after X-mas but if they are still on Backorder I may be screwed!





This isn't a 911 but any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Bummer Kevin



I wouldn't suggest driving it til you replace it. When mine TUd the pressure dropped lower and lower until it was pretty much stuck at "0" no matter how slow I drove. Then the sputtering, missing and lack of power kicked in



Took about 100 miles to die. To limp it along I kept cycling the key every few miles which seemed to give it a little kick in the pants and bring the pressure up a bit, but even that failed after a while.



Vaughn

 

[Chipstien]

Last I checked they were not on backorder anymore. Also if your guage is electric then you might want to check those readings with a mechanical guage. Unless you get a LP, I wouldn't drive it. If a LP is good than I don't have no problem taking it down to 2 psi but we are not sure if volume of fuel is compromised when a LP goes bad. This must be your trucks way of saying MERRY CHRISTMAS.

 

[Mactruck]

Originally posted by Chipstien

This must be your trucks way of saying MERRY CHRISTMAS.

yeah, merry x-mas. buy me some more stuff.



Tonight I'm going to drive it to my fathers. We'll see what the gauge says. I'm parking it tomorrow because I'll be plowing with my plow truck. (6-12 inches expected, Nothing like a 10 fold white x-mas) It's about 50 miles round trip. I'll keep a close eye on it.

All I have to say is I'm glad I got my Fuel pressure gauge!

 

[Alan Reagan]

MacTruck, If you want to try this, it will probably work just fine for you:



https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61834&highlight=Lift+Pump



I've had about 5 responses and I've done 5 and have been 100% successful getting the pressure back by doing this. If you try it, let me know. Have fun on your trip.

 

[lmills]

I think I will have to try that on mine. I currently have 2 lbs at WOT. I will post the results when I get it back together.

 

[Crankshaft]

Make sure you change your fuel filter. This cold weather and you might get some fuel gel that will plug your filter and lose your preasure. Good luck. HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

[CFAR]

I've had mine apart, didn't notice that the studs were loose.



Mine runs 11-13 at idle, and 6-8 at 65mph, and yes at wot it will go to 0 psi. So I don't drive it very hard it will be going into the shop, for a new lift pump soon, but before that I may just take it apart again for fun.



Or I may have to the next time I change the fuel filter, that was the time I took the lift pump apart, it would not suck fuel out of a bottle. I took the pump out and used the fuel filter drain tube into a small plastic bottle of diesel, no sucking going on there, but once primed, away she went. Anyway to get the truck primed I had to pressurize the tank with the schrader on the vp-44 cracked, just stuck a hose with a rag around it into the fill hole and blew. 2 1/2 hrs later music.



Woody

 

[Alan Reagan]

The two most important things are to flip the gasket and snug the studs if you take it apart. Don't forget to check the screen.

 

[Puffin Smoke]

Not to be a deek! But I just bought the last one at Cummins Northwest in Alaska. Last one on the shelf and it was hiding. Boy was I sweating bullets. Just change mine on christmas eve too! Sorry!

 

[machuri]

Lift pump problem

I tried Allen's lift pump repair instructions and when I openned up the pump I found broken plastic. It seems the manufacture uses a plastic bushing inside the impeller to fit over the motor shaft. Unfortanately, I live in Mexico, 1200 south of San Diego and my only fix at this point is JB Weld until I can get another pump. I only hope the new pumps are machined properly so this problem will not continue. With the proper lift pump, we should'nt need pusher pumps to supply this screw up. I hope this might help somebody in the future.



Merry Christmas,



SM

 

[Mactruck]

Update

Drove to my fathers on X-mas eve. (carefully). About halfway there my pressures came back up to normal while driving. Then about 5 minutes later the pressures went back down. It did the same thing on the way back.

I parked it all day yesterday and today, I'm not taking the risk if I don't need to. (Plus I had to plow anyway)



It could be the filter or it could be the sending unit but I REALLY doubt it and heres why... .



I have my SPA gauge set up Pre and Post filter. When I flip the switch between the two I get about a 2 PSI difference, Which is normal between pre and post. It also means that if it was the sender BOTH senders would be going at once. Highly unlikely.



I could have also picked up some debris at the bottom of the tank which could have clogged my lift pump screen. I started having this problem when I ran the tank lower than I should. Couldn't get to my favorite diesel place. So I ran it lower than I felt comfortable with.



Cummins Metropower has to ship it up from New Jersey. I'm trying MASSDIESEL Next.

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

All of that cool stuff on your truck and no pusher pump. That is the cure for lift pump problems... ... ... .

 

[claymike]

Sounds like your lift pump to me. I am on my 5th one

 

[Ertman]

Lift Pump woes

Sorry I'm too late to help you with your Xmas Eve plans, but there is hope. My lift pump failed at the fdealer's shop when I took it in for service. The service manager told me Cummins got a batch of bad ones from their supplier. He also said that replacement pumps seem to last nearly forever, assuming the replacement pump isn't from the bad batch.



You can contACt Gordon at -- email address removed -- and he has a kit that allows you to relocate the lift pump away from the hot engine.



Keep on truckin.



Dick

 

[Puffin Smoke]

Hey mactruck. you sure your not gelling with #2 fuel. you said you were plowing and all and that tells me its cold there. also you said you pressure when away and then came back. my buddy had that happen here when he switched from his regular tank to his aux tank that still had #2 fuel in it from camping this summer gelled up on him and pressures went waco. then put it in garage to warm up and no probs since after filling it with #1 fuel. just checking

 

[Mactruck]

Thanks for checking. I'm in the northeast and it was about 25 degrees that day. However I use a fuel additive every tank. I usually use Amsoil cetane boost & diesel conditioner but I won a jug of Howes at a raffle so I've been using that.



It is a possibility but I'm doubting it.



I've been talking to Scott at Massdiesel and I think I'm going to go with the Product Engineering system that Advanced Diesel Technology has available.

I've done some research and it seems like a nice system.

Here is a description of it.

 

[Fireman Dave]

Mac - it sounds just like mine when it died. The pressures were all over the place - zero to 12 lbs and anywhere in between - very eratic. It took the dealer 10 days to get the new pump in from Cummins. The day before I took it in, it was consistently at a good pressure - 12 (kinda weird) - but they still replaced it. Now it's at 13-14 at idle with the new pump. The truck has run fine all the way through this. I never would have known I had a bad pump if I hadn't had a gauge.

 

[THancock]

As far as running the tank too low and picking up something. I'd rule that out, as you're always running off the bottom of the tank! That's were the pickup is.

 

[Mactruck]

Problem solved!

Well, Scott @ Massdiesel hooked me up again.



After parking my truck from x-mas eve till Saturday, I drove up to Mass. Saturday AM To install a new Products Engineering 4200 system.

We relocated the pump down by the tank and used all SS Braided tubing. 8 AN from tank to pump then 6 AN to the fuel filter. The pump is about 150% larger than the stock lift pump and definitely pumps some serious fuel.



This system has increased my pressure to about 24 psi with a reduction of about only 1-2 psi at WOT.



I'll be heading up north today for a few days to road test it even further.



Fireman Dave, I definitely agree with you on that. After having bad FP readings until I parked it, I had consistent 15 psi readings all the way up to Mass. without a single drop in pressure. Weird huh.