Lift Pump Failures & BOMBED Trucks=any correlation??

[DEZLPWR]

I was just curious... .

It seems to me like many (not all) of the trucks that are experiencing lift pump problems also have some type of fuel system mod. (power boxes, injectors etc. ) Is there a correlation here, or not? I am inclined to think that the lift pump would be more prone to failure with an increased demand on the fuel system.

Since I don't have any of these mods, I guess I am in denial and trying to rationalize that maybe my lift pump is ok due to no mods!



Also, no one has been able to answer my previous question of: How do you get the dealer to replace your lift pump when you don't have a fuel pressure guage and the truck drives fine? I feel stupid going into the dealership and asking them to replace the lift pump just because I have heard that they go bad often. They'll laugh in my face!



Sorry for the long post!



Steve

 

[Morphious]

I found out mine was bad when I installed gauges during my bombing effort. My truck was completely stock when it went out. I don't know how to get dodge to replace your lift pump, I was fed up with the service and hassles of the dealerships, so I have not returned my truck to a dealer in the last 80,000 miles or so. I decided not to mess with a badly designed lift pump and put in place my own setup of the mallory 4150 electric pump back at the fuel tank and ran -6an line up to the fuel pump with aeroqwip fittings.



Morph.

 

[DEZLPWR]

Morph-

How many miles did you have on your '99 when it went outand how many total miles are on your truck now? How did you know that your lift pump had failed? (What were the symptoms?)



Steve

 

[Bigsaint]

I think that the aftermarket boxes only bring the dying lift pump to your attention sooner, doubt that they play a role in it's demise. IMHO, the reason that you see more guys with fueling mods. seeing the pump failures sooner is because they have FP gauges installed and have a baseline.



Best thing you could do is to hook up with someone that has a FP temporary set up and check your psi's, at idle and WOT. Other than that, it's a guessing game.



Scott W.

 

[MidwestMotorman]

lotsa questions...

Steve...



Good questions and here are some answers. Incresed demand on the pump can cause it to fail sooner, like any part, but this pump is doomed to fail just because it is doing a job it was not designed to do: suck fuel too far from tank. There also seem to be other problems as well as motor failure and debris jamming it.



Seeing you have a 99, you are more than likely off of warranty? If the pump is bad, you will not be able to prime the system. So any of the following are good "fault" sentences.



1. I changed the fuel filter and the truck would not prime the fuel canister.

2. I was bleeding the air out of my fuel canister and I could only get a dribble out of the bleed port.

3. I see white/funny looking smoke from tailpipe, and I am not loosing coolant.

4. Lack of power above 1900 rpm.

5. Truck idles rough.



These are all valid excuses, and are symptoms of impending or apparent doom by failed lift pump. But Chrysler does not just change the pumps without having them checked first.



I just went through this about a thousand miles ago, and the dealership would not order one unless a mechanic verified that it was bad. I beat them out by calling them the week before and saying mine was bad so they would order one anyway and not hassle me when I showed up. I also showed up with my fuel pressure gauge mounted on the fuel canister, and it was a good thing I did. The service manager sent the mechanic out to my truck with me so they could find out why I thought my lift pump was bad. I promptly popped the hood, pointed at the fuel pressure gauge, and the truck was in on the work floor within a minute.



Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps.

 

[Morphious]

I was at around 40k when I found out that it was out. I found out by installing a fuel pressure gauge and it would not even move the needle past 2lbs of pressure. I am sure that if I had hooked up a vacuum gauge, it would have shown a vacuum. I have around 120k real miles on the truck now with about 80k on the mallory. The speedo only shows around 110k.



Morph.

 

[Bigsaint]

My first indication was a real bad stumble after a WOT run up a short hill, the truck lost all power, had to pull over to the shoulder while it spewed white smoke, scared the I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER out of me. When the truck was at Auto Wurks, being BOMBed and before I had the FP gauge, I had them check the lift pump psi's... 0 @ WOT, 3-4 @ idle. That was 1000 miles after the stumble, mind you, they die real slow apparently.



Nice post Nat .



Scott W.

 

[csutton7]

scooke--if you think it's bad take it to the dealer and have them check it out if you can't get your hands on a guage---chris

 

[dieselboy25]

Lift pump and dealers

Here is how I got my lift pump replaced under warranty. I installed gauges because I knew that I was going to be BOMBing my truck. I noticed right away that my fuel pressure was running low. I then took my truck into my dealer. They insisted that they had to inspect my truck before they would replace my lift pump. I then had to wait for four weeks because of the backorder. I just got my lift pump replaced last week. I had 60,000 on the truck when I put the gauges in and my fuel pressure has only gone down since until it was replaced. The whole ordeal was a PIA, but I didn’t have to pay for the lift pump. If I had it to do over again, I would probably just go aftermarket and mount it by the fuel tank. As it is now, I plan on adding the pusher kit from EEP.

Eric

 

[Archive]

Reason #6 why my lift pump is bad...

..... My truck has to be cranked over for 30 seconds every morning before it will start. (That one worked for me. )

 

[Michael Hughes]

Steve,

I replaced my lift pump about 2 weeks ago. I had no problems till I replaced my fuel filter. I have no mods on the truck. The truck ran strong and was getting good fuel milage (22. 2 the tank before I replaced the filter). After changing the filter, the pump would not prime itself. The truck had 68,113 miles on it.



I went to the local Dodge dealer and they said that they would replace it under warranty, but it would take 5 to 7 weeks. I use my truck every day and need it to get to work, I asked how much, they told me $414. I called "Gateway Cummins" and was told $139. I went and got the new pump and had the truck running in about 45 minutes after getting home.

 

[Todd T]

and 40min of that was waiting for it to cool



EH, Michael

 

[DEZLPWR]

Check this out.....

Get this... .

Is Cummins NW smoking dope or what? They quoted me $139 for the lift pump, $7 for the connector and 5 hours of labor @ $80/hr to remove and install! I asked the service tech why 5 hours and he said that the lift pump was very hard to get at. I wasn't even going to try and argue with him.

What a joke... .



Fortunately, the NW Bombers came to the rescue and DAWG1 will be lending his mechanical expertise and I will save $400 in labor costs alone less beer & food expenses.



TDR kicks a$$!



Steve

 

[MidwestMotorman]

Cummins NW

Sounds like Cummins NW wants the same money to do the job as Dodge. I am sure they know that they are selling the part at $256 less than Dodge. They were just hoping you were stupid or desperate.

 

[24vtrbo]

I have over 100,000 on my lift pump and the truck has been mini

bombed for about 75,000 miles with everything from Dr. Performance phase 2 , the original TST PowerMax, Pe/Ez and now with PE Comp and 275 Injectors and it is still strong, 15 at idle and 9 at WOT, but I have an spare one just in case. I did lose an injector pump at 75,000 miles.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Steve,

Bring it to me and I will do it for let say $100. If it takes them 5 hours to change the lift pump, they must be doing it the hard way, what ever that is. I hard part is getting the first nut on the new lift pump started.