Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) P0216 Code and Cold Weather

[JDriscoll]

I started my truck this morning, the thermometer said -19, but the truck was plugged in and started fine. I let the truck idle for twenty minutes or so, but when I was driving down the interstate the truck started to hesitate and the pedal would go dead for a little bit. It seemed to be the worst when I was going uphill. I checked the codes with the key and got:



P0216 (M) Fuel Injection Pump Timing Failure High fuel supply restriction, low fuel pressure or possible

wrong or incorrectly installed pump keyway



My question is could the cold weather have caused this? I have a FASS HPFP and a fuel pressure guage. The guage has never shown less than 14 psi. The fuel tank was full of #2 diesel because I haven't been driving the truck very much for the last 3 weeks and it hasn't been that cold. I added some fuel conditioner and anti-gel stuff this morning and pulled the truck into the heated shop at work. Am I looking at a new VP44 or could this be due to the cold weather alone?

 

[TJarecke]

Frind of mine had the same thing happen to his vp44 truck a couple days ago. I am curious what others say too.

Almost all the diesels gelled around here even with power service. My brother went out of his way to the truck stop on his way to work to get some power service 911. There were 4 people in front of him buying power service as well.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Had my fuel gel up this morning at 1-2F above zero.

 

[JCyrbok]

Unfourtunatly it has nothing to do with the cold weather (although when it happened to me it seemed to occur more while cold). The VP is going south and will eventually quit all together. The hesitation is the start of "dead pedal. "



P0216 is the death code for VP's, never heard of one throw that code and make it in the end. It has more to do with an either an internal physical failure or an electronical failure that throws off the pump timing.



Do a search for "Dead pedal", "p0216" and "VP44 failure"



Ever have a Lift Pump go out on you while driving?



Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. There is a bright side, my truck ran for about 1 1/2 years with p0216 before the dead pedal got to annoying for me to ignore ( I went from having dead pedal maybe once or twice a month to acouple of times aday in that time. )



J-

 

[RKlassen]

Fuel gelling??? It's been -33C (-27F) overnight here for the last 5 nights. It gets up to -25C (-13F) during the day. I run Power Service and have never had my fuel gell. I know several people here that don't run any additive as well as all the heavy mining equipment around here and there have been only a very few rare cases of gelling fuel.

 

[Bob Cochran]

Seems to me I read or was told diesel gelling happens at -40. I am sure somebody know for sure.

 

[dodgeram00#]

p0216

had my truck gel up this morning,finally got it going and had check engine light which was a p0216 code also,seems funny that all these codes are setting in the cold weather!

 

[JDriscoll]

Well the truck ran great on the way home after sitting in the heated shop all day yesterday. I plugged the truck in last night and it started and ran fine on the way to work, it wasn't as cold as yesterday morning but at -2 it was still pretty cold. I really hope this was just due to the cold weather and not the VP44.

 

[JCyrbok]

Well the truck ran great on the way home after sitting in the heated shop all day yesterday. I plugged the truck in last night and it started and ran fine on the way to work, it wasn't as cold as yesterday morning but at -2 it was still pretty cold. I really hope this was just due to the cold weather and not the VP44.

Hope so.



Best bet would be to have the code cleared and see if it comes back. If there is a problem it will likely come back regardless of symptoms.



My truck ran great between dead pedal episodes (ran great just before and just after too) and I had probably about 4 months between first time and second time. If when it does it and you can floor the accelerator and the rpms do not change, get ready for a VP change.



P0216 is kind of like a transmission overheat idiot light. Onces its lite, its just a matter of time as the damage is done already.



Hope it works out for you though,

J-



PS Have you ever had a Lift Pump fail on you in the past???? Thats a major precursor to VP failing down the road. I had 4 go out before my VP took a crap.

 

[JDriscoll]

I had both the lift pump and the ip fail about a 45k miles ago. I installed the FASS pump and the fuel pressure gauges shortly after that. The fuel pressure has not gotten below 12 psi since I put the FASS on. I'll see if I can get the code cleared after work. Can autozone clear the codes as well as read them?

 

[JCyrbok]

Can autozone clear the codes as well as read them?

I would think so.



J-

 

[TJarecke]

Friend cleared the code and it just came back. Drives around town just fine. Kind of afraid to drive it long distances. He has had 3 lift pumps go bad and his mileage was dropping all year long ~1. 5-2mpg in the last 6 months. Replacing the pump this weekend and getting a raptor pump for the fuel system.
Hopefully that works for him.

I don't know what is the deal with all of the trucks gelling around here. It was the coldest day of the year so far. Not sure if the fuel that places are carrying isn't as good as it used to be or if the low sulfur diesel gels easier? Everyone I know runs power service and had it in their trucks.

 

[JCyrbok]

I have never had fuel gel on me or my filter wax plug in cold weather. Have let my truck sit unplugged (have only every plug truck in once to see if the heater worked) and have had cold, first start of the moring starts in -20F weather. This includes last winter with the ULSD fuel. I have run Stanadyn Performance since tank one. I don't know if I am luck or good, LOL.



J-

 

[JRBurton]

I had the same thing happen to me about 2 weeks ago. I new my pump was going to fail for the past year. Installed a new vp44 and a edge w/attitude. Runslike a new truck now, I can break the rear loose in all 6 gears, never been able to do that before.



John

 

[EBung]

I know Flying J doesnt have winter blend in the pumps yet. At least not labelled. Around here anyway their were four trucks at my buddies shop gelled as well as his own 08 Duramax and he had to put its 4th fuel filter in it to get it to run and it has 11,000 miles ???? -20 wind chill was doing it they were dropping like flies.

 

[EricBu12]

I bet you have a Pump going out. . I had that dead pedal very infrequent. . then it started getting more and more frequent. . I bet you do have a pump going out. . . . as soon as I changed my pump, all was good. .

 

[JCyrbok]

I know Flying J doesnt have winter blend in the pumps yet. At least not labelled. Around here anyway their were four trucks at my buddies shop gelled as well as his own 08 Duramax and he had to put its 4th fuel filter in it to get it to run and it has 11,000 miles ???? -20 wind chill was doing it they were dropping like flies.

From the way it has been explained to me is that Wind Chill does NOT make things colder than the actual air temp. If it is 10 degress above but the wind chill is -20, things only cool to 10 degs. The way I understand wind chill is that it makes u feel colder due to increase evaporation that the wind causes from your skin.



Do an experimate and put out a jar of water on a calm day at say 20deg and see how long it takes to freeze. The put out a jar on a 20 deg day with a stiff wind (wind chill say 0deg) and see how long it takes to freeze. I bet it is pretty much the same amount of time.



The only thing that wind chill does is speed the rate at which things cool to the actual air temp.



Their trucks gelled because they did not have any additive in the fuel, they got non-winter fuel or the fuel is contaiminated, not because of the wind chill.



"A disadvantage of diesel as a vehicle fuel in some climates, compared to gasoline or other petroleum derived fuels, is that its viscosity increases quickly as the fuel's temperature decreases, turning into a non-flowing gel at temperatures as high as -19 °C (-2. 2 °F) or -15 °C (+5 °F), which can't be pumped by regular fuel pumps. " (From wikipedia on ULSD)



"The only effect wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as car radiators and water pipes, is to shorten the amount of time for the object to cool. The inanimate object will not cool below the actual air temperature. For example, if the temperature outside is -5 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill temperature is -31 degrees Fahrenheit, then your car's radiator will not drop lower than -5 degrees Fahrenheit" (from NOAA website on Wind Chill).



Again my truck has sat out, unplugged, over night (once for two nights),without running in that time at -20deg F and did NOT gel. Truck starts and runs after these periods. I run fuel additive in every tank.



Hope this helps,

J-

 

[EBung]

The Duramax has Stanadyne in it every tank also AND it was plugged in. He could only make 10mph all the way to work. Good for you glad you havent been having problems, we have been. So I guess wind chill is just there for what reason to tell ypu that standing out in the wind wont give us frost bite quicker? So the next time I see a deer huddled down in grove of trees I'll say "man what a dumb deer he should be standing up out in the open" by the way I had an 01 ETH that never had a drop of additive ever that would start at 8000 ft at Snowy Range lodge at 0 degrees unplugged. The quality of fuel has went down PERIOD.

 

[JCyrbok]

The Duramax has Stanadyne in it every tank also AND it was plugged in. He could only make 10mph all the way to work. Good for you glad you havent been having problems, we have been. So I guess wind chill is just there for what reason to tell ypu that standing out in the wind wont give us frost bite quicker? So the next time I see a deer huddled down in grove of trees I'll say "man what a dumb deer he should be standing up out in the open"

It was my undertanding that when fuel gel's that it does not even flow, which in my mind would make it impossible to drive 10mph with gelled fuel. Fuel gel's when the waxes in the diesel get cold enough to become a solid. I say a bit on the old 2 Guys Garage show where they gelled some diesel and it was about the consistancy of about toothpaste. Not saying there isnt something going on with buddies truck.



Not saying that wind chill doesn't suck, its does. It however DOES NOT effect inantimate (non living) objects like a truck, fuel, water etc. So yeah a deer is effected the same way we are, if "feels" colder than it is. It however in reality is NOT colder than it is. 10deg's is 10deg's regardless of the wind. Water freezes at 32deg, regardless of the wind, Fuel gel's at a set temp (not sure what it is, the above info I post said either -2. 2deg F or 5deg F) regardless of the wind.



Do a google search, do a search here on TDR (it has been gone over here before), call your local news station and talk to the weather man.



The info I post on wind chill was cut and pasted from the NOAA (Goverment Weather Agency) web site.



Hope you guys figure out why your fuel is geling, cause it aint due to wind chill.



Hopefully we can get this thread back on track for the original poster who is having problems with his truck.



J-

 

[jcwehking]

Diesel fuel will begin to cloud before it gels. The clouding particles will get trapped in the filter media which will slow the flow of fuel and in extreme cases stop it all together. I believe straight #2 will cloud below 15 deg F and gel below 0. Our trucks have a fuel filter heater so the particles don't get trapped in the filter. You still have to get it from the tank to the filter housing though. Big rigs have heated tanks, lines, pumps, etc. so they can run #2 year round. If you suspect your filter is plugged, pull it out. It will be coated with a white waxy looking substance. Pour 911 in the filter housing and tank and the fuel will clear up.