Paintersdsl and Sly Bones:
You have asked about what "Scheid Diesel" did to my pump
and "what was WAY OUT of tolerance. " Let me see if
I can explain it to you... ... .....
From the day my 96' was new it had VERY low power,
idled rough and started hard. I knew something was
wrong and Dodge was "jerking me around. " My old
first generation 92' CTD was faster than the 96' with
the old 160 H. P. engine!! I called Dan Scheid and he
assured me that he could get the truck running right.
I drove up to his shop in Terre Haute, Ind. where they
did the work.
Please understand that I am NOT a diesel technician
or mechanic, so if some of you "experts" read this
and something doesn't sound completely right,... ...
my apologies!! I wanted "paintersdsl" and "Sly
Bones" to understand how critical it is for the pump
to be "set right. "
First of all, YES, the P7100 pump has to be removed
from the engine to be calibrated. Scheid uses test stands/
"flow benches" to calibrate the P7100 pump. These
pumps are built by several manafacturers, two being,
"Bosch" and "Bacharach. " Bought new they cost
nearly $80,000!!! The pump is hooked up to this
stand and actually runs as though it were on the
engine. They run calibration fluid through the pump
while testing it and can vary the RPM. IMO, it is as
close to "real world" conditions you can get.
On my pump they immediately found that the individual
"cylinders" or injection lines were not "equal" or
even close to minimum specs. As I recall the "flow"
in the "cylinders" or injection lines were as follows:
#1- 18 #2-21 #3-15 #4-16 #5-10 #6-13
(Above numbers represent "cc's of fuel per line")
As you can see there was a big difference in fuel
flow between #1 and #6. "Cylinder" #5 was
especially bad at "10"!!! This was what was
causing a good part of my rough idle and hard
starting I mentioned above. They "reset" the flow
in ALL "cylinders" or lines to "20cc".
They also found that my "pump timing" was off.
The timing had been at "10". They "reset" this
to "spec" @ "13. 5. "
Additionally, my overflow valve was found to be
bad and the throttle was not opening all the
way ON THE PUMP! This too was all corrected.
A "stock" P7100 pump will usually have a "stock"
fuel flow setting of 170-180cc's of fuel per 1000
strokes of the pump. This fuel flow "setting"
cannot be changed unless you take the pump
off the engine and put it on a "test stand. "
The P7100 pumps have the capability to flow
ALOT of fuel!! Especially the "215 pumps"
which have a different cam than my "180"
amongst other things!
In addition to ALL THIS, they also made
adjustments to the governor.
Dan Scheid did all of this for me "under
warranty. " The truck ran FANTASTIC after
this and I have been back to their shop
two more times since the initial "tune-up"
and it REALLY runs good now! Many of
the other members who know me, have
ridden in my truck or drove it will "vouch"
for that!
As you can see, there was ALOT wrong
with my P7100 pump initially. And I will
admit that I may be an "exception" to
the norm. But... ..... could the problems
have been detected or fixed "on the truck?"
The simple answer to that is "NO. "
And "Sly Bones" I agree with you that
there probably are shops out there that
"adjust the high idle and slide the plate
forward. " And "tweaking" the pump is
probably not a good choice of words.
But... ... a "properly calibrated pump,
done on a calibrated test stand, by a
good technician" can give you one h***
of alot of horespower on these 12 valve
CTD trucks! And this is over and above
what the cam plate(s) and injectors give.
I hope this has helped "clear-up" some
of your questions.
Finally, my thanks to Dan Scheid and the
entire Scheid Diesel staff for all they have
done for me the last few years. They are
one shop that I believe "does it right!"
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John_P