Archived stumbled then quit... then restarted

[CraigJohnson]

Shortly after leaving the house this morning my truck started stumbling and then just quit all together. I waited a few seconds and restarted after about 5 sec. of cranking - seemed to run fine. Made it back home with check engine light on... cycled the ign. 3 times got a code of p1648 or 1649 - I forget. Anyway, I called the dealer and he said either injection pump, wiring harness or ECM I believe. Anyway, my fear was the injection pump. Truck has 90,000 on it and I was just waiting. Hopefully it will be replaced under warranty and ther won't be an issue. I took the truck to Hunter Dodge in Lancaster, CA and had a talk with the shop foreman named Kurt. I pretty much filled him in on what I know and suspect. I don't think it is lift pump related as I have an auxilary pusher and pressure was good last I checked. Besides, I wouldn't think the truck would start and run stron after. Any chance it is just a wiring harness deal? Foreman said that the electronic portion of the vp44 can go bad but the pump would have to be replaced if that were the case. Any other suggestions on an approach with these guys?



Thanks in advance

 

[Alan Reagan]

It would be nice to get a new pump this close to the end of warranty and it is a warranteed item. A word of caution. Overpressure on the input of the VP44 can cause hard starting. A boost pump in series with your lift pump can cause this to happen. With that said, yours stumbled and shut down while it was running. They could try to blame it on your auxilary pump so be careful there. Like I said, overpressure will only affect the pump when it is starting.



The way it stumbled and restarted sounds like your VP44 may be going bad.

 

[CraigJohnson]

Alan, I hear you on the hard starting from over pressure on the input of the vp 44. When I first installed my pusher pump, the truck took a few more revolutions before starting, but just barely noticeable - nothing like this. And like you said, that doesn't explain the stumble and quit or the check engine light. I'm just wondering if there is anything else I can enlighten my dealer with that I didn't already say. I don't want to mess with this forever and have them try to soak me on the deal. I will raise some serious stink if they try to pull my chain.



Thanks Alan,



Craig

 

[Alan Reagan]

I'm glad you noticed the starting difference after adding a second pump. Most people don't realize that can happen.



I would really push for a new pump. It's no skin off their back. A truck stumbles and dies when something is going wrong. Fortunately, yours started back, but it has all the symptoms of a bad pump. Yeah, it could be the harness, but I doubt it was. If it was, they should be able to shake and pull on the harness and cause it to die. If it is the pump, they won't be able to duplicate it until it is dead or so far gone you can't drive it.

 

[Ron Bissett]

I think that what others said about over psi is correct should be no more than 7psi to lift pump this lets the pump do its thing without over running the pump to high psi at inlet could be trouble. My truck with 8000 mi stumbled and quit completely then started up and ran normal to present day (Gremlins) Hope you get new Pump big $ LOL Ron in Louisville KY Oo. Oo. Oo.

 

[MidwestMotorman]

I would bet money on the VP44. How many people have actually needed a harness compared to the number of people needing a VP44? I am waiting for mine to possibly die someday. It has been going for 30k after the first lift pump failure. Maybe I have a good one?

 

[Ron Bissett]

Just a second thought ,was reading again your post on stumble and quit ? . It may be possible that water from the filter could have passed on to the motor and that caused the stumble and stop of motor , the water would have evaporated and then new attempt to start removed the water vapor and new start and no more truble . Did you check the filter , and have you drained the filter housing prior to the stumble and the stoppage . Any more stumble ,or answers from the dealer . LOL Ron in Louisville KY

 

[CraigJohnson]

Thanks for the replies guys. Long story short, the dealer replaced the factory lift pump under warranty and said my pusher pump that I installed seems fine. Truck runs great so I'm going with it. Might be time to permanently install a fuel pressure gauge.



Thanks again,



Craig

 

[2-ND TIME]

engine stumble

The dealership has been jerking me around for two and a half years. Be very glad that you are in the US for if the truck runs that is all that they are concerned about up here!!! WHAT EXCRAMENT!!!

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

The pusher can be perfectly OK - but if the standard LP happens to fail in an "unfortunate" position, it CAN totally block fuel flow - to the point the VP-44 internal LP and the added pusher cannot force fuel thru to the VP-44... Until/unless a retry to start "bumps" the stock LP enough to get it working or allow some fuel flow thru it... Yeah - permanant guages ARE sort of a GOOD thing...



THat's my story, and I'm sticking to it...

 

[2-ND TIME]

engine stumble

Had Cummins dealer work on the truck the other day wanted it dyno'ed before it had the VP-44 changed. They told me before that the viscious fan needed to be changed before the summer, but the clincher is it over heated before it could be dyno'ed properly????? My question is is this a timing , water pump , ECM, wiring harness, problem?????? They said that the INSIGHT had problems talking to the ECM again so is this an ECM electronics problem ??? Any electronic engineers out there that could shed some light on this? MY guess is that the clipper circuit for the square wave generator isn't working properly and giving some kind of negative pulse for fuel retart. Does anyone have any firm data on the weight of their camper or???? that they can say that they can travel up hill in what gear and stay at ???? KMH ,MPH The other week that Cummins had it on the dyno with the air it was getting the RWHP was only 175 it should have been alot more? I read in TDR that 10 HP for 1 LB boost I think? Does anyone have any Hp data on a 99 3500 5 spd 3. 54 4x4 please??

 

[2-ND TIME]

engine stumble

I may have to replace the ECM are there any US Chrysler dealers that could help me to get one if I can't get one through Canadian dealers/ Ontario???????????????? For they havn't been helpful so far!!!! with this problem!!!!! What information is nessecary for the replacement of them?? tcarberry@ canada.com THANKS