roughstock

my friend who lives 3 hrs away is having trouble with her truck. It is a2002 2500 Ram Cummins, 6spd, 4x4, 200k mi. Taken care of.
She called other day and says her truck is cranking longer than normal. but just a little.
Now, when she parks up hill, she says it has to crank "forever" before it starts. I figured bad LP or drain back.
I had her park up hill, bump starter and let it prime for 20 seconds and then do it again. then Start it. She said if fired right up and ran fine.
the LP is still behind filter housing, but it is an after market one, cant remember which one, but its not an airdog etc. just a simple electric inline one. I think I saw them at Source Auto.
anyway, I changed her Fuel filter a month ago because she said it was cuttin out under load. new filter fixed that.
Where do I start looking?
hoping its not VP.
Thanks
J

whiskers

Had this problem once and it turned out to be bad conection in the fuel pump relay. It wasn't actually running to buil up pressure. Bump it and it would prime and fire. I just pulled the relay to check it out and clean of the plug contacts and it's worked fine since. The key bump would tell me it was electrical , more than the pump,

whiskers

You should be able to hear the pump run when you turn on the key. That's how I first checked my relay, couldn't hear it come on.By the way, check the pressure. if it is a carter it may not put out good. Mine put out 3-4 pounds. Replaced with Fass and it is good at 17-20. And my other trucks Raptor is the same.

roughstock

Pump runs with key bump. I think it is repriming the system, then it starts fine. Still thinking it is draining back.

Doj Dewd

I had a similar issue awhile ago, and even the same uphill issue (downhill parking was fine) - turned out to simply be a loose injector line nut on the head allowing a tiny bit of air in the system, then when siting uphill the air would make its way to the top of the system. Check the six nuts, then the VP44 fittings to ensure all are tight. Wouldn't hurt to check all other fuel system connections either, but start at the head

roughstock

Ok. Thanks for the input. It's hard for me to work on it since she lives 3 hrs away. And I dont want some half rate shop telling her she needs a VP when it might be as simple as loose fitting.
I'll see what I can do.
Thanks again.

roughstock

Ended up being a bad fuel line connection on back of engine. Runs/starts good now

whiskers

Cool, glad you got her up and running.

PaulDaisy

I think in the past people would jump on a thread like this and say no one is allowed to run 2nd gen 24v trucks without fuel pressure gauges