it seems like within the past few weeks a ton of lift pumps have died including mine.. is there any reason to this? winter fuel, cold weather or just a string of bad luck for some of us?

 

I am gonna say it is just a coincidence... They are a problematic part to begin with, and some of the winter fuel may have lower lubricity... But I have heard that now to help MPG they are just adding no gel additives to the fuel for winter use.

 

Mines took a poop as well I think!!!

 

Pumps are made to push fuel not pull it. The lift pumps are pulling fuel and in the winter that fuel is just a bit colder and thicker than usuall therefore burning up the pumps. We seem to see 2-3 time the volume with lp replacements in the winter as apposed to any other time of the year. Bottom line is they are problematic mostly because they are not intended to pull but to push whatever they are "pumping". Just my .02 worth.

Travist

 

mostly cause their crap to strat with

 

it might seem like more are dying because your paying more attention because yours also failed. just a thought

 

that could be true.....

 

Some may be performing their "Pre-Winter" maintenance and discovering the fuel canister isn't refilling after the filter change.
Those with full time Fuel Pressure gauges will see the problem develop in its first stages instead of finding out the hard way that the pump died "sometime ago".

 

I agree with that. I watched my guage start to drop 3-4 PSI and I just decided to replace it while it was 45 degrees out instead of waiting until it was -15.

 

Mine "Pushes", only sucks the first 18" or so of hose. (See sig)

Not sure if it will help with the overall life of the pump, but I liked the idea of having larger diameter hoses and losing the banjo fittings. When you put the pump right next to the tank you find out just how noisey that sucker is, I was suprised that I could hear it when I came to a stop or sat and let the truck idle. Oh well.

Guess I'll go with something other than the Carter when this one dies (new in June)

 

Fail! I think some high paid engineer was looking for a place as far from the fuel tank as he could get without placing it on the front bumper. after all what does he care about failures,he wont have to ever change one when it fails.WE at the shop decided that mechanics should have some input on the design of vehicles because WE FIXUM> And we would use a DEPENDABLE pump,after all we like Quality not Quantity.

 

When Dodge purchased the engine from Cummins it's probably spec'd as a "Drop-in" ready to go including the fuel pumps, as Dodge only builds gassers with in tank pumps.
The pump attached to the block makes a neater and easier to install package on the assembly line.
We all know how much they care about the user having to work on them later when we see stuff like the rear passenger side shock bolt that requires us to pull the sway bar loose on one side to get the shocks off, or the contortionist's positions one must attain to get to number 6 injector.

My lift pumps have each lasted ~45,000 miles before the pressures got too low for my tastes.
I don't much care WHAT Dodge says about pressures to the input port of the VP,...after all, it's MY truck and I don't want to see less than 10 psi.

 

are these lift pumps pricey??? im still new to this CTD thing. if they are anything like the fuel pumps on SBC's, which they somewhat resemble, then they should be relatively cheap.

can the lift pump dying cause other more expensive things to fail?

if it were not a mechanical pump stuck to the side of the block, then it would have to be an electric fuel pump, right? the kind that goes in the tank? the kind that are a total pain in the *** to replace cause you have to remove the tank and dismantle it?

i kinda like the idea of the pump being in the engine bay. then again, it looks pretty wide open for me on a 1st gen, i dont know how it is for you 94+ guys

 

See my lift pump threads in the 3rd gen Engines forum. Good lift pumps don't have to cost a fortune.

 

Anybody deep into DC that can scoop the actual number of lift pump failures vs trucks built?
Should we get the media involved?