psalm69

This is becoming really interesting and as more folks answer the poll the statisitics for each type of failure will only become more accurate. Keep responding. If it's not too much trouble I would like to approach 100 responses. I feel that will give a good sample with near normal distribution of the DTR population. Thanks again for all your help with this one guys.

BTW when I get done with the analysis I will not only report my findings, but I will give you my method and the flames can begin. Scott

Scotty

My 98.5 had four failed pumps on a stock truck.

The first was at 700 kilometers...I was told it was not deburred correctly. Erratic stumble and several codes...Sorry I cannot recall the codes.
Second one was on the same trip and I was told it had the wrong key way...wrong pump 10 mpg on the highway empty and stumbling like mad.
Third simply quit.
Fourth was determined it failed due to low fuel pressure and poor lubrication.

All of this occured in less then 14,000 kilometers or 10,000 miles.

Once I had the fourth pump it was fine.

My 2001 was heavily modified with fuel system modifications and never had a failure to the VP-44 except when someone continued to crank the tap screw in the Blue Chip cover and cracked the circuit board. No it wasn't me. I was in the drivers seat watching it happen. Can't imagine who did that.

Scotty

BigBlue

He wouldn't happen to be a sheep lover now would he?

I SPEED

Well Scott...you know how I voted. Bone stock rig with less than 50K.
She's in the shop now having the VP44 replaced. Thankfully still under warranty.

Doug

psalm69

I should solicit my wife's help with this VP44 thing. Her masters thesis was all about teaching machines (pumps in her case) to predict their own failure via mechatronics. In her case there was a strobe that shown through a column of hydraulic fluid and based upon the amount of light reaching the other side a particle count could be taken due to the refraction of light. When a certain count was reached it was known to a 99% confidence level that the pump would fail. Perhaps when she is done making dinner I'll have her figure this thing out.

BigBlue

pro439

I'm a tech for cummins and my take is that the pump failures are due to the extreme tight tolerences as compared to the 7100.Which makes them more picky to the fuel oil thats being run threw them.Fuel is very dirty and contaminated compaired to gas.It is only filtered down to 50-70 microns when it is delivered to the service station.Also because of the removal of sulfer(I think)alge is becoming a problem of growing in unused untreated fuel.Cummins/Fleetguard filters are 10 micron and the new cat's are 2 so there are people who'd like to see better filtering of the fuel before it gets to the consumer.Also some service stations that have filters on there pumps poke a hole in them instead of changing them to save money and you dump all that dirt ,water and what ever else is in their tanks into yours

pro439

Also as far as I know the out put of the VP44 is the out put if you put larger lines on w/out raising the output of the pump you'd be getting less psi and volume Same goes for more holes in the injector tips,you lose atomized psi and just dump raw fuel into the cylinder which is why you see smoke.You need psi to atomize the fuel for a better burn,more btu'swhich equals more exhaust psi to make more boost.All VP's fail due to the lack of lubrication/to tight of tolerance's which is why you could get pump after pump that would fail.Especially if there's a problem w/ the quaility of the fuel being used.Without it being tested it would be an unknown factor that isn't being looked at which should be.

psalm69

Thats pretty interesting stuff about the tolerances. As far as fuel quality that doesnt surprise me at all, so I change my filter every 6k or so. Do you have any information on the NAPA fuel filters in terms of maximum size filtered? Or better yet who they are actually made by? Scott

torquefan

Another interesting factor in your poll would be the the regular use of fuel conditioner and how it relates to VP44 longevity.

psalm69

I wouldn't know how to quantify that one. Any ideas?

Haulin_in_Dixie

Yes I lost a '99 vp44 but I did have 221,000 on it. I also had completely stock fuel lines and pump with rv275 injectors. I rarely put any conditioner in it. I had been through three lift pumps and ran 170,000 or more with no gages. All heavy pulling.

It will be interesting the pump I have now was built in 1997 (vp44) and has FASS and larger fuel lines. The vp44 banjo is drilled out 4 hole as the an fitting would not fit the installation.

It has nice strong return flow.

shortround

I just got a new pump at 76K miles. The only indication of a problem was a loss of power. Released the pedal and the power came right back up. It did throw a P0216 code, but no check engine light.
The tech brought up an interesting point. Everything he saw indicated the mechanical portion of the pump was good. The "controller" on top of the pump went south, as far as he could tell. He has had several come in with the same type problem. His thoughts is vibration induced cracking of the conductive strips on the circuit board. He was saying that only about 30% of the new pumps being replaced have mechanical failures. Wonder if anyone has looked into that possibility?
Another thing he brought up is poor grounding. Even tho ground is ground, I wonder if the sensitivity if the electronics is such that it could be detecting the difference between a long or short ground lead?
Lots of possibilities.

CarcajouCummins

Interesting thread. I spent the afternoon putting one on a friends truck. He has a TST powermax and otherwise stock. About two months ago, I hooked up a gauge to check his pressure (low power complaints) and found a very weak lift pump. He took it to dodge and got a new lp installed. Every since it has gone downhill until recently it has blown white smoke and had a miss. Finaly threw a injection pump timing code. I sold him a used pump and it ran about 15-20 minutes and sheared the key. We put on another used one and it is running like new. This all happened at 99,700 miles. Made him sick when I reminded him a tapped wire means no warranty. So what happened? My guess is lack of lube on original pump caused timing plunger to sieze. Second pump did not like being tapped, the whole poor machined but did not show up until the wire was tapped thing. Third pump, well lets just say I hope he does NOT call me any time soon, I am running out of spares.

Now to confuse things, I have 245,000 miles on my Y2K with the original VP and several lp configurations. I have had the stock banjos until 235k and the truck has been at 500hp since 135k. I have a timing box plugged into the VP and the wire tapped plus 125hp injectors. I am a firm believer in additive and have been running Amalgamated fuel additive for quite some time. I currently have an AirDog as my lp and no longer use the stock filter or lines.

infidel

Napa Gold filters are made by Wix. If you take the blue paint off a Fleetguard fuel filter you will see it is also made by Wix, numbers on the base are exactly the same. They are one in the same. I don't know the micron rating but am pretty sure if you enter the part number at www.napaonline.com it will give it to you.