One of my friends has an 02 24v truck that died on the road, comes up with code p0216.
My friend who works at a reputable diesel shop says it's always the injector pump that's bad, but while doing some research (bluechipdiesel.com) it apparently isn't always the case.

What are your experiences with it? What are the first things I should do? should I get a pump ordered? I haven't had much experience with the VP44's, but I think I'm going to get a crash course here pretty quick!

Oh, and what special tools am I going to need? Do I need one of those "tamper proof torx plus" bit sets? (the 5 point torx)... How about some funny shaped wrenches?

 

Im not too certain on that code, but I have pulled my vp44 off and on 3 times in the last year . Its not too difficult, I got my pump puller tool from genos garage online and it was well worth the money. Other than that all you will need is new intake gaskets, a few normal wrenches and some sockets and extensions. I can pull and replace mine in just over 2 hours now

 

I know how that feels... I used to be able to pull an Rx7 engine and reinstall in 4 hours, with all the pollution controls intact from the time I shut the old engine off to the time I fired the new one up...
I have a gear puller that I made for a P7100 pump that works really well, as long as the bolt centers are the same for the VP44 gear it should do just fine.
Don't have any intake gaskets, but have gasketing material I'll take with me to cut a new one if necessary, bringing the pressure washer since the engine is CAKED in greasy dust (stupid crankcase vent!). Apparently the fuel filter was totally collapsed and dirty as hell, so it's getting a new lift pump and filter, and we'll see if that might fix it, otherwise the Vp's gotta come off.

Thanks!