I did some research and here's what i found.
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How I corrected my loss of prime and hard start condition - Dodge Diesel - Diesel Truck Resource Forums
Dodge Diesel - Diesel Truck Resource Forums

Time for you to do some reading. Remember the search function is your friend.
Good luck!

 

Hey Scott, would be great if you could copy and paste the info your reffering to here. There is a large populations of us here that can't see DTR. Little differences of opinions with their management ya know.

 

It's all gonna come down to the information that the Pressure gauge tells us to be able to answer this question. Only other choice is to just bite the bullet and change the VP, but I'm not gonna suggest it yet.

 

How I corrected my loss of prime and hard start condition
As promised, here is the corrective action to my hard start loss of prime trouble.

Turned out to be a bad VP44. The start sequence on the VP44 computer was fubar. Chip from Bluechip Diesel was a tremendous help in correctly troubleshooting the injection pump via phone. Ordered a pump from Chip and replaced it and and a few other items myself at a leisurely pace over a 4 day period.

The pump that failed was the 3rd replacement pump since truck was new, it lasted 2 1/2 years and about 41,000 miles. Apparently all my fuel mods didn't help much with this particular problem. Truck currently has 152,135 miles. After removing the bad pump, inspection revealed the key had been squashed and partially sheared at the time of installation. If ya want it done right, do it yourself!!!

My truck now runs like a scalded ape, can't believe the difference. Now I know and remember how the Cummins is suppose to run....

Mike

And another

Hope this helps someone
Not a problem, my symptoms,troubleshooting and possible corrective actions started about 6 weeks ago. I will list them in order as follows:

1. I noticed the truck was cranking longer than usual to start, so I replaced my original batteries ( 5 1/2 years old ) this did not help.

2. I had good fuel pressure,so I thought maybe I had a fuel volume issue. Changed my fuel filter, fingers crossed....nope, did not help.

3. Five mornings in a row I have had to crack two injector lines and watch air?& fuel dribble from the lines while the wife turned the truck over, finally it would start.

4. Still thinking it may be a fuel volume problem, I drained and dropped the fuel tank for inspection. Surprisingly the tank was pretty clean. The fuel pickup screen on the cannister was a gooey slimy mess...I ordered and installed a Vulcan Draw Straw..(told the wife It was necessary) please let this fix the problem!!

5. Sure enough, just my luck... did not help. I'm cursed. Installed a new overflow valve on Vp44, no help..

6. Another week goes by, still having trouble starting truck in the morning after setting overnight, wife is a trooper; still helps every morning. I tried the nose pointing up and down while parked method ...no help! Checked for codes...no codes!

7. So, after much perusing and gleaning of posts on this site and others I started checking for fuel/air leaks...could not find any. So maybe the fuel was draining back through my Vp 44 return line like some of the other owners have experienced or past my Rasp pressure regulator....

8. Parked the truck, started driving wifes car. I ordered and installed (5days have passed) 1 psi crack check valves on both lines (Vp44 return & Rasp press reg), I installed a clear diesel rated fuel line between fuel filter and Vp44 with 2 loops to check for air bubbles fingers crossed again.... finally got it started drove it to town and back home...

A couple hours later I popped the hood, no air bubbles in the clear line...this is good!!! tried to start the truck, wouldn't start; after cranking until the batteries almost died it started. Shut it off and immediately tried to start the truck again...no start. Just for kicks I checked for codes again... nope no codes! 4 more day have passed and I haven't been able to get the truck started.

9. Friday morning over a cup of java, thinking I'm done; don't know what else to do. I decide to call Bluechip diesel. In retrospect I should have called Chip 4 weeks earlier...would have saved me a lot of time and money.

After discussing my symptoms, my failed troubleshooting and the new parts I installed, Chip advised me to disconnect the grid heaters, give it a shot of ether and try to start it then call him back....it fired right up and ran normal.

I called Chip back...Bad Vp44!!!!!!!!!! Installed new Vp44 all is well......

Hope this history of my troubles helps someone......

Just a suggestion....I think it would be a great help to everyone using this site if members would post a follow up on how the troubles with their truck were fixed...I read a lot of posts about problems but very few about the corrective action..

 

That is some good reading

 

Yep VP is usually the problem,though no1 wants to just fly off the handle and say "change the vp" but that's what it is most times.
one VP of mine bit the dust,first thing I knew of it it was hard to start,cranked for like 15 seconds,as opposed to the 1 second it usually takes,then drove it 250miles or so home,never started again with that VP,it had run fine all the way home.

Next VP that went out was running great,I let it drop to an idle after moving it like 20 feet at the trailer yard and it started running like crap,no1 had ever heard of that happening,but it was the VP,so changed it,man did it run better.

 

I too would bet that the VP-44 is bad - especially since you ran it for awhile with a bad lift pump. While its pretty rare, a VP-44 can die without throwing a code. I personally dont trust the flow test and I like to see a minimum of 7 or 8 psi at WOT.

 

History: truck had gotten very hard to start but ran normally. Fuel flow to VP44 appeared good. 240,000 miles on original lift pump and VP44

I talked to Chip at Blue Chip Diesel. He said if fuel supply is good that the problem is the VP44. Test is to start engine with starting fluid and no throttle and see if it immediately settles down to a proper idle. I did - it did - conclusion is VP44 is bad. There are lots of VP44's on the market: couldn't find any new ones but rebuilt ones are commonly available from about $1,100, to the quote from Dodge for a "pump rebuilt by cummins" for $2,800 - that does not include installation! Chip says the low cost rebuilds use used parts and tend to have short lives because of it. If I understood chip correctly, the likely cause of my VP failure was printed circuit board failure due to a high number of thermal cycles. There is a "new" board that is supposed to be much more robust - known as the Fed-Ex mod - might be more to the mod than a more robust board. Chip offers two rebuilt VP44s: the first is (my description) a stock/OEM unit. It costs roughly $200 more than the units rebuilt using used parts. Seems worth it to me. The second unit is much more expensive - about $1,900 for a "Special X". Functionally this unit provides a bit more power, a bit better fuel mileage, a little more/sharper engine noise, and won't pass emission tests. The reason for increased emissions is advanced timing, increasing the nitros oxide emissions along with improved fuel economy and power. The timing of stock VP44s has been set (ie reduced) by the manufacturer to meet emmision requirements. The Special X features all the latest and greatest parts possible for the pump - some of Chips own design and patented. I looked up the patent. The following is as much a question as it is an explanation. It appears the Special X pumps incorporate an integrated controller that increases fuel flow through the stock injectors. Chips patent seems to pertain to the controller and its integration. This increased fuel flow would give some of the extra power. It appears the advanced timing is likely due to the specific parts involved in the rebuild - not the controller or patent per se.

I asked Chip what would happen to performance if larger injectors were installed along with the Special X pump; answer is = more power and worse fuel mileage. The thought crossed my mind later - could I improve fuel mileage of the Special X pump even more by changing to smaller injectors such that power was returned to approximately stock levels? An interesting possibility for me as the stock truck has adequate power for my needs most of the time - but when I make those months long trips with camper and trailer into the wildernesses I love I could swap to the stock (or larger) injectors. What I don't understand - perhaps someone can explain it to me, is just what after-market performance enhancing controllers do. What functional change do they effect on the Injector timing, fueling dwell, other? What is the difference between these after-market controllers that people add to their trucks and the controller that Chip builds into his Special X pump?

Chip said the special X controller would yield about 1-2 MPG improvement. The economics of that are about 5-10% MPG improvement at a cost of about $600 over Chips quality rebuilt pump (I have no interst in that other junk using used parts). $600 buys 150 gallons of fuel (I'm hoping prices come down) - or far less in Northern Canada and Alaska. 150 gallons of fuel is good for perhaps 3,000 miles (significantly less when loaded). Dividing 3,000 miles by the improved mileage (5-10%) gives the approximate breakeven point on the value of the special X pump. The answer is 30-60,000 miles - less if fuel prices remain higher, and less if fuel mileage is worse (as in a loaded vehicle) but the percentage improvement in mileage is valid. Chip says he sells about 8 Special X pumps for each stock/OEM level pump he sells. It appears there are many Special X pumps in use and that they have a good reputation - meaning to me that what Chip says about pump life, power and fuel economy are true.

One thing I don't understand: perhaps lift pump failures are not the problem we believe. I think my lift pump failed well over 100,000 thousand miles ago. I say this because I've tried to use it to prime new fuel filters and there is no sign of any fuel being pumped - so I always ended up using starting fluid - or WD-40 because I'm nervous about starting fluid - but starting fluid is quicker and seems less likely to leave dirt collecting oil deposits in the air intake tract. The point is - the high number of reported VP44 failures (short lives) may often be due to the quality of the rebuild than to a bad lift-pump. Also, there have more than a few times that I realized my fuel filter needed changed because it would no longer flow enough fuel to achieve 2,000 engine RPM - that's seriously restricted. Maybe I had a great VP44 to start with - or perhaps fuel is not quite as vital to the VP44 as everyone believes. Perhaps poor fuel flow kills marginal VP44's and the smart thing to do is buy better VP44s - I'm not saying don't monitor fuel pressure - I'm saying that it appears not all VP44s are created equal and that lesser ones could be more expensive in the long-run no matter how attentive you are to fuel pressure and fueling system enhancement. Also, perhaps more attention should be spent on the effect the number of stop/stop thermal cycles rather than total miles driven, when evaluating VP44 Life.

Jim

 

In essence just abuot everybody is right here on the problems with the VP44's. There is no one magic problem, but several simple things that have all lead up to the bad rap for good trucks. The cheap made pumps are deffinatley a marketing problem. The other problem is fuel supply though. Since the VP pumps are cooled by excess fuel that is returned to the tank if there is not enough excess fuel then there is not enough cooling going on, no different then running out of water in your radiator. The other common problem isn't even the pumps themselves. The Regulator bolt on the outgoing fuel side tends to go bad and mimic symptoms of the pump going bad. So folks replace a $1000 before they check the $20 banjo bolt.

As far as which pump to go with, that's a personal decision. I suspect that truck safety and emissions testing will be back in the not to far future and federally mandated. I can see a good many of these trucks goin down the tubes when that hit's. Whichever pump you decide on, I will tell you that from first hand experiance, you can't go wrong with buyin a pump from Chip. He will make sure it's right before and after the sale.

 

Thanks for the update Jim - definitely good info. Im going to merge this with your other thread.

I think if you got 240k out of the stocker - it doesnt owe you anything.