My 03 has been acting up the last couple days. It's all stock, except a 4" turbo back magnaflow. Has 173k miles. The other day I went to pull out and as I let the clutch out, the rpms dropped like it was going to die then jumped to about 1600-1700. It did that a couple times. I took it for a ride and it seemed to go away. Now last night I went to pull out and it did it again. So I changed the fuel filter and add some Lucas injector cleaner. Still the same issue today. As I let it sit and the idle seemed to pulse. The oil seemed to be ok. No white smoke. No fuel in the oil, that I could tell. Kinda new to this. Reading around it could be any thing from a sensor to injectors?

 

Pulsing sounds like a typical fuel lift pump problem the Injection pump sounds like its starving. Check the lift pump pressure see if that is it.

 

X2

 

Well before we checked that, we found fuel in the oil. So we got "new" reman injectors and put them. Ironically after I left the business to return the old ones for the core, I ran into the same issue. Only at idle and pulling out from a stop sign or light. No issue running on the highway. This was the first time I had problems after installing new injectors. The place I got the injectors are going to test them tomorrow to see if they were the actual problem. Still sound like it could be the lift pump?

 

The injector shop said I have a algae problem. Put some power service bio Kleen in. Changed the filter today. Didn't look too bad. Checked the fca for the "rattle" and the resistances. No issues there. Checked the crank position sensor. Again looked ok. Checked the pressure on the lift pump, was around 10 psi at idle and stayed there at acceleration. Drove it for about 45 minutes and came back and let it sit idling. 20 minutes or so later, it started to surge and loop bad like it wasn't getting fuel. Not sure what it could be? I'm gonna run it almost empty and fuel up, plus bio Kleen again. Running out of ideas here.

 

fuel in the oil is an injector that has stuck open. the other issue sounds like a fuel control actuator. ( located by the cp-3) easy fix. get the part from cummins, NOT DODGE, it'll cost you $110 and takes 5 minutes to change.

 

Just wanted to close this thread up. Ended up taking to a shop to do a complete check. Turns out the Fca was bad and the wires going into the connector for it were loose. Makes sense when it heated up, it would act up. Cost a little more then I wanted but I know it's good to go now.