Hi All,

One day I was driving and without warning my truck died on my way home. It would not restart. I had no problems previous to that and the truck seemed to be running a little smoother than usual. I diagnosed a bad lift pump, replaced it, bleed the system but still will not start. I checked power to the vp44 which was in spec, as well as bought a code scanner and pulled p1689. From there I swapped out the relay, now my check engine light is on, but the only code that comes up is p1689. I have accepted that it is my lot in life to replace the vp44, but my question is will I need to replace any electronic parts as well? Thanks!

 

What other electronic parts are you thinking? All fuses are relays are OK? There are fuses in the cab, and under the hood.
When replacing the VP44, it is a good idea to replace the cam position sensor as well, as it will never be easier with the VP44 out of the way.

 

The fuses are all good, the relay for the fuel system was bad but I swapped it with the horn relay and was able to get the check engine light to illuminate, but still no start and the same code pops up.

Good info about the cam position sensor, I would not have thought of that. I was curious if I needed to replace any electronics associated with the injector pump, like an ecm or anything like that. Thanks for the reply

 

Best to check pump in stand alone, verifies that pump is bad and not a computer failure

 

The ECM shouldn't need replacing, unless something crazy happened under the hood to wreck both at the same time, like a fire. If a scanner/code reader can communicate with the ECM, I would assume it is functional.

 

Yep in most cases. I've found a total of maybe 4 corrosion issues (from what I dont know) in the VP harness. I had communication with the pump, no codes yet no start. Was on the verge of ordering a VP and decided to see if it would start in standalone and it fired right up. The neat thing about checking it in standalone is that it narrows it down WITHOUT a doubt to a failed injection pump. It eliminates EVERYTHING but the pump from the electrical side of things. I know it's not that easy when you dont have the tool but you can buy them on ebay for about 50 bucks
PS, I've got some old PCM's and ECM's for the VP trucks if anyone needs one for a rebuild let me know. We see quite a few more of them fail than you might think, and quite often it seems alot like a VP failure.

 

How do you check the pump in stand alone? what sort of tool do you need?

 

CUMMINS Dodge Ram Truck Fuel Pump Tester 3163834 RARE!! - eBay (item 360341247770 end time Mar-04-11 08:11:02 PST)

That ones pretty high but with the failing private dealerships they often show up for around $50.00 or less.

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

As RAWilliams said, it's not required and you dont Really have to have it, but it will eliminate the concern of putting a pump on it and not fixing your problem, which as I said in my previous post can happen. In the same respect, the majority of cases are VP-44 failure and could be simply fixed with an injection pump. As a shop our major concern is fixing the customers vehicle right the first time, and as you could imagine, If I put a $1200.00 pump on a truck and charge $200.00 labor and it's not fixed I've got a very unhappy customer

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but won't a VP44 run with just power and ground? I was told this once, but have never tried it.

 

why does that stand alone tester only work with 01-02? just curios, if its around $50-$100 i wouldn't mind picking one up just to have lying around