Unfortunately the only time I can seem to get on here is when I'm having issues with my truck. I'll give a quick run down of whats going on and we can see if the experts have the same diagnosis as I do.
There is what seems to have been 2 problems going on at the same time, and I believe that they had some ties to each other, read on and I'll explain. I don't drive the truck much so it has taken me a long time to diagnose, attempt to fix, and test drive. Forgive the long post but please read all of it before responding.
First off, for the last 2 years or so I've had a problem with the engine wanting to randomly cut out, as if you shut the key off. It would only cut out for a split second then come right back on. Well, one time it cut out coming to a stop light in the middle of town and refused to re start. Once I got it home and scanned it it showed IDM codes. After finding the plugs that are under the valve cover on both banks' UVCH's to be loose (which was fixed by grinding a flat spot on a quarter and shoving it under the clippy part), I replaced the IDM. She ran again but still had a random, intermittent cutting out that could not be duplicated at will. I am not sure if this problem is related at all to what is going on now, just a little background info that may be useful to those reading.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. Still randomly cutting out but still gets me where I need. Well as I was coming to a stop on an exit ramp it dies, and refuses to restart. After much cranking to no avail, I walk to the gas station and buy a can of starting fluid. I give her a little snort and she fires and runs on her own, albeit hatefully for a few seconds. She smooths out and I finish going home. She did throw a CEL this time however, I forget the exact DTC number but I do remember that it was Injection Control Pressure lower than desired (engine crank or run). Finally I had a clue where to start.
Over this weekend I had time to start looking around at things. Did some data logging with ICP and IPR DC%. Pressures were dropping while DC% maxed out at WOT. I also felt around at different plugs/sensors to see if there is any broken or loose wires. I have it running while doing this, and as soon as I wiggle the IPR plug, it shuts off as if someone turned the key off. I had the woman sit in the truck to keep restarting it so I could more easily duplicate it, and every time I wiggled the IPR plug, it would cut out.
After some quick inspection of the plug I find that where there would normally be some rubber or something where the wires come into the plug, there is nothing but some goopy crap and not much of it, and bare wire showing. I believe this is why it was cutting out randomly, the wires would touch sending the IPR control voltage straight to ground, IPR would no longer get voltage, and it would die. I cleaned out the goopy crap, and while making sure the bare wires were separated, I packed the plug full of high temp silicone gasket maker. After it set up I wiggled the wires and plug all around and it ran without problems, so I took it for a test drive, and at WOT it started cutting out again, worse than before, however it didn't feel like the engine was completely shutting down, just a massive loss of power.
So a little bit ago today I hooked the scanner up to her and decided to try to duplicate the problem. Below are pictures of the graphs in AE. Red line is ICP, 0-4000 PSI; blue line is IPR DC%, 0-100%.
First is with the chip removed, and WOT.
Next 2 are with the chip in the highest power setting at WOT.
Last one here is with the chip in the highest power tune, and roughly half throttle.
Every time I would feel a cutting out/bogging down the ICP line drops, and the exhaust note made a clear change. The small link between the IPR plug and seemingly junk HPOP is that the duty cycles almost seem higher after fixing the plug than before, almost like it was just slightly arcing but not shorting completely out. I don't have a picture of it, but I noticed that during cranking on my first start up of the day, the DC% shot up to around 50% until it started, then settled down in the 14% range. Also holding the RPM's in park/neutral at about 2000 showed a DC% around 25%.
So is my HPOP junk?
Did I waste nearly a grand on this thing?
If it is junk, how can I get ahold of the shop owner since from my understanding, he closed up, but is now open under a different name scamming people with a different junk part? From the little bit of reading I've had the opportunity to do, it seems I'm not alone when it comes to problems with this pump. This is actually the 2nd one I've had, the first was replaced under warranty for a similar, however not as bad inability to hold pressure.
More of a legal question more than mechanical, but if my pump is junk and he is in fact no longer honoring the lifetime warranty on them, is there any way that those of us that bought them and now have a junk one can band together and start some sort of a class action type lawsuit against him? I wanna get ahold of him first and find out to give him a chance, but if the above is the case, is that possible?
And finally, what is the probability of the pump being fine, but the problem is actually an internal high pressure oil leak inside the engine? Is there really any documented cases of that? If that was the case, would there be other symptoms as well?
There is what seems to have been 2 problems going on at the same time, and I believe that they had some ties to each other, read on and I'll explain. I don't drive the truck much so it has taken me a long time to diagnose, attempt to fix, and test drive. Forgive the long post but please read all of it before responding.
First off, for the last 2 years or so I've had a problem with the engine wanting to randomly cut out, as if you shut the key off. It would only cut out for a split second then come right back on. Well, one time it cut out coming to a stop light in the middle of town and refused to re start. Once I got it home and scanned it it showed IDM codes. After finding the plugs that are under the valve cover on both banks' UVCH's to be loose (which was fixed by grinding a flat spot on a quarter and shoving it under the clippy part), I replaced the IDM. She ran again but still had a random, intermittent cutting out that could not be duplicated at will. I am not sure if this problem is related at all to what is going on now, just a little background info that may be useful to those reading.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. Still randomly cutting out but still gets me where I need. Well as I was coming to a stop on an exit ramp it dies, and refuses to restart. After much cranking to no avail, I walk to the gas station and buy a can of starting fluid. I give her a little snort and she fires and runs on her own, albeit hatefully for a few seconds. She smooths out and I finish going home. She did throw a CEL this time however, I forget the exact DTC number but I do remember that it was Injection Control Pressure lower than desired (engine crank or run). Finally I had a clue where to start.
Over this weekend I had time to start looking around at things. Did some data logging with ICP and IPR DC%. Pressures were dropping while DC% maxed out at WOT. I also felt around at different plugs/sensors to see if there is any broken or loose wires. I have it running while doing this, and as soon as I wiggle the IPR plug, it shuts off as if someone turned the key off. I had the woman sit in the truck to keep restarting it so I could more easily duplicate it, and every time I wiggled the IPR plug, it would cut out.
After some quick inspection of the plug I find that where there would normally be some rubber or something where the wires come into the plug, there is nothing but some goopy crap and not much of it, and bare wire showing. I believe this is why it was cutting out randomly, the wires would touch sending the IPR control voltage straight to ground, IPR would no longer get voltage, and it would die. I cleaned out the goopy crap, and while making sure the bare wires were separated, I packed the plug full of high temp silicone gasket maker. After it set up I wiggled the wires and plug all around and it ran without problems, so I took it for a test drive, and at WOT it started cutting out again, worse than before, however it didn't feel like the engine was completely shutting down, just a massive loss of power.
So a little bit ago today I hooked the scanner up to her and decided to try to duplicate the problem. Below are pictures of the graphs in AE. Red line is ICP, 0-4000 PSI; blue line is IPR DC%, 0-100%.
First is with the chip removed, and WOT.
Next 2 are with the chip in the highest power setting at WOT.
Last one here is with the chip in the highest power tune, and roughly half throttle.
Every time I would feel a cutting out/bogging down the ICP line drops, and the exhaust note made a clear change. The small link between the IPR plug and seemingly junk HPOP is that the duty cycles almost seem higher after fixing the plug than before, almost like it was just slightly arcing but not shorting completely out. I don't have a picture of it, but I noticed that during cranking on my first start up of the day, the DC% shot up to around 50% until it started, then settled down in the 14% range. Also holding the RPM's in park/neutral at about 2000 showed a DC% around 25%.
So is my HPOP junk?
Did I waste nearly a grand on this thing?
If it is junk, how can I get ahold of the shop owner since from my understanding, he closed up, but is now open under a different name scamming people with a different junk part? From the little bit of reading I've had the opportunity to do, it seems I'm not alone when it comes to problems with this pump. This is actually the 2nd one I've had, the first was replaced under warranty for a similar, however not as bad inability to hold pressure.
More of a legal question more than mechanical, but if my pump is junk and he is in fact no longer honoring the lifetime warranty on them, is there any way that those of us that bought them and now have a junk one can band together and start some sort of a class action type lawsuit against him? I wanna get ahold of him first and find out to give him a chance, but if the above is the case, is that possible?
And finally, what is the probability of the pump being fine, but the problem is actually an internal high pressure oil leak inside the engine? Is there really any documented cases of that? If that was the case, would there be other symptoms as well?