Hi everyone, longtime reader, first time registrant/poster.

I just purchased my 3rd Dodge/Chrysler work van yesterday, it's a 1996 B2500 with a 5.2 318, 3 speed tranny, and 156k miles on her.

The van's engine and transmission are incredibly smooth and responsive for the year, not to mention it has a roofrack and locking boxes/shelves in the back (I'm a contractor), so I jumped on the cheap price despite noticing a few warts. I'll get seperate posts up to hopefully help with some of the other minor issues, but for now my concern is the main issue- The Fuel Pump!


When I first checked out the van, I noticed the high pitch whine of a dying fuel pump and 1/4 tank of gas. No biggie, I did one on my Chevy truck a few months ago including new lines all around. One thing I did not know at the time of purchase, however, was that Dodges seem to be extra sensitive to the effects on the fuel pump of not having enough gas in the tank to keep it cool (never had that problem that I know of).

So I drove the truck home (40 highway miles) as is, and I noticed towards the end of the trip the whine got louder, and eventually my van sputtered almost dead, as I hit the gas nothing happened except for some random banging coming from the engine, and the 'check engine' light came on. I pulled over and shut it off for a minute. I started it up and continued on my way taking it very easy for the last 10 miles on the highway. As I got off, it did it again on the offramp, and restarting did nothing, I just crawled along, the occasional bang coming from the engine for about 1/2 mile.

Finally good sense kicked in and I shut it down, went around back to the tank and punched it a few times- sure enough started right up and I got it home no problems. I ran a codecheck on it and got p0300, p0301, p0303, and p0171. I also learned about filling the tank to shut up the fuel pump whining. So I filled up the tank, and surprise, the whining stopped and the van has run beautifully for the last two days, logging about 150 miles. I've been the tank topped up and haven't heard any whining.


Sorry for the unabridged Dickens novel here, just trying to be detailic and not leave anything out, but if you read all that congratulations and thank you, my question is thus-
Would my bad fuel pump cause the misfire codes and more importantly, the p0171 code as it cooked itself driving along my initial journey? I'm pretty sure it just needs a pump and a tank cleaning, but I just want the advice of some much more knowledgable folks, so I figured I would write an essay and try to answer my own question, hopefully.

Also- I'm doing a full tune-up this Sunday, including plugs, wires, filters, changing tranny fluid and oil and putting Lucas in everything I can, as well as the fuel pump and tank cleaning. Is there anything you guys would recommend doing as preventative maintanence? It's a good van and would like to keep it around for a long time to come!

Thanks again, hope I didn't put anyone to sleep!

 

Also, I should note the truck sat Feb-Aug as the previous owner died. His son had a hard time starting it, and put in some Lucas fuel cleaner recently. Does anyone feel the original problem could have been a dirty fuel filter? I wouldnt mind saving a few hundred bucks and not replacing the fuel pump, if someone knowledgable feels confident on this situation.

 

Take the 10$+ you'd spend on a quart of Lucas, and Buy better oil.

Lucas just dilutes the additives of oil( it has none itself) and just makes the oil thicker, and foamy. You do not want foamy oil.

If you want thicker oil, buy thicker oil, don't play chemist. Lucas is what is used when an engine is on it's last legs to increase oil pressure. Used car salesmen love it.

Use only ATF +4 in the tranny. NO Lucas there either.

Get a dist cap with brass contacts and make double sure no SP wires touch each other or anything grounded when engine cover is returned.

 

All of those codes can be caused by lack of fuel pressure. Once the pump is changed see if the codes come back. If they don't you're all set. But I would wait until the pump is changed before doing anything else, like the tune-up. This is in case there is something else wrong that would require an engine rebuild or replacement. In such a case, the tune-up would be money down the drain.

As to the fuel filter, don't waste your time looking for one, it is built into the fuel pump assembly and is not replaceable. You'll end up with a new filter when you install the new fuel pump assembly.

 

OP was talking about the fuel cleaner, not the oil additive.

On the subject of the so called Lucas foamy oil video from Bobistheoilguy.com there is one major problem. His test was done in an open gear configuration. No vehicle oil pump built in the last 60 plus years are open gear, only lawn mower engines are. Our pumps are a closed system where air cannot just enter the system. I know several people whom run Lucas and even I have and still do. I have ran engines for several hours on the highway and pulled out the dip stick and found NO FOAM on it or in the valve covers. Also none of my friends have either.

 

Thanks for the quick replies, guys.

As far as the fuel system goes, I am planning on changing the fuel pump afterall tomorrow, just to not take any chances. I will inspect the pcv, maf sensor, etc as well when I give it the full tuneup.

I was planning on putting in Lucas in the engine, also. However, there seems to be a large contingent of people online who do not recomend that unless an engine is truly on its last legs, and this one is not. I will continue to research myself, but most likely I will stay away and just buy high grade oil and filter. Thanks for potentially bringing something to light that I have been doing (perhaps wrongly) for many years.

As for the Lucas transmission additive, I have seen that stuff perform miracles on more than one slipping/ fried transmission. Personally, my old van, a 1999 dodge 1500 ramvan tranny started slipping bigtime, and soon wouldnt get out of first gear. Tranny drain and 2 bottles of lucas added to refill, and after driving for a bit, it all came back. I got another 6-8 months before it started slipping again, at this I repeated the process of draining and adding Lucas, and viola- another however many months of life! My uncle, who has several similiar stories and turned me on to it, swears by it also. I've just seen too many success stories involving it. The fuel system stuff is pretty good, too, although there are a million different fuel cleaners people swear by.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

I am a big fan and user of "saviour chemicals" that can take a piece of work and turn it back into a machine again. However, I am also a big believer that if the part don't need saving, you don't try to save it.

Off the shelf oil will keep an engine going for as long as it deserves to, and longer. Plain old spec transmission fluid will keep the trans happy, and all of the other fluids will do fine without extra special additives. That is assuming that proper and regular service is performed.

And the simple face of the matter is that of all of the parts I have used these treatments on, I don't think any of them received the aforementioned.