Have a 2001 Dodge Ram Quad Cab 2500 Cummins....... been thinking alot about this lately........about 5-6 months ago I was hauling a 32ft enclosed trailer with about 6,000 lbs in it. Fairly heavy load, shouldn't be nothing for a Cummins with a rebuilt tranny, right?

I was getting turbo lag pretty much all the way through the mountains...... the turbo would quit spooling up and the water temperature would climb pretty quick. Have to slow down to about 40mph, let the water temp cool back down, and try again. Same result after about 5 min. all the way through the mountains from West Virginia to North Carolina.

Any help on what this might be??? btw my Cummins has 434,xxx miles on it with a rebuilt transmission. Runs great, only time it has given me problems was then.

 

blown head gasket? Crapping out lift and/or injection pump? Those would be the first things I'd check.

 

list any aftermarket mods you have on your truck and that can help us better determine how to resolve your problem.

 

All stock ........

 

Oh hell...

upgrade that lift pump to an airdog, fass, or raptor pump...stock lift pump can't supply enough fuel to even a factory tuned vp44 injection pump...

Would also get a mechanical fuel pressure gauge on there..you want between 10-20PSI of fuel pressure at ALL TIMES while that engine is running or it can be severely damaging to the VP44 injection pump and cause it to fail.


take the air tube off the front of the turbo and check the turbo for shaft play and how freely it spins..shouldn't be any in and out shaft play, and little to no side to side shaft play.

turbo spool is controlled by fueling. more fuel/heat = more spool. so its possible that your injection pump may be going out. check for codes using the key trick. cycle the key on off 3 times quickly and leave it on the 3rd time without starting it. it will display fault codes on the odometer till it says done.

write those codes down if any and report back to us.

if no codes then hopefully the vp44 is alright. either way I would get an aftermarket lift pump 100GPH or better and a FP gauge.

now if you upgrade and everything else checks out, you might consider doing a valve body, and torque converter on your trans to build it up a bit, and throw some RV275 injectors in there, an edge EZ, and a boost elbow or j-hook. should bump you up to 300hp range and still be within the capabilities of the stock turbo giving you a lot more pulling power for towing and slightly better fuel economy.

 

okay thats pretty good news. No codes what so ever and never have been any. Checked turbo end play... checked out good. Transmission was rebuilt 40,000 miles ago with upgraded valve body, billet shaft, upgraded clutches, so transmission can handle it.

Definitely will get a Fass Pump, VP44's aren't cheap, gotta treat here like you want her to stick around and buy her nice things LOL.

 

don't get the DDRP crap either...fass 95 or fass150. or you can go raptor100 or 150, or airdog 100 150 or 165.

that should help protect the VP. still need the FP gauge though.

if you want some more towing power, you can do like I suggested above, or you can go all out like I did lol...but it ain't cheap to go all out. reliable though if you do it right and don't constantly have the tuner set to kill lol. 90% of the time I'm driving around on economy mode so its only runnin at 390hp 800tq. but I have 538hp/1078tq at the press of a button... actually tweaked my tuning a bit so im more around 550/1100 now. found I was running too much timing when comparing runs on the dyno chart. stock vs "timing only" lost 19hp...