I have been in lift pump hell for about 6 months now and I'm ready to just gutt the whole fuel system and replace everything. I basically have 3 questions that hopefully some of you can answer.

First, my first lift pump died at 141k miles. By die I mean the truck just stopped running and left me stranded on the interstate towing a horse trailer with horses. Luckily there was a Dodge dealer at the next exit. They replaced the puller lift pump with an in the tank pusher pump. They said that the puller pump was no longer availble due to the many problems it was causing to the VP44. My truck now has 148k miles on it and I am looking at a long summer towing horses all over the country. I can't be broke down on the interstate with live stock so I am wondering if I should go ahead and replace the VP44 although it has not given any indication that there is something wrong with it? Most people have told me that I am very lucky to get 148k on the original VP44. Is 148k good, bad or average?

Second, the in tank pusher pump started blowing fuses about 2 weeks after it was installed. Each time a fuse blew, the truck died. The VP44 never got starved for diesel long enough to damage it, it just ran dry and quit running. I took the truck to my local mechanic and he could not find out why the fuses were blowing. He looked for shorts in the wiring, etc and found nothing. So the pump was replaced again with an in the tank fuel pump which has worked fine, no fuses blown. Again is it time to replace the VP44?

Third, I'd like to beef up or get rid of the in tank pusher pump and replace it with a FASS. Do they make a FASS pump or something similar that will work in conjunction with the in tank pump? or do I need to find an old sending unit and replace the in tank pump altogether with a FASS?

thanks for reading my post,
Bob

 

Your new lift pump should have its own new power wired directly to the battery with its own inline fuse. How did they power your new in-tank pump?
Check out the FASS at Diesel Performance Products(it's their product) dieselpp.com. It'll give you peace of mind, a mileage boost(they claim 8% better mileage), and a performance boost.
Cheers
Mike
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bekim's got it for the pump, but with your VP44 if the engine just died and you did not attempt to start it, or run then you will be ok. the only way to tell if the VP44 is dieing is a code will pop up (cant remember off the top of my head right now) or your truck will seem to struggle.

as long as your truck is pulling fine I would leave it alone and install a FASS or something similar for piece of mind.

 

The in-tank pump does have a 15AMP in-line fuse. The in-line fuse kept blowing.

IF I install a FASS and the in-tank pump quits or blows another fuse, will the truck keep running? Or does the FASS totally replace the in-tank lift pump?

 

Where is a good place to order the FASS pump? Also, does anyone know which one I need? My lift pump on my truck has been replaced with an in-tank pump. From looking at the installation instructions, it does not look like the 98.5-02 kit will work on my truck.