Hi all, I'm new to the forum and like most people that get started on these forums I have a problem and hope that someone out there can help me before I drop a load of money into my truck.
I've got a 98 Dodge Diesel 2500 4x4 w/ 215,000 miles.About a month ago I started to hear a ticking noise. At first I thought it was an injector sticking so I started using some fuel additives to see if it would clear up. I didn't think it could be a valve because I just had them adjusted right at 200K miles.The fuel additive didn't help so last week I took it down to a local shop and right away the guy told me it was a broken shaft on my lift pump.Since he sounded so positive that it was a broken shagt on the lift pump Itold him to go ahead and change it out. After pulling the old pump out he told me that the shaft wasn't broke but the piston that it sat on showed signs of wear. I told him to go ahead and change it out anyway, since he already had the old one in his hand. Everything was great for about three day and then the ticking sound returned. I stuck a pipe on the lift pump to listen for the tickand for sure the tick is coming from it or something very close to it but I'm not real sure on the internal parts.Anyway, I was hoping someone has run into this problem and might be able to shed a little light on it before I go spend more money on something that's not broke.

 

Should be just a tappet driven off a cam lobe that runs up to the the pump. I would pull the pump and tappet and check to see if the tappet is damaged.

 

Do you know ifthat tappet is something that normally comes with a new lift pump? I just had the pump installed last week and I'm wondering if maybe they shorted me.

 

I've replaced several pumps, none of them came with the tappet.

 

Strangest thing, the truck stopped ticking today. Put on about 90 miles with no problems and no tick tick tick.
Thanks for the info about the tappet though Jakebrake. If it starts up again I guess I'll have to look into it.