Need some advice on what to do.
My 1999 3500 just suddenly lost power. Idles just fine, but when I try to give it fuel, it chatters and knocks. No power. Will only move at 5 mph. I replaced fuel filter, no difference. Fuel seems ok - had over 1/4 tank.
Would appreciate any suggestions on were to start.

 

How many miles? I had that problem with another diesel not a Cummins. It was blown rings so there was not enough compression. When it was running I opened the hood and there was smoke coming out of the oil filler. Not sure where you would look for smoke on the Cummins maybe the puke bottle on the front? The extra blow-by heats the oil and there would be smoke somewhere if that is what it was.

 

check engine light on? any trouble codes?

may have lost your lift pump and possibly injection pump...


as for rings, unless you run the truck with zero oil, you wont see any of these cummins blow rings for at least 750k miles unless you are runnin a super modified engine pushing over 1000hp and melt the pistons..cummins are very stout motors and its extremely rare to have catastrophic failure with them...

pull the codes with the key trick turn the key on and off 3 times fast leaving it on the 3rd time, but don't start the truck...the odometer will start displaying trouble codes if there are any, and it will say --done-- when its finished. write down the codes you get if there are any, and post them up here.

 

The codes on the truck are

P0336
P0251
P0216
P1690
P1688
P0252

Sounds pretty bad to me.

 

P0336 - crankshaft position sensor signal
P0251 - vp44 pump fuel valve feedback circuit
P0216 - fuel injection pump timing failure
P1690 - vp44 CKP sensor does not agree with ECM CKP sensor
P1688 - internal fuel injection pump failure
P0252 - fuel valve signal missing

it most definitely sounds like your injection pump died. I posted definitions for all of those codes... all but 1 points to injection pump failure I'm sorry to say

the first one P0336 says possible bad crank position sensor, but all the rest say injection pump is dead.

from this point what you want to do is upgrade your lift pump, because a poor lift pump is 9 times out of 10 the cause of injection pump failure, and you want to get yourself a fuel pressure gauge.

so an airdog 100 or 150, or raptor 100 or 150, even a fass 95 or 150 will do. or raptor frrp..
something rated for 100GPH or more... then you want a 0-30psi fuel pressure gauge and a needle valve to protect it from vp44 pulses.. this way you always know how much fuel pressure your injection pump is getting and you will know right away if there is a fuel delivery problem. you want 10-20psi at all times to the injection pump. fuel is the oil and coolant for that pump and if it has little to no pressure its like running an engine with no coolant or oil. tends to take them out quick..

so that stuff I recommended is for preventing the next pump from failing...

for the fix itself, talk to jacob at diesel auto power and ask for a standard output vp44 injection pump.. (he usually has the best prices on them) I think he has some package deals on injection pumps with lift pump...you'll have to ask him about it. his number is 951-377-4844 and hes open mon-fri 9-5 mountain time. hes a good guy to work with and wont screw you over on pricing or anything. his website is www.dieselautopower.com


just replace that injection pump, and get a good lift pump and fp gauge, and you should be back on the road again if you do the work yourself it shouldn't cost you much over $1500 to upgrade lift pump, get gauge, and new injection pump. if a mechanic does it, it'll cost several hundred more... injection pump itself through jacob is just under $1100, lift pump in combo deal is like $365 I think. fuel pressure gauge cost depends on if you go mechanical or electronic. mechanical cost a bit more but are far more accurate and reliable. electronic ones tend to suffer sender failures after a while. i run an airdog150 lift pump and have a mechanical FP gauge on a column mount myself...

 

can't stress enough how important it is to upgrade lift pump and get FP gauge...don't let anyone talk you into getting a stock lift pump to replace your current one...stock lift pumps can barely keep up with stock power, and often times don't keep up slowly driving nails in your vp44's coffin...

upgrade to aftermarket performance lift pump and be done with it...airdog and fass products come with a lifetime warranty, so if they ever fail they are replaced free of charge.

 

Jigabop I bought the truck from an auction and someone had apparently used starting fluid. DO NOT USE STARTING FLUID IN A DIESEL

 

starting fluid can greatly increase cylinder pressure and heat, also it, like a solvent, tends to strip oil away from everything so yes that can cause damage...if you need help getting your diesel started, fog propane in the intake...propane is safe for diesels, and will act like starting fluid in a gasoline...

the 1000hp+ puller trucks actually have to use propane to start their engines due to the very low compression they have to compensate for the 100psi+ boost that they run..

 

The engine had glow plugs so as soon as it hits the glow plugs it ignites in all the cylinders at once. No glow plugs makes it safer but not the best choice.