About to get my first cummins truck.

[Jawzjeep]

Only owned 1 diesel in my life, a ford tempo. And boy it was stupid. I never worked on it so I'm not familiar with any of the diesel stuff at all. Guess it's time to get my feet wet.

My uncle bought a new Dodge Cummins truck so he offered his old one to me. And a guy just can't have enough trucks even though I have three already.

The truck is a 2002 2500 4x4 long bed with four doors but it looks like an extended cab. Nothing's been done to the engine and it's supposedly all stock. Though my uncle isn't the original owner and he doesn't work on them so there may be something done to it for all I know. It has 178,000 miles on it and it's been used like a truck. It's got a lift and 35s on it.

The front U-joint of the front Driveline came apart and swung around a little bit underneath and luckily only took out the fuel lines and banged up the yolk really bad. The fuel lines look like they're low pressure lines and from the little bit of research I've done it looks like people replace them with regular 3/8 hose, correct me if I'm wrong. One of the lines was already just a rubber hose so I'm betting their low pressure lines.

I'm also getting it for a pretty good deal since it's through family. Probably half market value.

I've heard of p pump stuff and killer dowel pin stuff but I have no idea how they relate and will be doing some research to find out. If anybody wants to drop some knowledge about what they know about the specific vehicle I'm all ears.

Only got one terrible pic of it...

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[PrairieDrifter]

P pump is what you want. The killer dowel is behind the timing cover, the fix is simple, but you have to basically disassemble the whole front of the engine. It will eventually destroy the engine if not taken care of. Definitely look into it, PLENTY of videos on YouTube.

Under 200k, that engine has just got settled in if it was taken care of at all. Will go a long time if maintained correctly. Bluish white smoke is a sign of bad injectors and that needs to be taken care of immediately. If I were going through a new to me diesel I would send the injectors out for testing and rebuilding first. Then make sure your injection pump is in good shape and the rest of the fuel system. Everything about how a diesel operates is controlled by fuel. It obviously has air supply, no ignition system, so the fuel is what makes it rev and run correctly, the injection pump is basically the determiner of "timing" in a diesel.

Be careful messing with the fuel system after the injection pump, that fuel is extremely high pressure and will cause major injury. The fuel before the injection pump should be generally low pressure, but I'm not really a huge diesel guy either, so do your research and be cautious. The Cummins following is huge, and there's all the info you could ever want about them on the internet.

 

[Jawzjeep]

Thanks @PrairieDrifter. My uncle had it for the last 5 years or so. He's the kinda guy who has more money then time so when something acts up he sends it in. I'm hoping that works in my favor. Uncle said the engine's all stock. We'll see. That's how I'd prefer it to stay but with the added needs or safety things like the dowel pin taken care of.

I'll do my research. The dowel pin and p pump stuff. It's all new to me so I figured I'd ask a bit here too. Just to get little nibblets or a primer instead of falling down the cummins rabbit hole out there. I'm sure it never ends either.

Now, where to park it
That makes the 9th car/truck sitting on my little cul-de-sac property, and I still got 3 more to drag over here. Yes, the neighbors hate me.

 

[bucket]

Damn, a diesel Tempo. That's a rare bird. How many of those were produced? Like maybe 6? Lol

The Dodge will be a much better experience I'm sure.

 

[legopnuematic]

First off congratulations. I have a 2002 Ram 2500, QCSB 4x4 Cummins myself. My opinion, but I think they get a lot more sh*t than they deserve.

Being a 2002, it is a 24 valve “ISB” with a Bosch VP44 injection pump. The VP44 is an electro mechanical injection pump used on the 1998.5-2002 Cummins equipped Dodge trucks. The “P pump” is the Bosch P7100 injection pump used on 1994-1998 trucks. It is a mechanical inline injection pump, whereas the VP, like the VE used in the first gens, are a rotary style pump.

People like to talk bad on the VP pumps and say it’s gotta be a pee pump or to swap it. Hogwash. The VP44 is a good pump overall, and excellent for a daily driver/general use pickup. The P pump has some advantages, but most really do not shine in normal use cases. Those being it can fuel at higher rpm (4000+) than a rotary pump can (becomes a physics problem). Rotary pumps typically stop making power @3500rpm and really fall off by 3700. Not really an issue as the stock redline is 3200 in these trucks. The whole P pump craze, in my opinion is just a buzzword thing, and they find their way into lots of swaps because they take about 3 wires to make run. But for a 24v, in good shape with a healthy VP, absolutely no reason to pull it and swap to a P pump, if barring a VP failure, still is a hard sell to go P pump (it is a lot of work, timing cover, pump, injector feed and return lines among other things need to be changed. You lose dynamic timing capability with the P pump.

Making a VP44 happy is not very difficult, good clean fuel and proper fuel pressure. Unlike the later common rail trucks with CP3 pumps, the VP44 is unable to draw its own fuel, it has to be fed positive displacement. 15-18psi is the recommended range. The factory mounted an electric lift pump on the block, which were/are known for failing due to under hood vibrations and heat. If the failure was under warranty, and done by a Dodge dealership, the block mounted pump would be removed, and an in tank pump would be retrofitted like the gas trucks. If you do not have gauges in the truck, at minimum a fuel pressure gauge is recommended. If the pressure is insufficient, a replacement lift pump is recommended or to move to an aftermarket lift pump like an AirDog or Fass system.

The reason the VP needs that pressure is it relies upon the surplus fuel flowing to draw heat from the pump, otherwise it can overheat the pump and either cause a mechanical failure, or more common is overheat/cook the electronics on the top of the VP.

Diesels like clean fuel, so fuel filter (whether it is the stock cartridge on the block, or aftermarket lift pump) changes should be done at regular intervals. Lots of people try to push them and scratch their heads on why they have issues.

Being a 2002, it was built in Mexico, and should have a block cast in Mexico. Why this it’s important, is that earlier trucks used blocks cast in Brazil and used a numbering system. Including the notorious 53 blocks. But the Mexico blocks are reported to be a better cast block and much heavier of a casting than it should be. My truck has 360k miles and has not been rebuilt. No blowby and a strong runner at that mileage. Starts right off a key bump.

2001.5-2002s are factory disc brake rears (automatic+5 speeds are Dana 70s, HO 6 speeds and 3500s are Dana 80s). By buying parts for a 2003+ truck, you can put larger brakes on for the cost of a brake job. Must have 17”+ wheels though. 2000-2002s use the same ball joint tapers as the 4th gens, making the 4th gen T style steering a drop in upgrade to move away from the factory Y style steering.

Since you mention a U joint failure, check the transfer case over really good to make sure it did not get damaged when that happened. And check the rears to make sure they are in good condition. Bad u joints/driveline vibrations can break the transfer case case if left.

Outside of the Cummins itself, most of the parts are shared between the 1500-3500 and gas and diesel trucks.

Mopar 1973 man is a very good resource, along with the 2002 Factory Service Manual

 

[Jawzjeep]

Damn, a diesel Tempo. That's a rare bird. How many of those were produced? Like maybe 6? Lol

The Dodge will be a much better experience I'm sure.

It was a 5 speed even. Anytime I was around a bicycle rider I would go from first gear to 5th and just watch them disappear in a cloud of coughing

 

[Jawzjeep]

@legopnuematic thanks for that. That's exactly the kind of info I'm looking for since I'm a dummy with these things. Reading about them had been a little difficult because I don't know a lot of the terminology so I have to go back and look up what a lift pump is and what a fuel heater is. It's all Latin to me but I'm starting to pick a little bit of it up.

I watched a little if deboss garage on youtube and it seems that because my fuel lines from the tank to the lift pump were damaged and came off I may have to Prime the system or get air out of the lines. I'm still doing a little bit of research. He cracked the lines and cranked it for a little while until he got fuel. I'm assuming I'm going to have to do that.

I'm not really into turning it up or anything I just want it to be what it is. IIRC it has some kind of extra gauge in a gauge pod on the a pillar but I'll have to double check. Thanks again for the insight.

 

[CountKrunk]

It was a 5 speed even. Anytime I was around a bicycle rider I would go from first gear to 5th and just watch them disappear in a cloud of coughing

Congrats

 

[legopnuematic]

To run the lift pump on these trucks, turn key to on position, bump to start (just enough to get a quick crank), the ecm will run the lift pump for about 20 seconds. Either moving quickly, or with a helper, depress the schrader valve at the inlet of the vp44 (assuming still set up like factory). This will bleed the air while the pump runs, at some point you should get a good stream of fuel. May take a couple cycles of running the lift pump. This basic procedure is the same when a fuel filter change is done.

Also note what kind of flow. It should be a healthy stream, if it’s weak that suggests either a blocked/plugged filter or failing lift pump.

It may take some cranking to fire up, sometimes worrisome amount of cranking. Do not use starting fluid or ether on a Cummins! They use a grid heater, not glow plugs. If you are unlucky things become an external combustion and blow the intake/inter cooler up.

Is the truck an automatic or manual?

My thread here might be worth a look. As far as getting an idea on how these come apart and such. They really are not very complex if you take some time to research and study things. The FSM for these trucks are very comprehensive and thorough.

 

[Jawzjeep]

@legopnuematic it's a slushbox. I've already been warned about using ether so I won't be doing that. Time to go read up on the VP 44. And I'll definitely check out your thread, thanks.

 

[legopnuematic]

The 47RE is (like the VP44) not as bad as some people would like you to believe. The weak links on them are the factory torque convertor and the valve bodies. From the factory they use a stamped front and rear torque convertor, which has nuts welded on the face and then is welded together, this creates a warped face that the lockup clutches ride on so instead of bearing on one large surface, it may be hitting on 6 small points. A billet front half torque convertor will solve that issue. The valve bodies/hydraulics stock are on the lower end pressure wise, which can lead to clutch slippage/not as firm hold.

But in stock form and not pushing beyond their limits there should not be too much concern. Keep the bands adjusted, fluid and filter serviced, don't let it run hot, and it should provide a good service life.

Nick's Transmissions (a member here) just uploaded a video on 46/47/48RE build strategies too, lots of good information: Here

 

[ByrdDog]

I'd install a fuel pressure gauge. The VP44 can still function on very low pressure, so you want to know if your lift pump is failing. I installed a Raptor pump in place of the stock one & was very happy with it.

 

[Derick C.]

Same color as the 97 ram I had, only reason I got rid of mine is because I needed 4 doors.

 

[Jawzjeep]

Got it running today. Replaced the 2 lines and got the air out. A lot easier than I thought. Just overcomplicated it.

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Appreciate the help folks

 

[Craig Nedrow]

Nice porch on the house, we practically live on ours