Wrote Cummins and asked about the filtration quality of the Fleetguard filters and the longevity of the new Federal-Mogul lift pump. Interesting reply for all diesel owners.


Summary: ram isb fuel syst concerns, fuel quality





Solution:


Thanks for your email Larry, about fuel system quality and concerns, and - we have to add - FUEL QUALITY.


The official statement of course is that everything will be just fine, but you've already heard that for 160K-miles!


The fact of the matter is we have a divergence, where the fuel quality demands of today's complex,


precision high-pressure electronic fuel injection systems are requiring less and less contaminats, but


fuels and fuel quality are not necessarily following suit.


Also, not to mention some other exacerbating factors such as:


1. rapid fuel system design/implementation cycles due to constantly changing emissions laws.


2. due to #1.) the general product environment being that product life cycles are far longer than


their design cycles .... product gets out before many issues are realized.


3. more fuel changes are coming, so fuels are becoming a "moving target" as well.


4. if you get acceptable fuel most of the time but have a couple of bad tanks of fuel with water


contamination, and you don't catch it.... then high-dollar repairs are in order!


There have been lift pump issues with the ISB engine on the Ram trucks over the years, for the '88.5


to 2002 model years with the VP-44 electronic rotary fuel system. With the 2003+ common rail system


we haven't yet heard of many issues .... and perhaps some of the learning curve has been useful. The


latest lift pumps for the VP-44 (previous fuel system) seem to be working well in the field.


In Ram applications, there is no primary filter ahead of the lift pump as in some other applications, for


example as with ISB RV and marine applications which use a primary filter/ water separator ahead


of the lift pump. Therefore, the pump is susceptible to any contamination which finds its way into the


tank and is smaller than the coarse filter screen.


The main preventive maintenance operation that you can do is to use the recommended


MOPAR or Fleetgaurd filters because we know the quality of these filters, regardless of who says


what about microns and percent. If you have an issue down the road, both of us can eliminate the


fuel filter as cause for concern if you're using one of our filtration products.


You can find the latest filters on the Cummins Fleetguard website at:


www.fleetguard.com ......and you'll see something like:


Application Lookup Results (2004 Ram 3500, Cummins 5.9 diesel) ... you'll note that both


Fleetguard and Chrysler P/N's are listed.





Lube


FLEETGUARD


Note: FLEETGUARD LF3972 replaces OEM part CHRYSLER 5083285AA.





Fuel/Water Separator


FLEETGUARD


Note: FLEETGUARD FS19579 replaces OEM part CHRYSLER 5015581AB.





Transmission


FLEETGUARD


Note: FLEETGUARD TF15039 replaces OEM part CHRYSLER 52118789.


Fine fuel filtration is paramount to the common rail systems in particular, because the high pressure


is constantly available in the fuel rail and the injectors are basically "hydraulic switches." If a


piece of contaminant gets into the injector mechanism and jams the "switch" open an uncontrolled


fuel flow which is un-timed will enter the combustion chamber. This is not good.





Unfortunately, many fuel system component failure issues are accompanied by contaminated fuel


issues, that's why it's best to buy fuel from the large, high-volume truckstops and commercial fuel


islands.


It's also been said (we have no data, but it "seems" directionally correct) not to fuel up


just after the main stor

This ought to go in the Duramax forum as well. Don't know how many get to this forum. Way interesting read, and unusually candid from a manufacturer.

I went to a Fleetguard seminar a few years back when they first came out with the 9000 series filters, For those not familar with these, they are an upgrade filter, not sure if they make one for the 5.9 yet, but the PSD is coming out in Mid December.


This filter is a 2 stage filter, it is a full flow stratapore filter, with a bypass filter built into it. It filters 37% of the oil passing through the filter, through media in the 2-3 micron range with a stacked disc media. It basically eliminates the need for a secondary bypass filter for those that want one.


They also said with the 3000 seires you can run extended drain intervals. Cummins on their N14's was recommending 12K oil changes, Fleetgaurd said they will warranty the motor up to 35K mile oil changes with the standard Lf3000 filter.


It helps that Cummins owns Fleetgaurd, but If these guys don't know their stuff, they sure did a good job on selling me. I don't sell out easy.


I work a trucking company that used to run lubrifiner, we switched to fleetgaurd because lubrifiner was not giving us any support on achieving SCA/DCA levels in the cooling system, we constantly had problems. After we switched to Fleetgaurd we saw so many other advantages we never realized were problems before, we no longer pull rusty, dented filters, with metal filings in them out of the plastic. We no longer found filters with missing gaskets, we no longer had oil filters that seaped around the filter head. Filters that the anit drainback valve actually worked in. They were actually cheaper, and most of all our SCA/DCA problems went away.

Horse Trainer,


You can put it on the Duramax site if you think it will help. It is interesting and an encouragement to drain the filter housing occasionally between filter changes. That's possible on the Duramax but a bit harder as the drain valve is not easily accessable like the Cummins.


I know of an upgraded oil filter coded LF16035 but never heard of an upgraded fuel filter.


"Get a gauge and monitor thy lift pump...."

I sure intend to use OEM filters in my CUMMINS. Yesterday at my local dealer I seen the head off of a 2003 engine. The out of state truck had it,s oil changed at the world,s largest store somwhere. The orange filter that they put on fell apart and some of it blocked the oil supply line to #1. The piston and cylinder are a mess. New engine goes in the truck with a big bill attached. Anything can have problems, but with a warranty OEM filters might help in the long run

its funny how they say dodge and cummins consider the use of poor quality fuels whether accidental or not to be simply abuse. thats a good one. think about it folks, we are supost to be responceable for fuel quality? my god folks where do they get off? how in the world are we going to tell whether or not the fuel we are pumping in, is good fuel? i thought it was the government standards to check the fuel quality and make sure that we were not just buying water for christ sake. simply put, cummins, navistar, and isuzu, is basicaly putting the fault on us for commercial establisments f*****ps. am i right or what folks? come on, do you really know the fuel quality is there just because you fill up at a truck stop? besides that, i like mom and pop stops, just for the fact that im supporting the true american economy. mom and pop stores is what made this county. come on folks wise up, is everything going to come down to your fault, when you have no control what so ever, to know exactly what the hell the fuel quality is at what fuel stop you are at at a particular time. give me a break. just one more screw form the big three if ya ask this hill billy. thats right , just a damn hill billy here folks. that exsplains the typing errors. haha. you get the point. just my waste of energy. hddm3

hddm3,


That would be a tough call if you had to prove YOU are not responsible for bad fuel.


"You put water in it".


Now try to prove it came from a fuel depot or mom n pop store.


How do you spell 'screwed'?

thats exsactly what i was saying. best of luck. hddm3

It can happen.


Had a guy drive his '04 cummins about 200 miles on some mixture of gasoline and diesel.


The texaco where he filled up had unleaded in it's diesel tank. They are responsible for damages, but so far there isn't any. Might take a lawyer, but for the price of replacement it could be worth it.


When given the option truck stops are always the better choice.