Getting It There
Once the fuel travels from the lift pump it is then the job of the injection pump to get the diesel fuel into the cylinder. With the high horsepower demands of the Honey Badger’s engine with the modifications we have already done and are planned, it is essential that fuel flow can keep up.
Initially, replacing the injection pump was not a part of what we planned to do, but looking deeper into it we realized that the pump was actually pretty worn out.
Our first indication of this was when we drove the truck down to RKL Diesel and the truck would go into limp mode. To get our Dodge to run properly, we had to turn the truck off and then on again to get the old injector pump to work properly.
After consulting with Ryan and being annoyed with having to pull over often on the road, we knew we needed to replace it. A big indicator was that the truck’s computer was giving a P0216 diagnostic trouble code (DTC), often known in the diesel world as the “death code.”
This DTC indicates there is an “Internal Control Timing Failure” in the VP-44 injection pump. This malfunction usually shows itself by hard starts, slight loss of power or intermittent power loss or bucking. If the injection pump is not achieving the pump timing value set by the engine ECM, the trouble code will be set.
To ensure that this problem is solved, we went with a Bosch VP-44 injector pump from Certified Injection in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“They have some of the best VP44 test stands in the country as far as testing the pump and making sure they are perfect and right where they need to be,” explains Ryan.
As has been our experience with RKL Diesel, installation was very smooth. This highly technical change, though, is best suited for the advanced mechanic.
“You’ve got to pay attention to taking everything apart and making sure that everything is aligned,” notes Ryan. “You can easily turn a good day into a bad one if not done right.”