Thanks for the reply Doodle's Bill. I am not a Diesel mechanic by far, even though I have worked on old Dodge's with gas engines all my life (its not a hobby its an obsession). I changed the fuel filter and the dead petal problem is solved. I installed a low fuel pressure sensor and a new lift pump. Now the truck is hard to start after it has sat a while (overnight). Sometimes when this happens I have to bleed air out of the fuel lines, but after two weeks you would think that the air would be out unless I have a leak. I cannot find any evidence of a fuel leak anywhere. Has anyone else encountered this problem?
congrats on the truck purchase ..sounds like a keeper to me.
53 block with 114k miles if it still good then it will most likely live a long happy life....the only this I would be concerened about a 53 would be if you wanted to make serious horse power then I would be leary.
dead pedal..............could be alot of things here so lets get the codes scanned first before we act on what could be many issues......go to yer local auto parts store and they will scan the codes for ya.............also you can do the 3 key on off on off on off.then on and write down the codes that pop into the odometer window.
air in fuel lines .this concerns me cuz like you said the air shouldnt be gettin back in there and you are correct...................you may have a pin hole in yer fuel pick up tube inside the tank......try this.keep the talk full all ya can and see if air gets in there.......................pay attention as tyo yer fuel level when you start gettin air and havin problems
If you dont have a fuel pressure gage yet then get one.go mechanical and stay away from electric senders......monitoring the fuel pressue on a VP-44 truck (98.5-02) is of most importance .............I highly recommend an after market fuel pump like FASS or Walbro as well as Matusa.........I like them all
Cheers, Kevin