Sure, well the typical cause of injection pump failure in these trucks is usally low fuel pressure from the lift pump.
The lift pump in itself isn't a horrible pump but I really don't think it's up to the task of providing an adiquate fuel supply to the injection pump. Sure they work fine when they are new but it usally dosn't take too long to before they start to lose pressure and the flow rates decrease.
The VP44 injection pump relies on the fuel to lubricate and cool the pump. So obiously when your lift pump dies or is under performing it can and will speed the demise of the VP44.
That being said, there are trucks that have great fuel pressure and still lose the VP44. I think that what happens is that after shutdown, with the loss of fuel flow through the pump to keep it cool, the heat transfer from the engine causes that pump to get hotter than it should get. And then the connections and other electronic stuff in the VP44 starts to eventually, over a long period of heat cycles gets damaged to the point where you will start having intermittent problems either with starting when hot, loss of power while cruising, all kinds of stuff.
Other things I've heard about that commenly goes bad is the timing piston will stick. I guess that that is from poor fuel pressure and lubrication.
I'm not really an expert on this by any means and most of the stuff I just spouted is just stuff I remember from hours of reading about this injection pump on a whole bunch of websites.
I do know that the P0216 code is pretty much the death warrant for the pump. I thinks there has been some with that code that have traced the problem to another source but the majoirity of the time it's the VP44. And with the other symptoms that you described I'm pretty sure that you need a new one. 130K miles is not bad at all. Some guys don't even get half that many miles before replacing the VP44.
A couple of things you may want to consider for the future. I would suggest getting a fuel pressure gauge permantly installed in the cab where you can moniter the fuel pressure easily. They can be had for around $250 for a good one and I think deffinalty worth it. Just don't get a mechanical one unless you also get an isolater. You don't want to be running fuel into the cab.
I would consider putting a aftermarket lift pump on your truck. You'll soon pay for it if you keep putting stock LP's on it. I would get a FASS system myself, however others have had good luck with lots of different pumps.
I use a FASS on my 2000 and I've never had a bit of trouble with it. Almost 30k miles on it and still like new.
I use a stock lift pump on my 1998 with a Vulcan relocation kit. This kit mounts the stock LP back on the frame rail just in front of the tank. It also includes bigger fuel supply lines and high flow fittings for the connections at the fuel filter and injection pump. So far its been working fine and I have anbout 20k miles on it.
Gosh this turned into a freakin epistle but I hope maybe this will give oyu some ideas and tips and stuff.
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. I'll do my best!!!
Good luck man!
Joe
