over 180,000 miles on my truck running a lot of acetone and no problems yet. not saying it won't happen just hasn't given me any problems.
my father also runs it in his '97 dodge cummins with no problems.

 

Will bad o-rings cause the hesitation/surging that I cant get rid of? It seems to get worse after about 5 miles of hard pulling, like something is warmng up, or cant sustain the load.

 

if you have hesitation and surging then im deffinetly going to say its orings, wont an oil cooler cause oil in the fuel or some oring, i dont know lol injector orings will cause that hesitation that you mentioned, i know mine would every now and then at light load or taking off once in a while. but my orings werent nearly that bad.

 

If you don't have excessive smoke at startup or have the engine bog at higher RPM's I wouldn't think it's o-rings just yet. A miss at idle is usually one of the first signs of an injector o-ring going out. However, it sounds like your fuel system has been severaly clogged. I'd clean up the fuel first and see what happens.

He had problems with algae when he first got the the truck. It's very possible that it has came back.

 

It looks like dead algae to me.

.02
Bill

 

After cleaning everything out and putting in a new filter I cant tell a bit of difference in the truck, it is like it still is not getting a good amount of fuel. I put on my trailer and took it for a spin, still surges after it is good and warmed up. 15psi of boost is all it would make, I took it back to stock and ran it and it would make about 12 psi. Also with my superchips program on the boost needle was shaking back and forth rapidly as much as 5 psi. I just replaced my old guage because it was broke but this seems strange.

 

Ive dealt with PSD's with algae before they'd run but always boggy, pulled the filter out and like your itlooked like was rolled in roofing tar, replaced it cleaned the fpr screen, dumped injector cleaner/ algaecide etc. in every tank for about a month with fresh fuel and kept changing the filter about once a week, rebuilt and cleaned the entire FPR assembly and it eventually came back, but takes a good while to clean it all out. another way to tell if its algae is your fuel gauge it will read weird usually lower than it should be or not move much because the algae will build it up on the floats till the cleaner kills the algae and washs off then the guage will start to work again. But the trick is too keep running it to clear it.

 

No problems with the fuel guage. I dont drive the truck too much, so algae could be an issue. Still searching to see what my surging problem is.

 

That boost gauge bouncing like that is almost always cylinders contributing unevenly. From bad o rings most of the time. If you have one or more cylinders not putting out as good as the others then it will make an exhaust pulse that is less than the others. Exhaust is what drives the turbo.

O rings will cause the hesitation and surging too.
If you want to do a little experiment to prove it then go out in your garage and move your hydraulic floor jack up and down a couple times. See how smooth it moves.

Now take the thing apart, cut all the piston seals in it and put it back together. Now try it. Hesitation and surging.
It's absolutely no different. These are hydraulically actuated injectors.

 

He could be getting a bad spray from a clogged injector if he has algea.

 

I too think it is injector o-rings. I have had problems with cold weather starts that had me thinking that already. I have been researchng to see what is involved in replacing the o-rings. Is there a good injector cleaner recommended?

Derek

 

It can be a few reasons why it has a surge.
The first thing i would do is blow the fuel suppy
line back to the tank with shop air pressure.
Good chance the pickup screen in the tank looks
like your filter. Then i would get it on a scan for
possible map issue.

Did the filter smell nasty or like fuel?
If it had the smell of fuel it could be a sludge clogg.

Bill

 

I have not noticed any strange smells, only diesel. I took my filter out again and looked at it and everything looks normal so far, there doesnt seem to be a bunch of oil in the fuel. The surging happens under load (loaded 48' trailer) and is more of a bucking feel. Sometimes it feels like the truck and trailer are moving against each other, does it with my 28' bumper pull too. It is like whatever is happening has been around for a long time. I took it to a diesel shop once to get it fixed and $800 later it was better but not gone, (they replaced the ipr and said next would be the hpop) I then also cleaned my fpr and it seemed to go away. Now it is back and my fpr is clean. I think I will try blowing out the fuel line back to the tank, any tips for getting the line primed again? Reading some other threads guys are talking about how great their truck run stock, I have no cat, muffler, a 3" down pipe, K&N filter and I have never felt the truck ran "great". I would like to work towards getting the truck back into shape, I have taken it to 2 different shops now to try to get them to do it and both times $800 later I had the same truck back. That is when I decided to handle it myself. I am starting to get a bit stumped on this though. I plan to get some sort of algecide today and start that. Still kind of feel like the cold start, lots of white smoke issue is o-rings, have no problem digging into that, just trying to diagnose a little better rather than just throw time and money at it. The truck has 185k on it, I bought it with 130k. Also, it has a post turbo pyro, it doesnt seem to build any heat which makes me think it is not getting good fuel, it is about 40 here and it wouldnt get over 1k in fifth just standing on it, it also would get above 60-65 mph unless going downhill. Not trying to be in a hurry but I am fixing to take a trip out west and the headwinds will have me in 3rd gear the whole time.

 

You really need to start with the simplest, most likely and the cheapest thing on it. The injector O rings. With that many miles on it I will guarantee you will find a bunch of bad top o rings. That is dumping the hydraulic pressure right nto your valve cover and will cause every one of your symptoms.
Also you will not see oil in the fuel. That black stuff is the ash that was in your oil and is collected in the filter over many many miles. Saying the o rings are ok because you don't see oil in the fuel makes no sense at all. They are bad.
Stay away from that shop you took it to. They could have easily diagnosed either the IPR or the hpop with a scanner and a quick test drive. You don't just replace the hpop because it's next on the list. That means they are guessing. Just stay away from them.

Oh and get rid of the K&N. Either go back stock or get a tymar. Or build a good one yourself but the K&N in teh factory housing does not seal and will lead to problems. I hope you aren't still running the plastic hold down screws on it. Then it is really leaking probably.

 

Not saying I dont think the o-rings are leaking because there is not oil in my fuel, just that it is not as bad as other pictures that I have seen where oil was obviously there. The K&N was on the truck when I bought it, I am not a big fan of them actually, I run the dry filters on my race car. I dont take it to either diesel shop now, decided to take it on myself and try and actually figure out what the problem is.

My K&N is a cone filter and the stock box is gone.

Thanks for you help.

Derek