 |
ALTERNATE FUELS VS. THE VP44 INJECTION PUMP
At Blue Chip we have gotten a lot of experience, and therefore a valuable education, from disassembling and inspectingVP44 injection pumps sent in to us to repair or for possible warranty consideration. These pumps have used various alternate fuels in various concentrations, some commercially made and others made in the backyard. We try to keep an open mind about the value of renewable fuels, and we will be the first to admit we only see the injection pumps that failed. We realize that we are our biased in our opinions because of our experience, but we want to share them, for whatever you feel they may be worth. Water, corrosion, contamination, rust, and orange slime are some of the ways to describe what we see inside VP44 injection pumps. Loyal Bosch representatives always refer to these conditions as “Contaminated Fuel” because that is something they deny warranty consideration for quite frequently. Sadly there is little we can do to prevent this situation, as it is too late to hide the damage when they take the pump apart and most importantly, THEY provide the warranty. We hope by getting you this information now it may prevent a few uncomfortable situations arising out of warranty claims. We want to close the door BEFORE the horse gets out! Alternate fuel users generally feel VERY strongly that their trucks can’t possibly have contaminated fuel because they are convinced that they have perfect filters, perfect homemade fuel, or the best commercially available fuel and yet when their failed injection pump is disassembled the problem is clear. When we take their pump apart the truth is right before our eyes. Maybe condensation occurs inside the pump, after the perfect fuel is delivered into the pump, for all we know. We don’t pretend to know everything about VP44s and we sure feel badly for the customer that has had some really bad luck, but we don’t see rusted/corroded stuck pistons and pintle valves from clean diesel fuel. Nobody can expect a pump with the higher pressures and the close tolerances that the VP44 has to survive this abuse. For this reason we can’t blame Bosch for denying warranty claims because of the damage done this way. Chip Fisher has rehearsed his lines to the point that this is his standard reply when confronted by an angry customer that has had his warranty denied. “Sadly the only person that has any control of what kinds of fuel and contaminants get into the pump, is the customer. If we lived in a perfect world of clean, non corrosive alternative fuels, these problems would not exist.” The worst case scenario we find is when a pump failed because of bad fuel and the replacement dies a really quick death because the bad fuel is still in the truck. This is why we strongly suggest changing and INSPECTING the fuel filter when changing a pump. We certainly can’t control what fuel they use, but we can tell them that we see a lot of ruined pumps because of bad stuff that got inside the pump. We strongly advise the use of fuel treatments as an easy way to minimize the chance of these failures. See our home page for our recommendations for additives. Please think about what has been said here. Chip Fisher, owner Blue Chip Diesel Performance |
