2011 GMC 2500HD (injector pump?)

[farriscl]

I have a 2011 GMC 2500 HD and the night before Thanksgiving the truck completely shut down. It's only 'heads up' was that the CHANGE FUEL FILTER alert and engine light came on about 1/4 of a mile before quitting. The truck has ~132,000 miles on it. At ~111,000 miles, the entire DEF system had to be replaced and at that time, a "100,000 mile service" was performed. This work was done at a local dealership. With this recent break down, the service department has informed me that the injector pump went bad and when this occurs, metal shavings are showered throughout the entire system. Result: a VERY COSTLY repair. Has anyone heard of a similar problem and if so, is the repair that difficult/expensive? TIA for any information, advice or horror stories.

[Kennedy]

So 21k on the fuel filter? Have you been running any additive?

OK now for the sitting down part. The Service dept was correct. While it's not an exceptionally common occurrence, the LML injection pump (CP4.2) makes a heck of a mess if it fails. Essentially you are looking at a bill that will likely exceed $10k by a very substantial margin. Pump, secondary regulator, rails, lines, injectors, and a lot of labor.

My same recommendations apply from day one of ownership: Lift pump, secondary filtration, and quality fuel additive in every ounce of fuel that you burn. While this is not a guarantee, it just makes good sense.

[Ian7]

My same recommendations apply from day one of ownership: Lift pump, secondary filtration, and quality fuel additive in every ounce of fuel that you burn. While this is not a guarantee, it just makes good sense.

Curious, are you saying replace (or just service?) the lift pump on a used-truck-purchase? and then how often?
what brand and quantity of fuel additive do you recommend?
thanks

[rapidoxidationman]

There is no lift pump on a DMax, IIRC. Just the high pressure pump which pulls vacuum from the tank through the filter into the HPFP. An added, aftermarket lift pump pressurizes the supply side of the system and might make the high pressure fuel pump happier and live longer. A lift pump will also stop any leaks in the vacuum side from letting air into the fuel system - leaks will show up as leaks instead of as air inside the pipes where you can't see it.

Lubricity additive almost certainly will keep the HPFP happy, with the added benefits of increasing cetane and keeping your injectors slippery. I've been using Power Service in the gray bottle for well over a decade now in 5 different diesel engines: a GM6.5, two different dmax's, a VW Tdi, and a Mercedes 300D. Never had a fuel related issue. (knock on wood...)

Some would say that Power Service is the bottom of the barrel, but I'm using what is readily and easily available. Anecdotal evidence suggests it is working.

[Kennedy]

The key factors that harm your fuel system are in no particular order:

1) Air
2) Dirt
3) Water
4) General lack of lubricity


How do we fix these?

1) Air-add a lift pump keeps the fuel system under pressure at all times preventing outgassing/vaporization and air infiltration

2) Dirt- more and better filters including adding a Filtermag to grab the ferrous particles and a secondary filter to back up the OE engine mounted filter that has to deal with constant vibration. Also a lift pump helps here as it keeps the filter full of fuel and not air. More wetted media and slower flow rate/increased residence time helps the filter(s) do a better job.

3) Water- I don't believe in separation. If separation worked we'd be dumping water on a regular basis. I prefer a chemical treatment of the water using an emulsifying additive.

3) Lack of lubricity- a quality additive here again.


We have solutions for all four of the issues above and I run this setup on my own personal trucks with great success. In fairness I do need to make it known that I do not run high mileage trucks. My 2005 sold with 98,000 miles on the clock and a trouble free fuel system. To the best of my knowledge, the system remains unchanged to this date. I also have an ace up my sleeve in that all of the above are applied to 99% of my fuel before it ever hits the truck tank.