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Bare P0216 code

bleeder

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Location
Manassas
Anyone have this happen? Last couple of days my 'burb has started throwing a bare P0216 code, no other codes. It infrequently will run rough after idling at a long stop light, almost to the point of stopping. After it bucks/lurches, it will idle again. Driving it seems to run fine. I deleted the code and it repeated within about 20 miles. First, I'm going to try and reconnect the PMD still mounted on the pump and see if that cures the problem. I'll update later today, but I welcome any further suggestions.
 
Hooked up the old PMD, not fun. After about 15 minutes of run time it is showing no DTCs. Headed off for about a 50 mile ride. We'll see if this worked or not.
 
The old one was still mounted to the injector pump and I had been running it for almost a year without a problem. Further background for why I started suspecting the PMD or cable - about two months ago I started noticing an intermittent fishbiting while accelerating. I hadn't experienced this before and wasn't sure what was causing it. Then about five weeks ago it died in front of my ex's house when I dropped off some of the kids (the 'burb stayed there for almost a week). I had installed the PMD relocation kit and mounted it behind the front license plate but did not hook it up. Had a little trouble with the current living place and doing work in the parking lot after swapping out the oil cooler lines :(. Had a few other problems along the way and didn't get to it.

So, when it died I immediately suspected the PMD thinking it's time had come and connected the relocated PMD and harness. But, it still wouldn't start. Flushed out a fair amount of junk from the fuel bleeder and installed a new fuel filter. Got it started and drove it for a day, but it started fishbiting again. Thinking that I might have found some bad fuel based on the trash I got out while bleeding the fuel I pumped in good dose of fuel from a known quailty source. It ran fine for a few hours and then started the fishbiting again. I parked with the nose downhill and found fuel puddles under the truck over the next couple of days. I'm sure you've guessed by now that the fuel supply line had rusted through (on the frame over the axle) and it was sucking air. Spliced in a piece of fuel hose as a holdover.

I have some good friends who have helped and allowed me to use their driveway. Since I had already planned on doing the brake lines (someone patched in a spaghetti mess to the rear brakes) we did everything at once, stainless hard lines and braided hose, new hard fuel lines from the tank to the lift pump, new FSU and diesel tank sock, Walbro FRC-10 pump, and for grins Leroy's lift pump relay harness. Also wire wheeled the tank while it was dropped and painted it in epoxy.

After getting it all back together it became clear that we got some air in the ABS unit despite our best efforts (I also installed a new master cylinder, updated the proportioning valve per the service bulletin, installed rebuilt calipers and the 3500 rear wheel cylinders). I don't have a scan tool to perform the ABS bleed so I had to drop it at a garage, that took a week.

Point is that I had hardly driven it after connecting the new remote PMD. Threw the P0216 code the night before I dropped it at the service garage for the ABS bleed. Thinking it might be related to all of the fuel issues deleted it to see if it would repeat. Of course, I was accused of deliberately deleting ABS codes, sheesh. Picked it up again three days ago and that's where I started above.
 
After a quick read of my post I have to laugh that I talked about bleeding the fuel, bleeding the abs, and my username is bleeder. Didn't think about that when I chose the username, it is an old term for hemophilia :)
 
After reconnecting the PMD on the injector pump and putting about 100 miles on it with numerous stops/starts it has not once thrown another code. At this point I am thinking that I've found the problem. Any predictions on whether it is the PMD or the extension cable? To further isolate the issue, I think my first focus will be on the PMD. If it turns out not to be the PMD, I think it won't be a bad idea to have a spare handy for the future.
 
Search results indicate probable causes are the PMD or stepper motor.

Given all the fuel issues and that it looks like the PMD was ruled-out, consider adding some (extra) lube to the fuel and see if the P0216 comes back.

Within the realm of possibilities, the IP is going bad, but I'd focus on the fuel and lube first seeing as the code is not coming back after the fuel system work and PMD swap.

Consider checking the fuel filter in 500 miles to see if the tank still had crud in it.
 
Yes a spare pmd- always. You will need it, just not sure when. Get the new one in the glove box for emergency breakdown at least.

Better is mounted at the bumper location, and with it there you can test if the ext cable is ok. Once you know it's good, or replace the cable, I would finish the life of the one on the ip, wether you leave it there or relocate it to the bumper as well. The best set up I see is mounting 2 at the bumper on heatsinks next to each other. When there is a problem or diagnostic check, it takes all of 10 seconds to unplug and plug.

Jay's comments are on the button. Do that while waiting for your pmd to get there from Leroy.
 
My question has sparked comments by some great minds here. Thank you for the suggestions, all of which are dead on to what I've been thinking and trying to rule out as possible issues. The bumper mounted PMD has not yet been ruled out, nor has the ext cable. Rather than screwing around piece by piece I had Leroy ship me an entire PMD relocation kit identical to the one that I already have. I am slowly assembling a group of extra stuff, it always come in handy. The key point here is that after I reconnected the PMD still mounted on the ip it has run quite well with no further codes.

Jay, my nearly neighbor, I'm kind of a Redline fanatic and dumped an extra bottle of their 85+ fuel supplement into about five gallons of fresh diesel when the tank was nearly empty. That was the first thing I tried right after the first time it coded. The P0216 recurred several times after. The timeline was such that the first time it threw the P0216 code was after I completed all of the fuel system work. Checking for more fuel tank crud is a good call. When we had the fuel tank down we thoroughly rinsed it with clean diesel. I don't know what the stuff was in the tank but it seemed metallic and had the appearance of soap flakes. I will check the fuel filter again, soon, but I'm pretty confident we did a good cleaning of the tank. And, yes, I suspect the injector pump is going bad. I'll start another thread on that issue.

Will, the suggestion for two bumper mounted PMDs is fantastic and that is what I will do. I think I've seen you or someone else suggest that in the past but I forgot about it until you brought it up again.

WarWagon, the junk I got out of the fuel when I first bled it was mostly rust and dirt, pretty consistent with the rusted fuel line. Your post you linked about junk in the fuel tank is one I've read many times. Honestly, I had convinced myself that I would find something similar when we dropped my tank. I don't know much about what the po did with it over the last year or two and suspected the worst. I was shocked that the tank was as clean as it was. No stuff growing in it and the sock, while dirty, looked like it must have been replaced in the past. There was still no way I was going to reuse it and I installed a new ACDelco sock.
 
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