Hello, I am brand new to Diesels but love my mopars. This is my first diesel truck, it has had some things done to it, I just don't know what. What I do know, 4k spring, ATS transmission, apr head studs, Will pump 30psi. and is very strong. Smokes too much. It has the cold air intake with a KN filter. I am unsure how to find out what turbo or other mods have been done. It has at least a 4" lift from Fab tech that had EVERYTHING. The kid that had it before me put some cash into it but didn't have a lick of sense. but what he did do to the drive train was the most expensive high quality from what I can see. I just don't know what to look for to find out what has been done. The truck has almost 400k so I would also like to know how to find out if I need to think about rebuilding the engine. I know my way around engines I just need to learn the differences to diesel's. I also could not find a post about how to tune it but I know it is important. I want to verify the valves are ok and how to tune an injector pump properly. It would be a very nice thing to have a sticky of links to "how to do the basics" to keep the cummins tuned.
Please reply with links if you would please.
Thanks in advance.
METAL

 

As for the smoking part, it sounds like the last owner turned up the fuel pump.
As for the turbo, if you look at the name plate on the side of the intake impellar it should say hx35, if it says that the turbo is stock.
As for the pump tuning, that should be done by a diesel shop if you don't know how to do it properly.
If you want to see if the fuel pump has been messed with, look at the rear of the pump and you should see a square housing with four screws. Look at the front lt. screw. It should be a tamper proof screw. If that has been replaced with a regular bolt the fuel plate has been adjusted or replaced.
A question for you, has the killer dowel pin been dealt with???
If you want to study about tuning the fuel plate, go to the search bar and type in 12valve tuning and something should come up.

 

Thank you for your reply 97. I am fairly certain the kdp is been taken care of. The truck has over 385k on it. The more I drive it the more I begin to recognize the history of it. I think the original owner did everything correctly then it was purchased by a teenager. I noticed that the transmission doesn't shift properly. It shifts up far to soon. I think this may be part of the desire to "roll coal" I will take a look tonight to see if the screw has been tampered with. I will also take a look at the turbo to see if it is stock. I have found that just driving down the road the exhaust temp stays about 800 degrees. If I get into the throttle it is only a couple of seconds and it is past 1500. I know that will kill the turbo quickly so I watch my foot. I am a mechanic but I am not familiar with diesel's but I do need to learn. I understand the need to make sure things are done by a professional but I do want to learn and do it myself. Thanks again for your reply and suggestions. My current plan is to get it set up back to stock settings and work up from there.

 

Good luck on what your planning on doing.