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Are CP4 pumps really a ticking time bomb?

Chris3058

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So. Read an interesting article on truck trend about CP3 vs CP4 pumps...and essentially they said CP4’s were a cost cutting measure to save money and increase fuel economy....but they are ticking time bombs due to the lack of lubricity in ULSD and there are some CLA’s regarding it in the USA. Anyone have some educated info on this? After reading it I immediately started looking at LX4 and the bulletproofing options out there. Lol. Or it could be nothing? Opinions?
 

ElkoNV

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I am picking up my ecodiesel in 2 weeks, my first a 14'. I have ordered EDT and LX4. I mixed them 50/50 and will be adding them from day one. I know the EDT has LX4 in it but not enough for my liking and you can mix them. For me, it's an ounce of prevention vs a pound of cure kind of thing. It could also be nothing, lol, but now I will sleep well. I am doing this because I know I will far surpass the 100 K-mile powertrain warranty.
 
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Fuzznutz

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If you read all the diesel forums, and Google all the lawsuits, it can't all be made up. That said, I just traded a dmax with 80k, and I've seen work trucks with over 200k with cp4's, and have never personally seen one grenade.

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Mchurch52

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From what I've read the CP4 really only seems to be an issue on the larger diesel engines in the 2500/3500, mainly because they are pushing so much more fuel through. The EcoDiesel does not have the same high demand for fuel as the 6.7L engines and has not seen the issues with the CP4 that the larger engines have.

That being said, I still use Hot Shots EDT at every fill up.
 
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WXman

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From what I've read the CP4 really only seems to be an issue on the larger diesel engines in the 2500/3500, mainly because they are pushing so much more fuel through. The EcoDiesel does not have the same high demand for fuel as the 6.7L engines and has not seen the issues with the CP4 that the larger engines have.

That being said, I still use Hot Shots EDT at every fill up.

Yep, the larger engines such as the Cummins 6.7 for example eat CP4s for lunch because they've got the fuel pumps turned up to 1.5x their rated capacity in an attempt to keep up with fuel demand. 850+ lb/ft of torque requires a ton of fuel, so they're over-running the pump to try and keep up. That seems to be leading to more failures.

Having said that, there ARE failures on the smaller engines as well. There's already been numerous EcoDiesel fuel system failures in the past year or two on the FB owners' groups.

Keep your fuel filter changed every other oil change! Make sure you buy fuel from a reputable retailer. And if you feel so inclined, use a product like Hot Shots EDT to give your pump a better chance of beating the odds.
 

troverman

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Yep, the larger engines such as the Cummins 6.7 for example eat CP4s for lunch because they've got the fuel pumps turned up to 1.5x their rated capacity in an attempt to keep up with fuel demand. 850+ lb/ft of torque requires a ton of fuel, so they're over-running the pump to try and keep up.

Well...Ford did not overdrive the CP4 on the 6.7L Super Duty, and they are currently producing 1050lb-ft, so I'm not sure that's the answer.

For some reason, RAM had a lot of CP4 failures on 2019 and 2020 Cummins trucks, to the point where after one year they made a revision and after two they reverted back to the CP3. Doing that is clearly an admission of failure in my book. I came from a 2019 RAM 3500 HO with this pump and traded my truck at 17k miles. No failure, but I was always nervous.

Ford and GM both had fairly frequent failures of the CP4 on their 2011-2016 HD trucks. Actually, Ford made changes to the pump for the 2015 model year and indeed the failure rate started to slow down. GM simply changed suppliers from Bosch to Denso. Ford continues unabated with the CP4, and indeed Super Duty outsells all others in the HD truck arena.

I think there is validity to the statement that an EcoDiesel flows a lot less volume of fuel than an HD diesel, and that may well help. However, fuel pressures are very similar to the HD truck diesels, and unlike the big trucks these EcoDiesels only have one fuel filter so there is that to consider. On the upside, you can replace an entire EcoDiesel engine for less money than a Ford, GM, or RAM dealer would charge to replace the fuel system on an HD diesel with a failed CP4 pump. The downside is that's still a lot of money, of course.

Be very careful what additives you run in your fuel. When I was very involved in the Ford 6.7L forums (I owned 4 of them), many common off the shelf additives did more harm then good. Ford Motorcraft PM-22 cetane boost and lubricity additive was considered safe. Most Power Service products were not. I've added some Ford PM22 to my EcoDiesel, just like I did to my Cummins, because they all have the same Bosch CP4 pump and that's really the only thing an additive is going to benefit.
 

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