What happened - need counsel

[CKHeller]

Hi Group,
My truck has been running quite well, starting easily, very little smoke except when I stomp on it and then only for a little bit, excellent acceleration smooth ride. I had a lot of repairs when I first got the truck but for the past 4 months it has been a pleasure to drive. Last week My wife's Mercedes needed to go into the shop for repairs and she borrowed the Dodge to get back and forth from work. I am recovering from surgery and not driving so I thought it would be good for the truck to get some road time. The first day she had no trouble. On her way to work on the second morning she said it suddenly started running rough and trying to die out on her but then it would recover, blow out black smoke and run rough. That happened a few times and she got stopped at a light and the truck died and wouldn't start. She was only a half mile from a Dodge dealership so she got towed there. They first told me it was the fuel solenoid shutdown. I hated to pay them for the labor but I'm not up to it at the moment and told them to go ahead. After they did that they called and said it is running very poorly, difficult to start and pours out gobs of blue/black smoke. They recommend replacing the injection pump or to take it to a Cummins shop near here and have it rebuilt. I'm not terribly mechanical and very inexperienced with diesel engines but not stupid either and don't understand this and have been reading a lot of old posts here and it doesn't seem to me that the IP would just suddenly go out like that and the FSS going bad wouldn't cause the IP to suddenly go bad either. Could some of you experienced fellows chime in here and let me know what might have happened and what to do now? I don't mind getting conflicting theories here. I've paid for the FSS replacement and will get a lift to pick up the truck tomorrow morning. This is not what I need just before Christmas.

Kru Heller
Powhatan, Va.
94 2500 reg cab, long bed, 4WD, 5 Speed