JourneymanD
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- Oct 19, 2007
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Hey everyone... I know it is a long post, but please read through it all... I NEED SOME HELP!!! MY WIFE AND KIDS MOVED TO IDAHO A YEAR AGO(MID JULY 2007), AND I AM STILL STUCK IN CALIF@#YA TRYING TO GET STUFF MOVED.
I drove my E350 box truck from cali to twin falls idaho last wednesday. I have just put a used engine in this truck that had about 76000 miles on it. the engine came out of a city truck, and is a 1989 7.3L non turbo IDI. everything looked great, it started right away after they carried a single battery out to it at the wrecking yard it was at. fired right off in les then 5-8 secs of cranking. sounded great, and a friend of mine who is a mechanic at the local ford dealer listened to it and said it sounded great. no signs of moisture in the oil cap, no excessive oil from the CDR , etc.
Driving around town showed a rapid rise of EGT into the yellow (ISSPRO EG temp gage tapped into the outlet of the passenger side manifold) on flat ground to mild inclines running at about 1/2 to 3/4 load capacity.(I had a Harley Heritage Softtail and a big oak roll top desk in the back.) I had never had an EGT gage before, and am still new to diesels. still, it seemed to run ok, and if i pulled my foot out of it, the temp dropped back to 300-600 pretty quick.
I left wed night for my first run from concord, CA to Twin Falls, ID a trip of 630 miles. I was pulling a trailer that I estimate weighed about 8500-9500 lbs, plus the load in the back of the truck that had the motorcycle, the desk, a rototiller, and somelight shelving, and a few other odds and ends. I dont think i was at capacity, though I didn't have time to roll the weighmaster before depature. I hit the first hill near my house on the way to the freeway, and it is about a 6% grade that is real short. Temps shot up quick, and though I was licking 1000-1100, I was able to crawl over it at about 30 mph with no running start at the bottom. I pulled it for the first 100 miles, and was running around 800-950 while doing about 55-60mph on the flats, but when I got to the first grade at Auburn, Ca, I had my first real issue. I was pulling a long grade, and temps jumped to 1250. I was in seconed (C6) and crawlling at less then 30mph. I couldn't get the temps to go below 1000, and after a moment, i had white smoke rolling from under the truck. I managed to get the truck off the freeway, and pulled into a parking lot. The engine sounded ok, though it was hot, and the trans(new rebuilt less then 300miles) was hot and slipping a bit, and not shifting happily. I left the rig running in the lot, and as I checked things over, it cooled off. I don't think the water temp ever hit the middle of the normal range on the temp gage. It turns out the smoke was from the oil seeping out of the back edge of the valve covers and burning off on the overly hot exhaust, as the oil pooled up at the back of the valve covers. I decided to turn around and try to limp the truck back home. After I started heading back, the truck seemed to run great, though the EGT was still higher then I would have liked. I got back home, and dropped the trailer, the headed back out to hit the first hill by the house. the truck pulled ok, the temps were in the yellow over the first hill and i topped it doing about 35mph.
I went ahead and hit the road, and started my trip less the trailer. I was able to keep EGT below 1050(start of the red on my gage), but I was only able to hit 50-55 on the flats with an EGT of around 800-900. any faster, and EGT would go up. around 60-63(all could get) it was sitting at the middle of the yellow. at 50-55, a 600 mile trip is miserable in a noisy uncomfortable truck.
Now here is where the misery really started. climbing grades between sacramento and reno was rather un-fun. I pulled 30 mph with EGT held in the 850-1000 range(mid yellow on the gage). After Reno, running on the flats, it was 50-55mph running around 800-900. going downgrade, EGT drops to 300-600 with light throttle. When I started approaching ELKO, there are two horrid grades I had to climb. Golconda summit, and Iron Point. I dropped to second, and maintained throttle to keep EGT mid Yellow. this meant a top speed of 25 MPH and many minutes of misery to climb these. the water temp actually dropped during climb, and the trans never slipped, but the engine just hummed along not being very happy about the pain I was inflicting on it. It took forever to get to the top, and after i crested the top, EGT dropped back to 600 or so. As I climbed the last several smaller grades into Wells, NV the engine started to waver and stumble up grade, and I was concerned that I might not make my destination. After I started into Idaho up highway 93, there are miles of long steep grades that stairstep up into Twin Falls. the truck was unhappy(as was I) about climbing these. I insisted that it keep going or Die, either one would be a relief, but it kept trudging. After I made elevation, I ran the last 30 miles or so flat. I ran at 55-60mph, and 900-950EGT, but the truck seemed ok.
When I finally got to my other house, I was exhausted. I had been on the road behind the wheel for 21 hours straight. I only stopped for fuel, and once to beat a hole in the bottom of my muffler in the hopes that a clogged muffler was causing the despair. I ate, showered, and went to bed. when I got up the next morning, I started the truck, and it roared to life immediately. the engine sounds just like it did at the wrecking yard, and runs nice and smooth. there is a little shudder when i run the revs up and hold em steady. I called a friend, also a diesel mechanic, and he said the shudder might be a bad load of fuel with water in it. I drained the water sep, but there wasn't much h2o in it. he seemed to think it was a exhaust back pressure issue causing the high EGT/low power. I took the exhaust loose in front of the muffler, leaving just the y pipe with about 2 feet of piping. a test drive showed not much improvement, though I was able to hit 65mph before hitting mid yellow on the gage, and lightening the throttle would drop EGT to about 850 steady.
So here is the final list of issues:
High EGTs under all conditions. grades under load skyrocket EG temps to unhappy levels. Running downgrade temps dive to 300-600. At idle, temps are at 300 steady, and running up the throttle in park/neutral only raises temps to about 350.
I never saw as much as a single whisp of smoke from the exhaust, under load or otherwise.(except for the oil burning off from the valve cover seep pointing up grade at Auburn)
Fuel economy SUCKS... About 10MPG. It is difficult to start hot. if It only sits 3 or 4 mins it starts fine, but if it sits for more then about 10 mins, it is a bear to get to light off again. if it sits for a few hours, it will light right up in 5-8 secs of cranking.
The coolant temp never went above middle of normal.
The old engine I had in it was also a 7.3L NA IDI. It had a cavitation issue, and was building pressure in the cooling system because of pinholes in a cylinder. it had a burnt intake valve, and a bad injector pump belching white smoke out the exhaust. It pulled these same grades at 45-50mph with about 8500# of trailer, and truck loaded to capacity. all the time and money I spent to fix those issues has yielded a useless truck.
I bought this truck to move my family from Cali to Idaho. It has been a financial drain since I got it, and I still need to use it to haul the trailer 3 or 4 more times(got toys and a CNC mill to haul still). I was going to go to the dark side and do a CTD re-power, but decided to put a rebuilt C6 and used 7.3L IDI in it because of the time factor of fabrication and fitting. I really regret that decision now.
CAN ANYONE PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS P.O.S. FOR ME? ANY IDEAS WHAT MY PROBLEM MIGHT BE?? IF ANYONE HAS ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE FOR ME (GN HOTSHOT A LOAD OR TWO FOR ME OR A LOANER TURBO 1 TON I CAN USE??...I KNOW ITS A LONG SHOT, BUT I AM OUT OF OPTIONS)
OUT OF MONEY, TIME AND PATIENCE AND DESPARATE FOR HELP,
DYLAN TODD
925 260 3095
I drove my E350 box truck from cali to twin falls idaho last wednesday. I have just put a used engine in this truck that had about 76000 miles on it. the engine came out of a city truck, and is a 1989 7.3L non turbo IDI. everything looked great, it started right away after they carried a single battery out to it at the wrecking yard it was at. fired right off in les then 5-8 secs of cranking. sounded great, and a friend of mine who is a mechanic at the local ford dealer listened to it and said it sounded great. no signs of moisture in the oil cap, no excessive oil from the CDR , etc.
Driving around town showed a rapid rise of EGT into the yellow (ISSPRO EG temp gage tapped into the outlet of the passenger side manifold) on flat ground to mild inclines running at about 1/2 to 3/4 load capacity.(I had a Harley Heritage Softtail and a big oak roll top desk in the back.) I had never had an EGT gage before, and am still new to diesels. still, it seemed to run ok, and if i pulled my foot out of it, the temp dropped back to 300-600 pretty quick.
I left wed night for my first run from concord, CA to Twin Falls, ID a trip of 630 miles. I was pulling a trailer that I estimate weighed about 8500-9500 lbs, plus the load in the back of the truck that had the motorcycle, the desk, a rototiller, and somelight shelving, and a few other odds and ends. I dont think i was at capacity, though I didn't have time to roll the weighmaster before depature. I hit the first hill near my house on the way to the freeway, and it is about a 6% grade that is real short. Temps shot up quick, and though I was licking 1000-1100, I was able to crawl over it at about 30 mph with no running start at the bottom. I pulled it for the first 100 miles, and was running around 800-950 while doing about 55-60mph on the flats, but when I got to the first grade at Auburn, Ca, I had my first real issue. I was pulling a long grade, and temps jumped to 1250. I was in seconed (C6) and crawlling at less then 30mph. I couldn't get the temps to go below 1000, and after a moment, i had white smoke rolling from under the truck. I managed to get the truck off the freeway, and pulled into a parking lot. The engine sounded ok, though it was hot, and the trans(new rebuilt less then 300miles) was hot and slipping a bit, and not shifting happily. I left the rig running in the lot, and as I checked things over, it cooled off. I don't think the water temp ever hit the middle of the normal range on the temp gage. It turns out the smoke was from the oil seeping out of the back edge of the valve covers and burning off on the overly hot exhaust, as the oil pooled up at the back of the valve covers. I decided to turn around and try to limp the truck back home. After I started heading back, the truck seemed to run great, though the EGT was still higher then I would have liked. I got back home, and dropped the trailer, the headed back out to hit the first hill by the house. the truck pulled ok, the temps were in the yellow over the first hill and i topped it doing about 35mph.
I went ahead and hit the road, and started my trip less the trailer. I was able to keep EGT below 1050(start of the red on my gage), but I was only able to hit 50-55 on the flats with an EGT of around 800-900. any faster, and EGT would go up. around 60-63(all could get) it was sitting at the middle of the yellow. at 50-55, a 600 mile trip is miserable in a noisy uncomfortable truck.
Now here is where the misery really started. climbing grades between sacramento and reno was rather un-fun. I pulled 30 mph with EGT held in the 850-1000 range(mid yellow on the gage). After Reno, running on the flats, it was 50-55mph running around 800-900. going downgrade, EGT drops to 300-600 with light throttle. When I started approaching ELKO, there are two horrid grades I had to climb. Golconda summit, and Iron Point. I dropped to second, and maintained throttle to keep EGT mid Yellow. this meant a top speed of 25 MPH and many minutes of misery to climb these. the water temp actually dropped during climb, and the trans never slipped, but the engine just hummed along not being very happy about the pain I was inflicting on it. It took forever to get to the top, and after i crested the top, EGT dropped back to 600 or so. As I climbed the last several smaller grades into Wells, NV the engine started to waver and stumble up grade, and I was concerned that I might not make my destination. After I started into Idaho up highway 93, there are miles of long steep grades that stairstep up into Twin Falls. the truck was unhappy(as was I) about climbing these. I insisted that it keep going or Die, either one would be a relief, but it kept trudging. After I made elevation, I ran the last 30 miles or so flat. I ran at 55-60mph, and 900-950EGT, but the truck seemed ok.
When I finally got to my other house, I was exhausted. I had been on the road behind the wheel for 21 hours straight. I only stopped for fuel, and once to beat a hole in the bottom of my muffler in the hopes that a clogged muffler was causing the despair. I ate, showered, and went to bed. when I got up the next morning, I started the truck, and it roared to life immediately. the engine sounds just like it did at the wrecking yard, and runs nice and smooth. there is a little shudder when i run the revs up and hold em steady. I called a friend, also a diesel mechanic, and he said the shudder might be a bad load of fuel with water in it. I drained the water sep, but there wasn't much h2o in it. he seemed to think it was a exhaust back pressure issue causing the high EGT/low power. I took the exhaust loose in front of the muffler, leaving just the y pipe with about 2 feet of piping. a test drive showed not much improvement, though I was able to hit 65mph before hitting mid yellow on the gage, and lightening the throttle would drop EGT to about 850 steady.
So here is the final list of issues:
High EGTs under all conditions. grades under load skyrocket EG temps to unhappy levels. Running downgrade temps dive to 300-600. At idle, temps are at 300 steady, and running up the throttle in park/neutral only raises temps to about 350.
I never saw as much as a single whisp of smoke from the exhaust, under load or otherwise.(except for the oil burning off from the valve cover seep pointing up grade at Auburn)
Fuel economy SUCKS... About 10MPG. It is difficult to start hot. if It only sits 3 or 4 mins it starts fine, but if it sits for more then about 10 mins, it is a bear to get to light off again. if it sits for a few hours, it will light right up in 5-8 secs of cranking.
The coolant temp never went above middle of normal.
The old engine I had in it was also a 7.3L NA IDI. It had a cavitation issue, and was building pressure in the cooling system because of pinholes in a cylinder. it had a burnt intake valve, and a bad injector pump belching white smoke out the exhaust. It pulled these same grades at 45-50mph with about 8500# of trailer, and truck loaded to capacity. all the time and money I spent to fix those issues has yielded a useless truck.
I bought this truck to move my family from Cali to Idaho. It has been a financial drain since I got it, and I still need to use it to haul the trailer 3 or 4 more times(got toys and a CNC mill to haul still). I was going to go to the dark side and do a CTD re-power, but decided to put a rebuilt C6 and used 7.3L IDI in it because of the time factor of fabrication and fitting. I really regret that decision now.
CAN ANYONE PLEASE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS P.O.S. FOR ME? ANY IDEAS WHAT MY PROBLEM MIGHT BE?? IF ANYONE HAS ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE FOR ME (GN HOTSHOT A LOAD OR TWO FOR ME OR A LOANER TURBO 1 TON I CAN USE??...I KNOW ITS A LONG SHOT, BUT I AM OUT OF OPTIONS)
OUT OF MONEY, TIME AND PATIENCE AND DESPARATE FOR HELP,
DYLAN TODD
925 260 3095
....I just priced one 2-3 weeks ago from our local IH truck dealership while I was picking up some parts for a truck I was fixing.
