Well, it has been three years. I was all gangbusters to get my truck built up, but then life happens... My father in law fought then lost a battle with Pancreatic cancer, then my brother in law passed away the following year and a lot of other life events occurred. So a lot of lower priority projects got put on the back burner. Fast forward three years later, and I pulled my truck and our travel trailer out of storage. Hmmm. 2010 tags updated to 2014 tags. So perhaps in storage a bit longer than I thought.
Anyway, I was surprised that even after all that time, the truck actually started up first try and ran pretty decent. At least that is what I thought at first. So we get loaded up and head up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It seemed to pull O.K. as long as I kept it up above 2500 rpm. But if I hit a hill that brought the rpm down to 2000 rpm, it was like putting the brake pedal to the floor while keeping the throttle on the floor. Tons of black smoke, engine bogged down big time. Even downshifting to first gear did not help. I had to pull off the side of the road and put it into 4wd low gear to continue up the hill. Not sure what the grade was, but I nearly got stuck in the middle of the road. A couple of days later I ran down the hill and on the way back up with the truck empty, I had to manually shift down to 2nd gear up the canyon to keep the engine from bogging down empty. The salt on the wound was when we arrived at our camp site. While still in 4wd low gear, I got stuck backing up hill into our camp space. The engine just bogged down and did not move the truck at all. It bellowed a LOT of black smoke and started smoking under the hood. I sat there for a few minutes to let things cool down and tried again. At a snails pace it finally backed up the hill. It took me nearly an hour to get backed up and lined up with taking a few shots (we arrived after dark) to get the trailer in blind. But it should have only taken a few minutes if the truck could have backed up with any speed faster than 0.1 mph.
So, I am thinking that something is up with the Turbo. Tons of black smoke with low engine power makes me think that I was not getting enough air into the engine for the fuel delivered.
Here are some details since I am certain someone will ask.
94 crew cab long bed 4x4 (8600 lbs empty going over the gravel pit scales)
4.11 gears
7.3L factory turbo
e4OD transmission
IP and Injectors rebuilt and installed by Gillette Diesel Performance perhaps 2-3000 miles ago
New fuel filter installed about 500 miles ago
Oil changed and transmission flushed about 1000 miles ago
Standard #2 pump fuel with healthy dose of Lucas diesel additive (I ran both tanks empty before trip to burn off old fuel, and put in half a bottle each tank before putting in to storage filled up to the brim to prevent condensation)
New brakes, drums, disks, rear cylinders and master cylinder (hydroboost upgrade planned though)
New stock size Michellin AT2 tires
Not sure what else to add to the list. I have had problems pulling hills since I bought the truck 6 or 7 years ago. I do have a timing meter which I picked up off of eBay a few years back and timed it to the recommended 9.5 degrees BTDC if I remember right, but have not checked the timing this year. I have a spare camshaft to get ground by TYP4 and was getting ready to ship it off three years ago when life events changed my plans. So I need to get that out of the garage loft to ship in, but feel that I really need to figure out what is going on before I go and start swapping out major parts like a camshaft if there is something else going on that would just continue being a problem afterwards.
So, where should I start. I did pick up a boost gauge which I need to install to see what is going on there. And I have the timing meter to double check the timing. But where else should I be looking?
Oh, now that I think of it, the truck was acting like the transmission had the torque converter locked up when in the lower two gears, and again when putting it into reverse. I printed out the e4OD lockup mod wiring diagrams and plan on doing the Locked - Auto - Unlocked mod, but figured that I would start a troubleshooting thread to seek the sage advice of those more knowledgeable than I.
Thank you everyone in advance. - John Z
Anyway, I was surprised that even after all that time, the truck actually started up first try and ran pretty decent. At least that is what I thought at first. So we get loaded up and head up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It seemed to pull O.K. as long as I kept it up above 2500 rpm. But if I hit a hill that brought the rpm down to 2000 rpm, it was like putting the brake pedal to the floor while keeping the throttle on the floor. Tons of black smoke, engine bogged down big time. Even downshifting to first gear did not help. I had to pull off the side of the road and put it into 4wd low gear to continue up the hill. Not sure what the grade was, but I nearly got stuck in the middle of the road. A couple of days later I ran down the hill and on the way back up with the truck empty, I had to manually shift down to 2nd gear up the canyon to keep the engine from bogging down empty. The salt on the wound was when we arrived at our camp site. While still in 4wd low gear, I got stuck backing up hill into our camp space. The engine just bogged down and did not move the truck at all. It bellowed a LOT of black smoke and started smoking under the hood. I sat there for a few minutes to let things cool down and tried again. At a snails pace it finally backed up the hill. It took me nearly an hour to get backed up and lined up with taking a few shots (we arrived after dark) to get the trailer in blind. But it should have only taken a few minutes if the truck could have backed up with any speed faster than 0.1 mph.
So, I am thinking that something is up with the Turbo. Tons of black smoke with low engine power makes me think that I was not getting enough air into the engine for the fuel delivered.
Here are some details since I am certain someone will ask.
94 crew cab long bed 4x4 (8600 lbs empty going over the gravel pit scales)
4.11 gears
7.3L factory turbo
e4OD transmission
IP and Injectors rebuilt and installed by Gillette Diesel Performance perhaps 2-3000 miles ago
New fuel filter installed about 500 miles ago
Oil changed and transmission flushed about 1000 miles ago
Standard #2 pump fuel with healthy dose of Lucas diesel additive (I ran both tanks empty before trip to burn off old fuel, and put in half a bottle each tank before putting in to storage filled up to the brim to prevent condensation)
New brakes, drums, disks, rear cylinders and master cylinder (hydroboost upgrade planned though)
New stock size Michellin AT2 tires
Not sure what else to add to the list. I have had problems pulling hills since I bought the truck 6 or 7 years ago. I do have a timing meter which I picked up off of eBay a few years back and timed it to the recommended 9.5 degrees BTDC if I remember right, but have not checked the timing this year. I have a spare camshaft to get ground by TYP4 and was getting ready to ship it off three years ago when life events changed my plans. So I need to get that out of the garage loft to ship in, but feel that I really need to figure out what is going on before I go and start swapping out major parts like a camshaft if there is something else going on that would just continue being a problem afterwards.
So, where should I start. I did pick up a boost gauge which I need to install to see what is going on there. And I have the timing meter to double check the timing. But where else should I be looking?
Oh, now that I think of it, the truck was acting like the transmission had the torque converter locked up when in the lower two gears, and again when putting it into reverse. I printed out the e4OD lockup mod wiring diagrams and plan on doing the Locked - Auto - Unlocked mod, but figured that I would start a troubleshooting thread to seek the sage advice of those more knowledgeable than I.
Thank you everyone in advance. - John Z
