I have not done an update since I have finally used my truck to tow the 5th wheel. just a blip in another thread so I want to give a more thorough run down of the good the bad and the ugly.
I took the truck this past weekend from York PA out to Paris OH to go camping with some diesel friends. it was a great time and gave me a chance to really test the engine through the Appalachian mountains. overall I was impressed with the engine, it really started to shine with the amount of torque it could pour on going up hills. since I am not running an overdrive most of the drive out was in the 55-60 range the whole time. I never had to drop down gears or back off my speed up any steep long grades. just for the heck of it at one point I was running about 55 about a mile into a good hill and I just stood on it to pass a rig. the engine buckled down rode up to 18 psi and started pulling harder up the grade and soon I was passing him at 65. the pyro jumped up to about 1200 but I think that might be reading a little high. since I never bough the "special" wire that was about $75 at the time to connect the thermocouple to the gage I just used regular wire with good connections. I am thinking it might be off some. when I am running hard empty up a hill with no smoke at all coming out I can push it to 1100. around flattish areas my pyro was hovering in the 6-700 range towing and 5-600 empty.
since I have not installed any cooling fans yet I was worried that it would be a concern and I might have to really watch it. that turned out to be no problem at all, 98 percent of the time I was running cool in the 170 to 180 range. the only time it slowly creeped up was 2 really long grades and even then it never got above 200. I know this was not a complete torture test with no ac running and ambient temps in the low 70 deg on the way out and probably 40-50 deg on the way back but I would have never pulled that off in the idi. Jon sent me some cooling fans so I will get them set up soon I hope.
it got to the point I stopped watching the gages, I have never been able to do that before towing with the idi. I always drove by pyro and after a while my water temps would start getting out of control and I had to back way down. some of the hills I shot up doing 60 easily running low numbers on all the gages brought my idi down to 35 mph while riding the 220-230 deg water temp and 1100 pyro line.
I only really kept track of fuel mileage the first tank but I was getting 13mpg pulling the mountains and it took me 2 tanks to get to Ohio. the funny part was on the way back it only took me a tank and a half. I am thinking some tail wind might be helping but it could also be the engine settling in. time will tell but I figure I jumped 1 or 2 mpg on the way back.
now the bad. I know this pump was not going to be a rocket pump but I wish I could squeeze some more out of it. it starts de fueling towards the top of the rpm range and even if I am not hitting the governor I loose my boost and power. as long as I could keep it in the fueling range it pulled hard but started falling on its face much above 65. it would also fall short in shifting gears under load, I had to really push it if I wanted to get the camper moving to try to offset the defueling when it revved up. I could also use more fuel, once my turbo lights up all smoke is completely gone. I don't even get a slight haze of extra fuel, I know I could use more.
I have a slight driveline vibration at about 25 mph. its more noticeable under load with the camper. I am thinking that one of my drive shafts is out of balance and I might try having them done if I cant find anything checking them over. funny part is they are completely smooth as far as I can tell anywhere besides 25 mph up to about 75 with no shakes or vibration anywhere else.
I really like the low 7 something to 1 first for pulling out on hills and backing up but the 3rd to 4th jump is rough. it is not so bad empty but pulling, especially when I need to move it or start off on a hill the 3rd to 4th jump is to large. I cant keep any boost between gears and I end up lugging or really light on the go pedal for a bit until I can get the rpms up enough for the turbo to spool again. its hard to not put on a smoke show every time between 3rd and 4th I have also mentioned many times now I wish it was overdrive to
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the 5th wheel weighs in at about 6800lbs. I know many tow more but this is the biggest I have
overall my truck pulled like a freight train and I am really happy with it. this was a good run to show me where I can improve things.