96RAM

Ok this is a bit of a long story so bear with me(it has been a year in the making...). I feel I need to explain everything in order to get to the root of this problem. With the mods I have on my truck I feel I have fairly low power and this was verifyed with a dyno run.
At W0T I have at 10ish psi at around 1500rpm(lots of black smoke), 15 psi boost @ 1800rpm(black smoke! engine still sounding like it's straining/lugging egts creep to near 1200 if I let them), 17 psi at 2000rpm(engine note beginning to sound good egt's start to drop and smoke beginning to clear), 19psi at 2100 rpm
(engine sounds smooth no smoke).............. From here on up the boost climbs gradually to 30 psi at around 3000 rpm and smoke can rear its ugly head again a few more rpm higher(airflow limitations of the stock hx35 maybe?). The dyno concurrs with these figures with about half available horsepower generated below 2000rpm and rising in a pretty flat line to max hp at around 3200rpm(ie 150 hp rising to 300 or so....) ...
Boost leaks have been checked twice in the last 12months, afc and starwheel were tweaked and all mods were done at BD power up here in Canada, fuel pressure was 22psi at idle(from bd's notes.... they said they checked it but didn't mention pressure at 2500rpm....??), bd pulled the injectors on my request and tested them and they came back good, the truck starts great always and runs fine though it hazes at startup/warmup a lot more than my buddies 98...
I have pulled and pushed as hard as I could on the waste gate actuator shaft with no movement(IS THE WASTE GATE STUCK?! or how else do I test as it was pretty awkward getting in there...???) and tomorrow I will take off the fuel shutoff solenoid to inspect it. My haynes says to test using the ignition with the negative terminals unhooked on the batteries???
I believe this issue has been there since I bought it though I didn't realize until I had all the mods done.
This is all I can think of right now. I'm a newbie with these trucks so be nice please

plow

disable the wastegate and go for a test drive that will rule the wastegate out.

96RAM

Do I plug the vacuum line to disable the wastegate?
Ok doing a search I see there's a 'couple' of methods out there...
My truck has a solid line from the actuator to 4 inch rubber to more solid line to the afc. I hear if you blow down the pipe you can 'feel' if the actuator diaphragm
is shot. I think I might just disable it anyway and be done with the **** thing. I don't think I will get crazy boost with this setup....
So my question now is which method works best? What is a turnbuckle.... ???
I think I saw a pic once but I didn't pay close attention so I will do some more searching/reading....
Of course if the wastegate is stuck half open this test won't help. The turbo itself seems to be in great shape(no endplay, hardly noticeable side to side and it spins freely though feels heavier to spin than my garrett ball bearing turbos did.... )

plow

if you think its stuck open spray it with alittle wd40 and follow the rubber line from the wastegate to the AFC and pull it off of the barbed fitting and blow compressed air in it, you should be able to hear the gate working if you hear nothing then it is probably stuck, but the wd40 should loosen things up abit. Now after you have made sure that it is not stuck open and you want to leave it disabled then leave it unhooked at the AFC and plug the line to the gate off to keep stuff from getting in it then put something on the barbed fitting on the AFC to plug it off. Go for a test drive then if still does it the wastegate is not your problem.

infidel

Make sure not to exceed around 40 psi with compressed air.
Too much pressure while testing is the reason many fail.

96RAM

Ok so I pumped to 40psi with no audible sound but checking carefully again I found that the wastegate was openingand the pressure holds steady at 40psi so no leak at the actuator (not on this side of the diaphragm anyway )....

At 40 psi the adjuster nut appeared to have traveled 1/6 of an inch up towards the wastegate and I am pretty sure there was no movement at 20psi. So I guess unless it is partially obstructed and/or not returning properly then it is ok.

Overflow valve next but my fuel pressures were supposedly fine according to bd power???

Rattlerattle

Sounds like the #11 plate is in the stock location. Did you install it?

Brian

Still haven't got around to installing those D25's I got from you.

96RAM

Hey brian how's the truck going? Yup I didn't install it Bd did but it's on my to-do list to check. Tomorrow checking fuel lines, pressure, solenoid adj and whatever else I have the time for....

(off topic: I ordered the skyjacker control arms in the end. Should settle the front end and seem to be the best bang for buck out there....)

Rattlerattle

Truck is running not bad. Front end needs a bit of work. My order from DT should be here in the next week or so, as I ended up getting a track bar and control arms from them. So will wait to put the coils in with everything else.

If it was installed by BD I bet it is in the stock location. Not really a bad thing but you can gain more HP by setting it 1/16" or so from full forward. More fuel is more power, heat and also harder on your clutch. Probably say good bye to the stocker.

96RAM

"Sounds like the #11 plate is in the stock location. Did you install it?"

So far things are checking out pretty good so I think I will do that next.... 1/16" from front is as far as I should go without having the governor arm getting stuck
under the plate.... Did you have the same problem once? I think the afc springs could be too tight aswell.....

(Those DT control arms look pretty sweet! Pretty spendy? I want to stick to poly bushings they say they are softer riding on the logging roads..... The trackbar is awesome too... do you have the dss steering brace yet? That made the biggest difference to the handling of my truck)

Rattlerattle

I started with a #10 plate in the stock location then pushed it forward. Then carved my own version of a 10 but a bit deeper and more round out of a stock plate. Seems to be working well although I have a bit of a stutter from 1,000 - 1,500 when on it hard. I am pretty sure that is the large 370's with small stock DV's. 191's are in the future depending on the cash flow.

325 USD for the DT arms. I looked into some of the other brands of control arms and the DT ones were pretty compairable (we at least close) in price. I was going to make my own arms but after pricing out bushing and material and time I figured buying ones are the way to go.

I do have a DSS and it did make a difference. Once I replace the other worn front end stuff it should be good to go.

96RAM

So after all the checks etc and the time(and money ) spent searching I discovered it was only the fuel plate adjustment that was needed. With all the 'experts' at the local diesel shops giving me different answers(including pulling the IP from Bd power ) all it took was for me to do it myself. It has been a lesson of sorts....
What I've learned is that you're way better tuning up the truck yourself then you know what you did and have only yourself to blame for the consequences otherwise be very careful who you use. Hopefully this helps someone out there with the same issue....