captainkirk

I have 104,000miles on the truck and don't run it often, recently I went to town and it had very little power. It starts right away and idles fine, when you go to take off you can start to hear the turbo spool then it just has no power and the turbo never seems to get to that high pitch wine it always had. I removed the intake and the turbo is free and spins when the engine rpm increases, there is no smoke out the tail pipe. There are no codes set in the computer and no check engine light.
If you rev it up it will continue to accelerate but will lose speed on hills and start to buck on any sort of higher incline.

I started by reading all about what goes bad on these engines and replaced the Lift pump the fuel filter and the Bosh fuel injection system and the cam sensor as it was noted to do it at the time the injector pump is replaced as a preventive measure.
I ran it without the air filter to see if that helped and it didn't, I disconnected the exhaust pipe at the turbo to see if the muffler system might have a restriction same symptoms.
Hopefully someone here will have had these issues and can help.
Kirk

97 D-Tec

i suggest checking for some sort of boost leak

JPR Ram

Maybe check and clean both the MAP sensor and the IAT sensor. Besure to use dielectic grease on the wire harness plugs to seal out any contaminates.

bentwings

One more time,.....a fuel pressure gage is mandatory on a 24 valve 98.5 to 02. Even a simple mechanical gage will work.

Get the codes scanned next.

captainkirk

I'll look into this, thanks for the reply.
Kirk

captainkirk

I appologise for leaving out that information, when I put the new pump on I installed the kit from Metro Fuel injection that has a low pressure warning light which is supposed to indicate if the pressure goes below 5psi according to the man I talked with. The warning light never comes on at any time after the engine starts which seems to me to indicate pressure to the pump is good.
if you have any other recomendations for things that would cause these symptoms I appreciate the help.
Kirk

captainkirk

Have there been any reports of the waste gate having problems in the turbo charger?
I checket the pressure actuator on the unit to see if it had any holes and it seems to actute the arm ok and it is under spring pressure when it returns.
What about a problem internal to the turbo?
Kirk

nickg

install a boost gauge, then you will know for sure if the turbo is making boost, I do not think you should be able to move the wastegate are easily by hand. did you apply pressure to the wastegate to make it move? and as mentioned physically inspect every clamp and rubber boot on the intake system, especially the boot down by the drv side battery

captainkirk

I removed and checked both the IAT and MAP sensors they were both totally clean absolutely no carbon at all on either. I did an ohm reading at different temperature for the IAT sensor and they matched the chart for response so I don't think thats it.
I inspected the intake rubber boots for any holes and made sure the hose fittings were tight, nothing visually seen with the system

What is the possibility of bad fuel???
The tank was at 1/8 when all this started and I filled it to full and added fuel treatment, there was no water in the filter housing and a drain at the filter showed no contamination. Filling with new fuel didn't make a difference

Still leaning towards the possibility of injector problems or a waste gate issue, this is getting frustratring...and costly.

Any ideas out there would be greatly appreciated
Kirk

captainkirk

I pressure checked the waste gate actuator and it seems to move according to pressure applied and the lever can't be moved by hand at all.
I will try and put a pressure tester in the system to see what the boost is actually doing.
I did an inspection of the rubber tubes and could see no apparent defects I will reinspect the one you mentioned more closely but they all look to be in good shape.
Thanks for your help
Kirk

captainkirk

More information,
I hooked a pressure test guage into the turbo manifold line that goes to the over boost regulator and wide open throttle I can get 10lbs of boost but the engine doesn't want to accelerate and the boost and turbo seem to be spooling up like if there was more volume of exhaust it would spool up regularly so I think the turbo is good.
Back to injectors what do you all think and how best to proceed testing them is a puzzle to me.
Kirk

Mike D

You would have to take the injectors out to have them tested, but I don't think that's your problem.

At WOT you should see close to 20lbs of boost on a stock charger.

mopar-or-no-car

You shouls have more boost then that. I think stock should be around 21psi.

bentwings

You should be around 19-20 at WOT.
Sounds like you may have a leak around the intake boots. I'd make up a presurizing divice and presurize the intake from the turbo to the intake horn. It's possible that the intercooler has a leak.

captainkirk

I agree that the boost should be much higher but the engine just won't rev out at all, so given that the engine won't rev it also isn't going to make the boost it should.
Kind of a what came first the chicken or the egg, if there isn't the gas to make the exhaust to drive the turbo then it could be fuel issues.

So if I take the injectors out they could be tested easily, I would take it to some place local if I knew one I trusted, but I don't so I'm stuck becoming a diesel tech.

If I have to buy new injectors who has the best deal, the truck is stock and I don't need more power so I'm assuming to stick with stock type but if there is a much better one that has advantages for around the same price?

Kirk
Thanks to all for the help, any other ideas or things I can test before spending more hard earned money would be most helpfull.