Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Lack Of Power Going Uphill - Struggling And Lugging
Apr 13, 2016
Long story short, when going up hill or any incline for the matter it feels like it's struggling and lugging, blowing carbon everywhere. It's an automatic so I yeah can downshift sometimes but even turning overdrive off doesn't work in a lot situations. My EGTs are way too high and I'm not about to tow my project car to OKC unless I get this figured out. I live around Salt Lake City so towing can be hard up surrounding passes. Just cruising to park city at 70mph on I80 up a pretty good incline my EGTs were 1,000. Just driving around the city, some hills I see 700-800 when I'm going 35mph.
At stop lights I'm seeing 400 at idle. My probe on the pyro is going bad starting to flutter but even if I fix that I'm still having issues up hills. Boost is good, up-pipes don't appear to be leaking but fuel pressure is a little low @56 and I know it's not the fpr because I just messed with that yesterday, put a new poppet and oring in, I haven't checked the fuel pump yet or dropped the tank either. If it is in fact fuel pressure related, does it make sense for me to see smoke coming out, wouldn't that indicate too much fuel? I'm lost, it's driving unloaded like I'm pulling an anchor.
Regardless of which spring I put in the frx I get 56psi, even with the black one I may see 58psi but even with 58psi it was still lugging it's butt off up hills and making that terrible drone sound like F you down shift me now.
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My issue I'm having - 2002 F350 7.3L has an 8 inch bds lift with 37/13.50 tires. I realize these tires are big but... while driving 100kms/hr or 60 miles per hour and I hit the gas the truck barely wants to move (without pulling a load). Thought maybe a turbo but I have no mechanical skills so here I am!
2nd issue, there's a bullydog chip in that truck when I bought it. he said he always ran it on extreme. I found it puffs way to much black when on extreme and on performance it seems a lot better so that's where I have it?.
3rd issue, the transmission gauge on the dash goes into red when climbing up hills ( I live in the rocky mountains so a lot!) but the bullydog chip says the tranny is only at its hottest 140C? I don't believe that's to hot but I do believe my truck is derating a little while the tranny gauge on the dash is in the red? is there any quick fixes out there for these issues.
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I have a 2002 F350 4wd with the 7.3. I was driving the truck and all of a sudden it was running like crap. the engine light was on. after a minute or so the engine light goes off and the truck is running fine. then again starts running like crap. I am close to the house so I limp it home. runs like crap.... will barley climb small hills. engine light is on. get home turn it off... next day... starts up and runs great for 10 - 15 min. engine light comes back on... runs like crap.... my neighbor says "It's the crank position sensor" I replace it.... runs great for a month.... now it's doing the same thing......
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Picked up a second 7.3, just finished installing the new transmission last night, took it on a drive last night, everything was fine.
Went to bring it home last night- and found myself unable to maintain 50-55mph on back roads at 3500 rpm.
At first it almost seemed like I wasn't getting 3rd/4th gear, but upon taking it for a spin with torque pro, I am getting all gears, overdrive works, TC locks- all appears good there. Trans is getting really hot- but I believe I messed up the bypass lines or the bypass valve is not opening correctly- not the biggest concern.
I let the truck cool to more normal operating temps, took it for a spin, same story. I top out flooring it at about 55mph. No fault codes other than my faulty glow plug module. Everything I'm monitoring on torquepro looks fine with the exception of boost. When I floor my other 7.3, I get 15-20 psi, this, I get like.. 4. Unplugged MAP, nothing changed.
Turbo shot? Glogged pipes? These are my first initial thoughts. Let me know if I'm going in the right direction here, I can rebuild a gas motor in my sleep, but diesels are a newer animal to me, I've only had them about 2 months.
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Towing a 5th wheel at about 10,000 lbs total. Towards the end of out 9 hour trip home and going upgrade the truck begins to loos power and the engine starts making some bad sounds. Although its hard to hear it starts about 45 seconds in and continues later when going uphill. the truck also made a very high pitched squealing/scraping sound (not a belt) like it may have been coming from the turbo. Oil temp was about 220, trans temp at 170 at the time of the event.
Truck has 216k, stock, upgraded trans cooler, original fuel pump.
Here is the video : YouTube.....
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I have a 2001 7.3 with 243k. I think the injectors are shot but other people including a local mechanic say it's not the injectors. What the truck does is smoke white. Sometimes little puffs when accelerating. Sometimes clouds that make the people behind you drop back a 100 feet. I have a ts6 on the truck and that alone with the 243k miles is enough to think its bad injectors. It smoke white. The exhaust is moist to the touch with soot built up like crazy. It doesn't really smell sweet and it's not really blue at all. It's getting horrible mpg. And lacks power. I don't have a high enough psi gauge to test compression. All arrows pointing to injectors?
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I have a 2003 with 150k miles. My 6.0 has black smoke and can barely crawl up a hill. Dealership is 30 days out for an appt. Air filter, oil change, alternator, and batteries are new. I removed the EGR valve and cleaned, but the valve seat is not perfect. I can see 20 to 30 mil gap around half of the seat. Is this ok or will that little gap cause this?
Hoses all look good. No alarm lights. I have no diagnostic tool but I can use a meter well. It did have an airbag light but I found the fuse missing and replaced it. The air filter alarm switch fell apart but I bypassed it till I get new part. No alarm lights now.
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I have a 2000 7.3 and I have a hypertech Max Energy Programmer set to stage 3 in my truck right now (100 HP). I noticed last night when I was going up hill and had my foot to the floor the truck would hesitate for a minute and then lag before it was would catch up to itself. I did it again on some flat ground and noticed when it did do that my boost gauge would get to 20 and then fall to Zero. If I start out and gradually get to the floor without punching it the truck drive fine. How to fix it?
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I have posted a pic of a smoke issue I am having while pulling.
I just pulled a 10,000 lb trailer up a few 7% grades at 8-10,000 ft and the best I could do was 40-45 mph at 6mpg. Every hill would set a P1211 and when the truck downshifted to 3rd the smoke would go away for the most part.
Truck is 100% stock and pulls the same as my F350 with 3.73 gears but smokes a lot more.
The smoke is kind of annoying and performance seems sluggish especially given the 4.88 gearing. Where to start?
Has new ipr, hpop, icp, fuel filter, air filter, fresh 5w40 mobil 1.
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I have always seen other trucks blow black smoke with towing up a hill but mine for the most part has not. I pulled my 5er to CO this summer and notice my truck starting to blow black smoke. I consider myself a very conservative driver. I always stay around 65 MPH while towing and never push my truck up the hills. I always try to keep the RPM around 2000 and let the MPH fall where they may until I reach the summit. With the black smoke I'm starting to see what is my truck trying to tell me? It's not bad but would like to fix now before it becomes something more.
2001 F250, 4X4 crew cab, 7.3 with 205,000 miles.....
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Lately I have been having problems loosing power. Truck wants to miss mostly going up hill and runs sluggish I'll pull off the road and let it idle for a minute and it will run fine. And it is only occasionally some days it don't happen at all and other days it happens quit often. New fuel filter, oil is good, had it on the scanner and isn't throwing any codes. Around 230k miles newer injectors.
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Just bought my 2013 Platinum 350 DRW 2 weeks ago. 9,000 miles on it. I was cruising along yesterday at around 45 mph in 6th gear going up a slight incline. Truck was fairly low rpm don't remember what exactly. As I'm going up this hill it begins to shudder quite a bit almost seemed like the turbo shuddering while lugging up the hill at a low rpm in 6th. I stepped into the throttle to get it to downshift into 5th and it stopped. I never experienced anything remotely like this in my 2011 6.7.
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I was driving and my truck started have lack of power, could barely get going on hills, tons of blue smoke (smelled like diesel) real rough idle. I unplugged injectors and found #5 made no difference. I replaced it today and I can't get it to start. It'll get to 2000+ psi 48v ficm, low pressure oil registers, ficm says its in sync. It will crank and blow a lot of black like its half firing or something. It has even crank to, until it tries to fire. From what I've been reading could it be the ficm? That one circuit is fried?
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I am the original owner of a 2003 F250 Super Duty 6.0L. I have had all the required work that has ever needed to be done to it, including replacing the entire wiring harness and some work on the turbo this last September. Over the last few weeks I have noticed it sputtering when going between 45-55MPH up a hill. It only does this when I'm going at a steady speed. It starts fine and accelerates fine, but if I'm going a steady speed up a hill 45-55MPH I notice the sputtering. I've had almost all my work done by the dealership and just had it in last week for this, but they have told me there is nothing wrong, but knowing my truck, I know there is. What could be causing this? There are no check engine lights on or anything.
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i have an 03 F350 6.0 turbo diesel. Problem im having is a boost problem. on the passenger side, the intake tube keeps popping off the turbo. The Boot ripped on me on a hill so i replaced it with one from the junkyard seeing that it costs so much new. Anywho when i changed the intake tube i did clean it with brake cleaner to clean it and wipe it off. After i did i went for a ride and it just popped off at about 2500 rpm. So i went back thinking maybe i had too many bruskies and recleaned and tightened the clamps on the boot again. Get going down the road going normal again. I gave it a heavy foot to about 3200 and let off it made a sound like fluttering then as soon as i hit it again it blew off. looked at some other forums that said to put hairspray on the boot to seal it. haven't drove it yet just looking for other peoples solutions.
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While I'm cursing at highway speed everything is fine. But when u punch it it pass someone it's like I actually slow down, same from a red light. I've got a livewire programmer in it and this problem is somewhat new. It just seems to keep getting worse, I was going up a hill on the interstate this morning and at 2800 rpms I was actually slowing down. I'm not sure if the fuel pump is going out or if the transmission is slipping or what.
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Blown fuse causing a lack of power to the OBD port?
I just got my Kiwi2 BT OBD2 adapter and was hoping to start diagnosing my truck, but the adapter won't power on while connected to the truck.
I pulled and visually inspected fuse #12, I also verified power to the cigarette lighter plug and the accessory 12v power outlet.
The adapter powered up with no problem when I connected to a co-worker's Tacoma.
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I have a 2004 f350 with a 03 bullet proofed motor. The truck did not have any power and the turbo wouldn't support until I put a new vgt solenoid in and it ran great for about 3 miles... Stalled doing 65 kinda lacked power while accelerating but got up to speed quick. I pulled over and no start. It is running error code kam on pcm from disconnecting batteries but could this cause the stall and no start? Or should I be looking into icp sensor?
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Having some problems with an e-350 dying when in gear and rough idle. Truck starts up after it dies. Vehicle acts like it is starving for fuel. I have check fuel pressure after fuel pump and getting 55psi. High oil pressure pump with in normal ranges. Cleaned and checked egr and it was in the closed position. Fuel filters have been changed. Injector buzz test ok.
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The problem is, say I'm going around a 90-degree turn and I'm going 10 miles an hour and the engine stays in 2nd gear it does not want to pick up speed until it gets into the power band. Even if I am in overdrive and want to pick up speed it will kind of hesitate until it down shifts to 3rd then it will take off . Same thing when I am in second going to slow trying to take off, if I floor it it will down shift to first and take off like a rocket.
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My 2007 6.0 has a really rough (almost 'miss') during cold start up. After 5 seconds or so, it smooths back out and sounds normal. Until gauge reaches normal operating temp - there is a surge/lack of power during light acceleration. I also hear a frequent compressor coming on and running for a while which I am contributing to a possible vacuum leak. Maintenance is always done on time and I've already had a few costly repairs (both internally as well as externally) on the engine. I usually always wait for the glow-plug indicator to turn off before cranking the engine and let it idle for 5-10 minutes prior to driving it. Once the vehicle climbs to normal temp. everything seems to be fine but the compressor still comes back on every so often.IS it worth simply replacing the vacuum canister located behind the passenger side battery - or should I find someone to hook up a diagnostic unit first?
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