Ziptied pressure tester to windshield wiper Drove15 miles including lots of hills Pressure never got above 41 What do you guys think

 

what did it read specifically @ WOT?

 

41 at wide open

 

then I'd say its fine, I'd start looking elsewhere.

 

well since ive exhausted all my ideas and the ideas from here, i took it to a shop for diagnosis. crossing my fingers and hoping its not outrageously expensive. ill update you guys as soon as i know whats causing this problem.thanks for the help

 

I know this might sound crazy BUT maybe it's the adaptation to winter blend. Epa has been screwing around with e15 without letting the public know.
I have 2 friends with ford trucks that are having the same problem as you. Started 2 to 3weeks ago. One is a 2000 excursion the other 2005 f150 5.4.

Maybe try disconnecting the battery for 15 min.Reset adaptation.

 

Please post back with diagnosis

 

so i don't feel so bad now about not being able to figure this issue out. the truck is still in the shop. accruing diagnostic charges. so far the truck has passed the tests the mechanic has run. next step is more in depth tests. should know tomorrow, i hope.... let you guys know when i do.

 

well $700 later the truck is back in my driveway and still having issues. they found that i had 5 really corroded coils, acdelco plugs, gapped at .82 instead of .5 so fixed that and now it has more power in the low end but still falls on its face between 3000-3500 rpms. they ran a converter test said that ford allows upto a 50degree difference and mine is running at 30 degrees different. im thinking i should replace the cat anyway but its gonna run me 470 bucks. what do you guys think. would you replace it or keep looking

 

so finally figured it out. mechanic had done a test on the cat and it had passed, but after talking with him i found out that he had only done a temp test not a backpressure test. so lacking a tester myself i pulled the o2 sensors out of the exhaust on both sides of the motor before the cat. i figured the extra opening before the cat would give me more power if the cat was plugged. it worked truck has all its power back just really loud. so now im gonna have to go down and pick up a new cat and muffler(since its pretty rotted). thanks for all your input and hopefully this will help someone else down the road.

 

on another note. anyone know if driving a truck around with a plugged catalytic converter can do any damage to the engine. i mean the pressure has to go somewhere right??

 

Eventually it might damage the exhaust valve if the hot exhaust gases aren't able to escape and keep contaminating the cylinder with "egr" effects. With light driving there'd be less risk than if you try to pull a heavy load or drive aggressively.

 

thanks maestro. we are currently working about 20 miles away at the top of a long steep hill so i think im gonna park it till i can swing the parts. gotta ask though whatever happened to 80 dollar cats and 20 dollar mufflers. dealers wanting over 2k dollars for the cat and its 1860 on partsguy eds website. i knew it was gonna be up there but wow. props to partsguy ed for being so much cheaper than the dealer though. but unfortuneately my truck is gonna be down for a little bit. thanks again to everyone who helped figure this issue out

 

WHAt??1800$ Here go buy this and have a exhaust shop weld it in


Catco Catalytic Converters 6907 - Catco Catalytic Converters Universal Catalytic Converters - Overview - SummitRacing.com

 

anyone ever use discountexhaustsystems.com i found a stainless steel catco direct fit cat there for just under 300.00 but ive never used the site.