Hey guys and gals,

Ive noticed something with my truck lately. When ever I have a heavy load behind it, and I really make the truck work, the CEL gets set off.

Now i have no loss of power, no issues at all while towing. The truck has plenty of power, doesnt skip a beat at all. Just sets off that CEL. The CEL goes out after a few minutes.

Ive done a little reading into it and it looks like its just an overboost code.

Now as for mods to my truck I dont really have performance ones, but Im sure someone had a programmer in it before as it has no top speed limiter, and I can drive over 100mph if I want.

So the question is, with 330k on the truck, should I be looking into doing a mod or two, or a preventative mod to solve this issue, or would it be acceptable to tow and keep setting the CEL off?

This summer we plan on pulling our camper with a boat behind and its a fairly good haul, I just want to minimize any issues beforehand.

I actually need to upgrade to a crew cab truck, otherwise I would be looking at doing some big mods to it, but I cant justify doing a whole lot to this truck since Im going to have to replace it with a crewcab.

Thoughts, opinions and suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Sheldon, I think you already have it, you are making to much boost. I think the ONLY thing I would be concerned with are what are your exhaust temps when this is going on??

 

May be setting the CEL if you are boosting over 21psi.Not really normal with a stock motor.I would get a CEL everytime I stood on the truck hard for a few minutes but I am running a chip.

 

Barry, he says he thinks there was a program in it before, that was why I thought maybe the Boost??

 

Ya I dont have gauges in the truck at all, and im sure I could get an exhaust upgrade from Clay for pretty cheap, and have been pondering that for awhile.

Cause really if my only real concern was the exhaust temperature, thats an easy concern to address.

 

Sheldon, if you are going to continue to run heavy, I would watch exhaust temps. Otherwise, I feel you are good to go..

 

I was sorta thinking the same, had to ask the pro's though.

One thing I was pondering is one of those overboost dealio's that supposedly prevent the cel from coming on. Think they prevent defueling as well, which i dont believe I have that issue.

 

towing heavy, I would add a trans temp gauge as well..(if its a auto)

 

GOOD POINT!!!

 

Just curious how heavy your towing? Since your truck is a 2003 where both 7.3 or 6.0 were loaded in them, yours is a 7.3 right?

 

Just order up the gauge set from Clay and you will be set, once installed.

Riffraff Diesel: RDP Triple Pillar Gauge Kit

 

Mine did the same as soon as I started towing our fiver (15k gross). Since I have AE, I hooked it up and found a P1211 code (injector oil pressure lower or higher than commanded).

General consensus was my injector o-rings might be leaking a bit and/or injectors needing replacement. (This is on a new ICP, IPR and HPOP).

Exact same symptoms. CEL comes on during hard acceleration or hill climb, goes off about 10 minutes later. No apparent issues outside of that.

 

I see it too. No mods. Pulling the 5th wheel up Cresson mountain the CEL comes on sometimes. It goes off before I get to Ebensburg - about10 minutes or so past the summit.

 

Hmm thats interesting. I never thought about injectors.

See if I would have bought a crewcab off the bat I would get gauges, a tuner, upgrade the injectors and turbo, and a bunch of other stuff, but I cant justify it. Every 500 bucks I spend on this truck now is 500 bucks Ill never get back out of it when i go to sell it.

Ive learned from this truck though, if I plan on modding a truck, mod it when you first get it, not when you plan to get rid of it haha.

 

Understood. I couldn't afford to sell my truck now if I wanted to. Over the last 18 months, I've got about $16K of work and mods into it, on top of the $16K purchase price in Summer, 2011. Clean Retail on it right now is probably $15K.

However, I did that in lieu of purchasing a newer truck at $40K to $60K. As long as some joker doesn't total it out from under me, I'm money ahead, though.

Guess it depends on how long you plan on keeping it as to how much or how little you want to continue pouring into it. Me? Starting a couple months ago, my wife and I are full-timing in our fiver, so I plan on keeping my truck as long as I can.