1997 F250 7.3 auto trans
I went camping and my truck had zero towing power. I went from 1400' to 7000'.
I could not go over 40 MPH on steep grades. My foot was to the firewall!!! I think the turbo wasn't even spooling. Without a turbo would the truck be like this? Truck just would not go. I don't think I could hear it spool either. Vanes on impeller spin freely by hand and they are very clean. Any ideas? Thanks!!!!!

 

Could be an exhaust leak or boost leak. It definitely sounds like the turbo's not doing much.

You'll have to do some diagnostics. Do you have an Android phone or tablet? If so, you can get Torque Pro for like $5 and an adapter for $13 so you can monitor all of the engine parameters.

 

How about your oil level? I experienced something similar and was low on oil

 

Oil level is fine. The orange rubber turbo hose may have been cracked. It was after removal but that might have been me wrestling it out. What is the difference of truck with and without the turbo?

 

Well I own a 7.3 non turbo and a power stroke.... The difference is pretty significant

 

That orange rubber boot has been known to collapse and cut the airflow to the turbo.

Do you have any uppipe leaks? Exhaust manifold leaks? Need to check for soot around these areas too.

 

Oil level is fine. The orange rubber turbo hose may have been cracked. It was after removal but that might have been me wrestling it out. What is the difference of truck with and without the turbo?

 

With truck FLOORED I could not go past 40 MPH while on an incline. Trailer probably 7K lbs.

 

How about the ebpv on the turbo ? It could be stuck on. Causing hardly any power. It's just a plug on the drivers side of the turbo. You can unplug it and see.

If your exhaust sounds like a jet engine then it's stuck on

 

At 40mph I hope you were in second gear. Stock is pretty gutless, do the above checks and see if you have any codes if you can get a code reader.

 

This is normal for a stock truck. You can't assume the turbo isn't spooling without a gauge as most some people can't make out the sound of the turbo on a stock truck.

 

So today when I drove my truck WITHOUT the trailer, it seemed fine. I went up/over steep passes with no problem. It is an awesome running truck as long as I don't pull the trailer. Is this year truck THAT underpowered for pulling an 8k load? I just assumed a 7.3 PSD could perform medium duty towing. Even an older model with 223k miles.

 

These trucks unmodified aren't real powerhouse's. They will tow anything but not fast. I like my obs truck and don't really care how fast I get there. There is ways to boost the power and probably a set of gauges, intake, exhaust and a ts chip will help a lot.

 

Subscribed. Same thing happens to my truck in high altitude (I had mentioned this in some threads). Does your truck downshift in those cases?.

 

Your truck should pull an 8,000 lb load uphill just fine.

A PSD without the turbo will run worse than an old non-turbo IDI, because the PSD has lower compression to accommodate the turbo.

Set up a boost gauge or get the Torque app. All you're doing right now is guessing.