So I am having what I consider to be a unique and puzzling issue.

Just added a new Diamond Eye 3" 2 piece round downpipe on the ol' '97 F-250. The truck is entirely stock except for now the downpipe and little side pipe I made up out of the old exhaust. Basically I ditched the cat converter and muffler, went straight out of the turbo. Sounds awesome.

only problem is when I went and got on the highway, I could only hit about 60-65 tops, and this took a solid minute! The engine wouldn't rev higher no matter how much I put my foot in. (this is a ZF manual trans. by the way).


Since the ride was only about 10 min, I hopped out and felt the rear drums. I might be new to the diesel game but this isn't necessarily my first rodeo. Drum on the passenger side was warm. I would say normal for average braking. Then I felt the drivers side. HOT AS ****.


I did use the parking brake when working under the truck, always do.


I also removed that seemingly useless plastic cover over the fuel bowl on top of the motor. Don't know if that is supposed to change anything.

Other than that I haven't done anything. Except sit in the engine compartment on the passenger side to work on the downpipe.

The truck runs well, no skips, is doesn't sound or feel like an injector issue.
And I do know its coldish out now, but I let the truck idle for about 5-10 min while I checked for exhaust leaks before driving.


Any insight on the issue is greatly appreciated.

 

Well a hot as **** drum on one side and the other is warm is probably a good sign you have some issues that should be addressed pronto, I don't really rink it's your problem. I would check the ebpv and see if it's disconnected or hung up. It's a exhaust valve used to aid in warm up. If it's closed you will have too much back pressure.

 

Kinda sounds like your exhaust back pressure valve is stuck closed. Unplug the two wire plug under the driver side of the turbo and see if it cures it.

 

That brake cable is stuck .better fix that first.

 

the ebpv connector was loose. someone broke the retaining clip. wiggled it back in there and it did help. I just got done with a test drive and it is "better." I came from a stop, turned right, got to a hill in about 100ft and at the top of the hill (a little less than a 1/4 mile) I was only doing 50 something. And I was giving it to it pretty well.

Is it possible that when I installed the downpipe I clamped down with the turbo-downpipe clamp too hard and it damaged something?

I have class tomorrow, the automotive dept is right down the hall from me. I will have them take a look at the brake issue.


BTW the emergency brake cable is loose after I release it.

 

If the cable under the cab is loose then its because the rear is stuck in the applied position.its common with the older vehicles.I had one bad and it wore my shoes out.

 

I think youd break that V clamp before you'd Fu!$ anything up by over tightening it.. If the ebpv was stuck with a short exhaust you'd hear a loud jet like sound coming outta the exhaust pipe when trying to make revs.. I'm sayin you've got a brake issue... Jack the back of the truck up, put it in Neutral and see how easy that rear end turns...

 

Aaron's right, I just replaced the cable on the drivers side rear, it was stuck.

 

Unplug that connector and leave it unplugged. When the EBPV malfuntions, it closes when it shouldn't. Just unplug it and you don't have to worry about that. You don't really need it anyway.

 

Well it does sound a little louder than it did with the downpipe and shorter exhaust, not obnoxious though. You can hear the turbo quite well, even when it returns to idle the turbo is still audible.


under a little closer inspection there is a small gear oil drip from the passenger rear wheel. I am assuming the fluid is lower than it should be since this drip has some residue around it, showing it has been there probably a few weeks.

If it is a brake issue how does one go about "un-sticking" the rear cable? Like I said the cable under the cab is floppy (should it be that way when the parking brake is NOT engaged?).

If its safe to drive about 25 miles tomorrow I will let automotive look at it. I really like to do my own wrenching but there aren't going to be enough hours in this week.
Or I could leave it for one of the brake-guru guys in town if it needs to stay here.


Thanks a TON for all the quick responses, this one was definitely going to keep me up.

 

When my e brake cable was sticking, I clamped a pair of locking pliers on the inner cable a short distance from where it enters the outer sheath, and tapped the pliers with a hammer to get the cable back in the sheath to release the brake. Do not reapply the e brake or you will be doing the process all over again. Over time water, dust ect. find their way between the cable and sheath causing the cable to stick. A new cable is the only sure fix.

 

+1 seized rear brake cable, driver's side. Happened to us on the road once. Late Sunday night, about 10F. Stopped at the local Mall-wart and bought a mini-hacksaw (bolt cutter would've been quicker), cut the cable just before where it enters the backing plate. Since the seized part was somewhere between there and the "splitter", the part inside the drum wasn't seized, so the brake released.

 

Okay so this morning I jacked the rear driver's tire up and tried to turn it. Pretty stiff but it DID turn. So I yanked on the cable going to the drum some, wasn't sure if that would fix it.

So I opened the hood one more time before I resigned myself to the Cabrio for transportation. Gave her a good look over, and found about a 1ft long 3/8" or 1/4" hose coming from an exhaust pipe piece going to some electronic module mounted on the fire wall right in front of the passenger seat.

Hooked that sucker back up and she was laying it down on the highway again.

It seems to have fixed the power dilemma, and the brakes/gear oil leak are to be addressed on Wednesday morning. About $40 for an inner wheel seal (btw, does anyone have a part # for those? inners and outers? For a 1997 F-250 4x4 HD . I don't really trust the kid behind the counter at Advance...). And $20 labor to have it put in at the college. Again I would do it myself, but I am already trying to be in 4 places at once, and $20 to have it put in and inspected by 3 instructors sounds like a good deal.

 

MAP sensor is mounted on the firewall passenger side, feed line goes to the passenger-side intake plenum. Nowhere near the exhaust.

You don't want to pull on the parking brake cable; that would only make it apply even more. You want to release it. Since the rear wheel cable is shot, you may as well try cutting it just upstream of the backing plate as described above, see if that gets it to release. Bolt cutter should do it post-haste. If you continue to drive with it dragging, you'll run the shoes down to bare metal as fordman mentioned. Eventually you'll start scoring the drum.

 

I was Thinkin MAP too...
OP can you identify it in this pic?