Just brought my TT home from the dealer last night. The trailer was empty and should have been less than 7,000 pounds. It sure seemed like my Ex was working awfully hard. Going up a slight incline 60 mph WOT in 3rd gear I was showing 14 pounds of boost on Torque Pro. Does this mean I have leaks? Also, it really sucked down the diesel...about 1/4 tank for 100 miles. Usually I get 175 miles for that particular 1/4 tank.

I've sunk a ton of money in this thing since April and haven't even really hit the engine compartment yet. What do I need to do next to make this a reliable and hopefully economical tow vehicle?

Thread over in the Excursion forum on what I've done since buying for those who don't stray from this forum. First post summarizes things done and expenses. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...de-thread.html.

 

You should grab a beverage of your choice with a couple of hours set aside and use the search function and gather up some specific questions pertaining to your truck and go from there.

Some things you can look at right away though are CAC/plenum boots, condition of turbo and compressor wheel, intake type/restriction, exhaust restriction, exhaust back pressure valve, boost leak detector, etc.

Do you have a tuner on your Ex?

These engines are the most efficient at 2000+ RPM, especially when towing.

When climbing a grade with my 5th wheel in tow, I like the RPM's to be near 2500-2800 in order to keep the boost up and EGT's down.

 

No tuner.

When going up the very slight hills I was at about 2500 rpm.

 

Where were your EGT's? What's your fuel pressure? What gauges do you currently have, information is knowledge. Good Luck.

 

Your boost reading is about right for a truck with little to no maintenance under the hood. Ideally for a 100% stock truck it should be a bit higher, but if you have even minor leaks in the up-pipes or CAC boots, then the boost pressure will drop significantly.

The first things I did to my truck after buying it 3 years ago (besides changing all the fluids) were to install the AIS intake (maybe should have gone with S&B) and RiffRaff CAC boots and clamps. That freshened up the response and boost pressure significantly. A year after that, I rebuilt my turbo, new 4" exhaust, Hydra tuner, gauges, etc and the truck is a beast now.

We are good at spending your money, but only you know what you are looking at under the hood.

 

I've just got TorquePro so no EGT. I'll check if Torque does fuel pressure.

Also, what is "normal" oil temperature? It was 79* out last night and I was running 212-218 EOT.

 

I don't know what oil temp should be for that with those outside air temps but 220 won't kill it. There are no gauges for measuring fuel pressure, you have to put your own together through a hole in the back of the fuel bowl. Best location is the lower one, which is post filter but one up top pre-filter is better than none at all. Riffraff et al sell fittings to adapt that ORB fitting to an NPT, to which you can attach a sending unit or a hose and a mechanical gauge.

 

IIRC, stock programming will only allow 16 PSI.

Yes, you probably have leaks. Sous' recommendation of CAC boots and plenum inserts and potentially up-pipes is correct.

With the exception of your Tekonsha controller, Springs, and the 6.0 cooler, Most of the $7500~ you've spent has been on either cosmetic items, normal maintenance or "baseline" items. What I mean by baseline items: things you have to do on any used vehicle to assure it's been done to establish a baseline.

4" Exhaust
Different air intake, 6637, AIS, S&B NOT K&N crap
Russel Stainless Brake Lines #696490
Fuel Rail Crossover aka FRX from Riff Raff
PHP Hydra with Gearhead Tunes
Upgrade the turbo


Since your Truck only has 170,000 miles you are probably 75,000 - 125,000 miles from having to do injectors. Save your money.

 

Thanks all for the suggestions. Will do a leak test tomorrow and figure out where to go from there. Was hoping to be done working on the Ex for a bit , but I suppose it will probably never stop.

 

Unplug the redline going to the wastegate. Cap it off on a T clamp that secures a cac boot. That will get you an extra 5psi

 

mileage wise - you're probably about right - Is your tank 40 gallons ? - About the best I ever got pulling a load is 12 mpg. More realistic is 10-11 mpg.

 

I have the same mileage as you and I recently towed the same weight travel trailer for the first time. I have zero boost leaks and my truck is all stock except for a few goodies like 6.0 cooler, Frx, IH bellowed up pipes, AIS and 285s. Mine is not an Ex, but an F350. For the first 90 miles of the trip I experienced what you described, stayed in 3rd working hard and drank a lot of fuel. Being my first time towing I didn't realize something was wrong with the brake controller. I was dragging that trailer down the road with the trailer brakes applied. Figured it out when I stopped to check and found the trailer wheels extremely hot.

Long story short after fixing that problem it towed the remaining 1,500 miles round trip like a champ, just really loafing along and only downshifting into 3rd on the longer steep grades on I-25 from Hatch NM North.

Unlikely you have a brake issue but just pointing out that if your engine is in top health you can tow that kind of weight just fine with stock tuning and exhaust.

 

New boost leak tool. About $30 in Home Depot parts.
I could only go up to 5 psi before the end cap started easing out of the air intake. I had the band clamp as tight as I could get it. I didn't want the ballistic tester some people commented about so I stopped there.
I'm assuming this is the infamous red line. It's the only thing I could detect a leak on. Maybe I'd find more if I had more than 5psi in the system? There could also be leaks where I couldn't see them.

Ok, where from here?

 

You did a good job at making the tool, but you have applied the pressure at the wrong place. You need to be as close to the turbo inlet as possible, but must bypass the CCV tube and housing in the middle near the 42 pin connector.

Also, you can run ~20 PSI into the tester without fear of damaging anything.

 

Ok, what is a CCV tube and housing, and how do you bypass it?

I wasn't worried about damaging anything. Just didn't want to get shot by the tester.