I ran it 'till it got hot yesterday and disconnected the sensor Fordtech mentioned in the front of the motor. It's in the housing the top rad hose is connected, I hope it was the right one. No difference. I read 250 ohms between the sensor top and the wire . I can't get my hand full enough on the rod to disconnect it and if I pry it off I probably won't be able to get it back on. I am able to move the plate with a long nosed pliers, counter clockwise from the top, which moves the rod away from the turbo. This is the first time I was able to get a tool and enough oomph to move it. I am confident the valve isn't stuck, there's just pressure on the rod holding the stop on the plate against the stop on the exhaust.

Cookie says- "Which direction did you move the actuator rod? When the rod is all the way in (towards the turbo housing) the valve is full open, which is where it should be. The rod pushes out to close the valve."

Fordtech says- "The exhaust back pressure is controlled to provide more heat to the coolant for cab heating when ambient air temperature is below 5°C (40°F) and engine oil temperature is between -10°C (15°F) and 83° C (182°F)


The air temp. here in Hellsville (Mesa) hasn't been below 40* in three months
so I guess the valve never closes? I expected it to be closed when the motor was "cold". Sorry I ran you guys around on this but I was sure it acted like a backpressure problem . Which brings me back to the question, where did my power go? It can't be the "cat" with only 53,000 miles and it passed emmissions with registering 1 pt. out of 40 needed to pass. Oh well, I guess it's not the BPV anyway..........................Thanks a bunch...
BTW. Any information I can get, whether from someones book learnin' or experience smarts, is greatly appreciated...
............. ...Just to get it straight ... .......
Thanks again..........

 

But wait, the IAT (intake air temp) sensor could be disconnected, or chewed off too! The default is -40!!! It should be in the intake box. Can you run KOER (key on engine running) tests?

 

All I have is a Fluke multimeter but I'm not too smart with the technical stuff. If the valve is open all the time, should I be concerned that it doesn't close because of air temp.? I have never seen it in any other position than what it is in now. It was in the 80* the day we took the trip.

But, ya' know, I didn't check it when it was running badly or even knew where it was.. Are you thinkin', on again, off again??? Squirrels bit "almost" through??
Where is it, I'll take a look ??

 

Middle of the base of the air cleaner box pointing at the firewall. You should be able to see the working end of it with the air filter removed. The connector and wires are on the other side.

 

'97 its on the fender side but no damage there. The little ******s missed those. All looks OK.

 

Well I tried to help, if you're fuel pressure is up to par, the air intake isn't restricted (no squirrels stuck in the breather) and the turbo is boosting ok... maybe a sticking fuel pressure regulator? Can you run engine running tests?

 

For instance?

 

You don't have any bolts backing out of the turbo, or any exhaust leaks right?

 

The squirrels didn't eat into the MAP (2"X3" box with 3 wire connector) sensor hose going from the Y-pipe (from turbo to both heads) to the sensor on top of the A/C case did they?

 

I tried to look everything over pretty close for anything loose or out of place. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary......A little history... This truck had 35,000 miles on it when I bought it so was pretty clean. The guy I bought it from wasn't smart enough to think he could fix anything and it was apparent he didn't try. Other than it wouldn't start the day after I brought it home I've had no hint of a problem. It needed new batteries. I dug up his warranty records at the dealer and before he traded it he complained about poor fuel mileage. They put in four new injectors. Soon after , another dealer put in the other four. He had the truck for almost three years before he complained. I wonder if something was failing??? I get 13 MPG empty.. I had boost and fuel pressure checked about a year ago and all was OK. I never drove another pickup sized diesel so I have nothing to compare to, but from this forum about how strong they are, I was never too impressed. The trucks it replaced were 360 gassers, so it was no problem outpreforming them. Maybe I heard too much hype.. It's all stock..

 

Not if you've had a significant performance drop between one trip and the next. That generally indicates a problem.

So the EBV is working correctly, the intake is clean, fuel system is up to snuff.......what's that leave?

Have you looked at the compressor wheel in the turbo? Perhaps the squirrels left you a present in there that the turbo injested. Have you checked all the rubber boots to and from the turbo....maybe a simple boost leak.

An oil analysis and a compression test could be very revealing for you....even completely stock you should be able to drag #10k around without too much difficulty.

 

No dust in the intake. I shined a light down the intake at night to check that the critters didn't chomp a piece out and it went into the fan. No holes. wheel shiny clean, hoses from the turbo OK., clamps tight. I used a mirror to look under stuff. All tires aired to spec. , oil level right. The wind didn't seem any stronger than usual.
I've been banging my head against the wall trying to think what was different between the two trips to the desert. The only thing I came up with is I bought fuel at a different station. That's why I checked the fuel filter first in case I got a load of water which is rare in this low humidity air. The station sells a lot of fuel. Besides I don't believe a lower grade of fuel could make that much difference. The tranny was replaced at 18,000 miles and I haven't changed the fluid yet. Could the transmission be starting to take a dump? It shifts fine and shows no sign of anything wrong, no hot smell.

 

Well, I'm a manual tranny guy, so I can't comment with any authority, but maybe it's not the whole tranny. I've seen a lot of "bad torque converter" type posts. Maybe you can seek out some of those and see if if anything sounds familiar.