I have a 1996 7.3 power stroke and I am pulling about 15000 lbs on a goose neck. When pulling up hills I seem to run out of power but on the straight it pulls great. It just seems to be running out of power running up hill. I have talked to other people about pulling up grades and for them there is no issue, they seem to be able to pull up hill at a speed arround 55 mph I tend to drop to about 30 on the same hill. The fuel filter has been changed and the oil is fresh and full. I have heard of an issue with the fuel heater that might cause this issue. I do have a new one but have not istallted it as of yet. Any ideas I could check, chould it also be an injector issue?????

 

Do they have the same gear ratio? Pulling 15k lbs uphill is a lot of work, gearing could do a lot of help or harm to your cause.

 

The gearing on the truck seems to be fine. I just seem to lose power when climbing hills, like I am running out of gas.

 

An aquaintence of mine had same problem and her tranny was going out.

 

Trany is fresh. With all the upgrades to it as well.

 

Thread moved to the 7.3L PSD section.

 

what gear ratio do you have? like reAX said 15k is alot of weight on a steep grade. how does you air filter look and is the truck stock?

 

Check your Map sensor hose for any pin-holes and possible clogs. Just take it off and blow in one end of it to ensure it is clear, not plugged up. Bad Map sensor hose = poor power. If it is rock hard where it connects to the engine just replace it. Cheep fix if that's the problem.

 

Another check for the MAP is to unplug the electrical connector and if the truck has better performance you either have a plugged/leaking line or a bad sensor.

Also check fuel pressure at idle and under load. you should not drop below 40-50 psi. It will be hard measure do to the mechanical pump giving lots of pulsations.

 

what is done to your truck other than tranny mods? what size tires? chip? intake? exhaust? gears? how steep are these hills?

 

Clean the screen in the filter bowl also.

 

I do have mods on my truck. I have the upgraded exhaust system, a K&N filter and a chip mod. The chip mod I can change from tow to extream. I do have all the guages to monitor the engine while in these mod configuations. I have heard of oil foaming which might cause this problem but Im not sure of that as well. I use synthethic oil, but I have not changed it in about 15k miles, I do keep it full though. My truck is not modified with any tires or such, but it is a 4x4 with standard 4x4 tires no mud running for me. Like I said the trans has been gone through with all the mods it can take. I have a triple clutch converter and there was another cluch plate added to the tranny. The air filter is clean so no stopage there. I do try to run fuel additive in the tank just because of the crap in the fuel now days. I think that is about all of it that I can think of. Thanks for all your great responces. I will just have to find the map sensor to check that one out, any ideas where that is located?

 

MAP sensor (follow the small black hose from the regulator (center of pic, small round gauge with bad reflection on it) to the gray box to the left hand side of the pictures. Thats the MAP sensor


Your K+N isn't by chance a drop in into the stock box is it? I hope not. If so, remove the intake tubing and make sure you compressor wheel on the turbo doesn't look sand blast or nicked. it should have straight edges nice and clean with 90 corners of the outside edge.

 

Do you tow with OD or is the truck shift down, what gear and RPM is it in when pulling 55, and then 30 on the hills?

 

Thanks for the pic on the Map sensor.

When I pull hills I drop of the OD which helps on the hills but then when pulling biger hills and the speed drops to arround 40 or lower the rpms seem to be high and the trans seems to drop down to 2ed. I have a small hill comming up to my house and I start up the hill at a rolling start and I can only get up to about 20 mph and I blow a lot of smoke. It seems the truck will go to 2ed gear and stay there at about 20 mph. This is very frustrating and I know that this truck will pull better than that. The trailer I am pulling tops out arround 20k when loaded with 4 horses and full tack. The trailer is 42.5 ft and has a living area with it. Pulling on the flat it pulls really great and gets up to speed quickly, its just pulling hills.