I've been noticing that my two powerstrokes, a 94 and a 97 that are both bone stock other than my 6637 air filters have totally different turbo sounds and feels. The 94 is a 5 speed and 97 an auto but that's not contributing to it I don't think.

The 97 turbo is LOUD. That thing starts whistling pretty good about 1500 rpm when the engine is loaded and just pulls like crazy all the way up to the governor setting.

The 94, I don't even begin to hear till a little over 2000 and it never gets as loud as the 97 at all. Pulling power is way less than my 97 too. The 97 is a ca model but the turbos are basically identical and that doesn't explain the sound difference. They both have the same wheel on them, same 1.10 A/R stamped on the compressor housing, no exhaust leaks, clogged converters, or any other obvious problems. It's just weird. Is it possible the 94 might have a broken turbine or something? I haven't ever run either with a boost gauge other than a rigged up one in the driveway.
I was thinking about tearing down the suspect turbo and putting a rebuild kit in it at least when I do the injector o rings next week.

Are these turbos supposed to be the same and if so is it reasonable to expect the same performance and sound from them both?

Is there a wheel that would give me more low and midrange power for the 94? It's rarely going to go over 2500 RPM. It's dedicated to pulling over 20,000 pounds though through mountains and switchbacks. I'd sure like to keep from being flipped off by people in motorhomes. It's happened once so far but I was only going slow to watch the pigs running in the brush next to me. The motorhome behind me ran one over because he was too busy cussing me to watch the road.

 

they should be the same, your 97 will be quicker because it's an auto, the fact that the 97 is a cali might give it a small performance gain (i don't think so but others do) which might make it spool quicker? i have no idea haha

 

is your 94 just the turbo diesel

 

i think the ca models have split shot injectors dont they ab or ad codes

 

AB Injectors

 

95 and down have a 215hp at the flywheel and i know the 97 has 225hp rating at the flywheel, mines a 95 and i have 215hp with 3:55 and it pulls like a mother, i can hear the turbo at 2200, downpipe did a little, touchier on the turbo

 

Check the exhaust housing on the turbo.
Stock is A/R 1.15.
Also i would look to update the 94's pcm to a OBD2 latest code.

Bill

 

94 stock injectors are AA code, 90cc. 97 CA would have AB code injectors, 120cc. That's a big difference in fuel available to burn.

 

not as big of a difference as you might think... some of that 120cc of fuel is being used for the "pilot" shot in the CA model, and neither truck is tuned to allow the fuel flow that the injectors can supply

 

The 94 is a powerstroke 7.3. I have a 93 7.3 IDI also and it runs circles around the 94 right now. I guess I just need to do the injector o rings. I know it needs it and maybe that will fix everything.

I'm not sure where to look on the exhaust housing for the numbers. There isn't anything I can see on it without a mirror.

I did just run into town to do something and noticed one thing. In 4th gear I can hear the turbo real good and it seems like it pulls great. In 5th it falls on it's face, even running the same RPM as where it feels fine. I'm not sure what the reduction is in 5th but it must be quite a bit. It drops my RPM about 1200 or so when I shift into it.

 

The sticks dont matter in this case the trucks are not chipped.
Check boost and hpop pressures.

Bill

 

right, no chips in my trucks. I can't stand them things. I've had to rebuild too many transmissions due to people getting carried away with chips. The factory engines make enough power for me anyway when they run right. In fact the only reason I did the 6637 air filters on them is because we live in the dustiest place in the world. I've been all over the world, including the middle east, and never seen dust storms like we get here. The factory air cleaners suck real bad so I put the 6637's on all of my trucks and so far on all the other powerstrokes that I service for other people. I've never seen dirt get past them yet.

 

Madvan, why do you say the sticks don't matter? Is it incorrect to assume that the 94 PCM is tuned to utilize AA's and the 97 CA PCM would be tuned to utilize AB's? I'm not saying either is really delivering the max fuel that they could with a chip, but it stands to reason that the AB's are likely delivering more than the AA's. Guys on here with AB's are reporting boost #'s in excess of 20psi unchipped versus mid teens for AA's.

 

Rated power from the factory is close.
The 97 cal does have higher fuel pressure OEM.

Bill

 

if you drove in both back to back the ONLY difference you'd notice is the lower amount of engine noise coming from the engine bay in the CA model... if you raced them side by side the CA model (if they had the same transmissions) might win by a fender or 2