I pulled our 5th wheel for the 1st time this weekend since the DP Tuner. I was happily impressed, but think I may need to get the 40 tow tune added, as I had a tough time keeping the EGR's in check pulling some of the hills. The power was definately there, but I was quite often approaching 1200.

But, on to my problem. To start things off, I towed to my father inlaws without my boost gauge hooked up because I didn't have the "T" to tie into the hose. I went & got the parts I needed while there, including 2 clamps. While putting it all together, I realized one of the clamps fell off & I couldn't find it.. The fittings inside the hose were very tight, so i wasn't concerned. Saturday evening, I decided to go for a ride to the campground we go to often, to check out the construction going on. The park has been shut down, they are putting in new shower house. It was a 40 minute drive & the truck ran great the whole way over. I was on the way back, about 30 minutes into the return trip, the truck "seemed" to be running ok again. I was approaching a stop light, started slowing down.. the truck started shaking real bad, the engine was knocking & I thought I saw a little bit of smoke under the hood.. I immediately pulled off the road into a store parking lot & shut it down. I was sick in my stomach, thinking the worst that it had blown up. I crawled underneath, expecting to see oil or something but there was nothing. I popped the hood, checked the oil & coolant.. all was good. I looked all over the top, the best I could.. I only had a mini mag light & my under hood light doesn't work.. i couldn't find anything.. no signs of oil, fuel.. nothing apparent near where I tied in the boost gauge. I thought at that point, i'd see if it fired back up & it did. It was still running rough & was smoking like crazy, but the oil pressure was ok, it wasn't running hot or anything. I again looked under the hood, couldn't see anything while it was running.

At that point it was 9:30 at night on saturday.. I was debating calling a tow truck, but it had sat running for 5 minutes, so i figured I'd gamble & see if i could get it back. I went along, 30-40 mph.. no problem. didn't even really seem under powered.. but it just didn't sound normal.. The next intersection I came to,same thing.. shaking bad, rough idle.. I turned onto the last road back, I was about 6 miles from my destination. I went a little faster, was going about 55 - 60 & it still seemed to chug along no problem. I pulled in the driveway, got out & it sounded normal again. I got a big flashlight & was checking things over again but still couldn't see anything other than some rust that appears to have shaken loose off the manifold. I then spotted the clamp I lost, laying down on one of the wire harnesses beside the GPR. I went for another short ride & it seemed ok.. Drove it 20 miles this morning to test it again & get fuel before I hooked the camper up to come home.. Normal again. We then traveled 100 miles home & it ran like a champ.. no signs of any issues the whole way home...

I am totally stumped. The only thing I can come up with is that the clamp landed somewhere & shorted something out, but eventually blew or shook itself loose??? The GPR module?? I'm not sure what the other module is beside it?? Anyone have any thoughts?

 

The 2nd one is the AIH relay (air intake heater) It only comes on when it is very cold out. I think that the clamp was hitting a wire and causing issure to them PCM as it bounced around. Both the GPR and the AIH get their on signal from the PCM.

 

Low fuel pressure will make the engine shake like you are explaining. Do know what your pressure was? Do you have stock fuel pump? How is your fuel filter?

 

I have no way of checking the fuel pressure (at least not that I know of..lol) Its a stock fuel pump & I just changed the fuel filter a few weeks ago.. less than 500 miles on it. I had between 1/4 & 1/2 a tank of fuel at the time. I was just thinking the loose clamp bouncing around has something to do with it, as I never experienced anything like this prior to Saturday nite & it has been fine ever since..

 

If the problem returns check the wire harness that goes over the driver side valve cover to the 42 pin connector. It has been known to rub on the valve cover. It routes down and along the frame near the shock support to the IDM. Make sure it is not rubbing on the shock support and is secure in the clip.

 

Thanks, I'll check that out when I have a chance... I don't want that experience again.

 

I was thinking this morning (yes,I do that occasionally) Is there any way that some kind of code would have appeared to clue me in on what happened? I don't have a code reader, but i'm sure I could hunt one down if I thought it would be worth my time. I have no idea how the "codes" work, are they stored somehow? Would it still even be accessible since this happened saturday nite?

 

It's always good to read for codes. If the CEL light came on, you have codes stored. Be sure the code reader can read the codes for our truck, some can't. That little clamp may be possessed.