Ok, so I was on the way to work this morning and the truck initially seemed to be cackling louder than normal. It has seemingly been getting progressively louder over the last couple of weeks, but was really loud today. Well, once the truck got to operating temp, the power seemed to cut out during acceleration. Not hard acceleration, just normal. Once I got to about 20mph, the throttle just didn't seem to do anything, then it would kick back in again for a couple seconds, then cut out again. I unplugged my PHP chip to make sure it wasn't an issue there, but that seemed to have no effect. The truck also seemed to idle at a lower rpm, like 500, and it seemed to be quieter at idle than normal. I turned around and left the truck with my mechanic buddy so he could drive it later today and tell me what he thinks, but usually its a joint effort based on what I find out here and what he already knows. It really felt like a fuel pressure problem to me, like the pressure was inconsistent or something. And to me that would explain the louder cackle also, but I'm not normally right!

So, fuel pump, ICP? FPR? Something else? Thanks a ton!

 

Have you done the in tank mods? Your buddy can plumb in a fuel pressure gauge on the back of the fuel bowl and watch pressure as he drives.

 

Have not done in-tank mods. I would like to, and this problem may lead me in that direction. But I need to figure out whats causing the issue first. Finances are an issue, so I can't afford to spend money doing the in-tank mods and it not fix the problem I'm currently having.

 

TPS? no real clue just throwing that out there for others to shoot down

or hit out of the park

 

My buddy is trying to figure it out for me. He pulled the ICP and it still acted up. He said it's really bad now, lots of smoke and missing. He is thinking IPR (also the opinion of another diesel guru he knows). What do y'all think?

 

I've spoken with a few of the resident experts on here and have gotten some good info. This is more of a bump than anything.

 

If you haven't done the tank mods, then this really sounds like fuel obstruction to me.
Tons of air getting introduced into the fuel stream and the injectors are forced to eat it.
My truck would sound like a badly pinging gas engine on the freeway before I did those mods.

 

I haven't done them yet, Dan, but I've got a kit coming. I can see where air in the system would cause problems, but it got real bad real fast this morning. One other thing that I just thought of that I havent mentioned is that I have been hearing a clicking noise around the circuit breaker panel inside the cab. It hadn't occurred to me that it could be a relay kicking on and off, but now that I think about it the noise was more prevalent this morning right before everything went downhill. Is it possible there is an electrical connection near the driver's side firewall that is causing these problems? Thanks!

 

Well, yeah, if it is cycling the power on and off to your engine, that will really mess things up.
If it's the fuel pump that is only running 50% of the time you'll only get little sips of fuel for the engine vs the fuel pump running at 100% duty cycle like it is supposed to be doing.
Get that electrical gremlin excorsized and I think you will have your problem solved.
Start by checking all grounds, battery connections, etc.
NO corrosion anywhere.

 

Thanks Dan, makes sense. I think this electrical gremlin needs to be tracked down, too. It may or may not fix the problem, but it needs to be fixed regardless. I honestly thought it was just something rattling around under there until I started actually thinking about it, and it really does sound more like a relay kicking on and off.

 

I went up to the shop after work and we ran some tests. The ICP seems to have good pressure. Right about 480psi at idle, then it increases up to about 2700+ under load. The IPR reading was a percentage, I dont remember excactly, but I think it was like 8% at idle, and then increased under load, but not much, maybe up into the teens, but I could be off here.

We are getting a PO541 code, but no lights, so I am going to try to figure out what that code is.

The truck has definitely lost power and is blowing a good bit of blue/white smoke under load. Not really any smoke at idle.

This is the latest and greatest, thanks for any input.

 

The 541 code is from your AIH delete.

 

Yeah, i just figured that out, thanks. What kind of IPR %'s should we be seeing?

 

We took the truck for a spin last night and the power loss is significant and there is a decent amount of white smoke along with louder pinging and cackling.

We didn't hear the clicking noise that I think is an electrical gremlin. My buddy (the mechanic) really doesn't think that clicking noise is related to the problem, but I just think it is too much of a coincidence for the clicking noise to get noticeably worse right before the truck starts losing power. So, does anyone know of any electrical connections near the drivers side firewall or the circuit panel that could deal with the fuel system?

In neutral, holding a constant rpm of about 2000, the truck will shake about every 3 seconds. Just thought this might be helpful information.

Thanks for the continued help. I need to get this figured out, its really putting a strain on the wife and I with only 1 vehicle.

 

Hook up a fuel pressure guage with a long hose on it so you can see it from the driver's seat and drive it around.