03 power..or lack thereof

[DMAX4LIFE]

A couple of people have said how their 03's were down on power, and mine is the same way...at over 36K miles it still is not fixed. The dealer won't do anything b/c there is nothing to actually prove that I am right, but I know that I am because of the great difference in power from my 02. In another post someone...duke... I beleive stated that he had the same symptoms but was corrected by a sensor of some sort but not exactly sure which one. I am not just the most mechanically inclined guy so all help is appreciated. I started another post so that maybe more people could just get to the point instead of reading through old material. If this is your case let me know all fixes that has helped. If you have part numbers, all the better. If yours has been fixed under warranty and you don't know exactly what was done, please give me your VIN or email it to cdn111@hotmail.com so I can have the dealer pull up the service history to see what exactly what was done. Sorry for wasting your time and I appreciate all your help.. Sorry for being so long and thanks again.

-Corey

[FisHn2DMax]

Corey,

From the few posts I read it was the throttle position sensor that was causing the lack of power. Our trucks throttle operate by wire/electronics ( no direct mechanical linkage). If the throttle position sensor goes bad or is not linear from top to bottom, you'll come up short on power!

It's a very easy item to check! I had mine checked thinking I had a power problem too. I took it to my local dealer and had them plug in Tech II scan tool, Once in the proper menu, your Throttle should read 0-100 when throttle is a rest and all the way to the floor. It took all of five minutes by the Service Writer to check this. No appointment was needed in my case.

Good Luck!

[dmaxalliTech]

The 03's are down on power compared to earlier trucks, they revised some of the programming for emisions reasons. Not much the dealer is gonna do unless you really do have a problem. It can be fixed for a couple hundred bucks though. ;)

[56Nomad]

dmaxalliTech,

I know that only CA trucks required a catalyic converter
and ERG in 2002. Do all the 2003 Duramax trucks in the other
states have to have them?

I went all the way to Texas to buy my truck to avoid the EGR
and cat

[ 05-16-2003: Message edited by: 56Nomad ]</p>

[FisHn2DMax]

DMaxAlliTech,

Could please explain further what you meant about 03's being down on power and how can they be fixed for a couple hundred bucks?

How can the 03's be fixed?
smile.gif

[dmaxalliTech]

56, only CA trucks have egr and cat's........at least for now, look for them on all trucks in 04

The 03's have recieved from different software to help increase emmisions. I dont know the exact changes but I have called TAC several times on this issue, the customers that traded up to 03 from earlier have all commented on lack of power also. My ASM has also commented on the changes. However, nobody that I have talked to knows what changed, only why they did. As far as a couple hundred bucks, juice or predator, etc.. :D

[Jorday]

dmaxallitech,
I've driven about 10 or 11 different duramax/allison trucks, only one of them being an 03 and I did notice that it didn't feel as strong at part throttle as most of the other 01-02 trucks, is this what you're talking about? I say most because a couple of the used trucks seemed to have some major issues with the engine/trans. The 03 truck I drove also seemed like it made more noise than all of the 01 or 02 trucks I drove. Am I imagining things about the new truck having a noisy engine?

Thanks
Jordan

[DURAMONSTER]

dmaxalliTech
I plan on taking my catconverter off. Will this mess up the truck as in programming or anything else.