arveetek
07-19-2004, 18:04
Hey everyone!
We just got back from a 10 day vacation. We took the newly turbo'ed truck and RV out to Colorado and back. Just thought I would give you a quick update:
We headed out Wed., July 7. Drove all the way across Kansas, and arrived in Canon City, CO. on the 8th. Spent a few days there, touring the Royal Gorge and a few other areas. Then on the 12th we drove up to Colorado Springs, spent another few days there, touring the Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, and a few other places. Left on the 15th, got home on the 16th.
Only a few minor problems. First problem was the a/c clutch decided to start slipping before we were even out of Missouri. I replaced the clutch while in Canon City, no super big deal.
The first day out, somewhere near Wichita, one of the rubber coupling hoses blew out on the turbo. Boost dropped, EGT's climbed up. I carried some spare parts with me, but I could tell the hoses I had weren't up to the task. The next morning, before continuing on the way to Colorado, I went to a NAPA store, and they had some super duper braided hose that they cut to length for me. Installed that in Pratt, KS, and went on my way. That hose has been holding fine since. That was the only turbo-related problem I had.
The engine ran a little warmer than before, but the engine fan would kick in and cool the motor off when needed. The only real heating problem I had was when we drove from Canon City up to Colorado Springs. It's about 45 miles, and uphill all the way. The truck pulled so hard, the needle stayed on the red mark nearly the whole way, even with the engine fan engaged. We shut the a/c off, and that seemed to let us cool off enough we could make it the rest of the way there.
Power was reasonable...considering we were headed west into some mighty strong headwinds. The worst part was from Wichita to Dodge City, KS. The winds were so strong, we could barely maintain 55 mph. That wouldn't have been so bad, except we were getting passed by Fords pulling even larger trailers! Didn't even act like it was a problem for 'em! That really frustrated me. However, I guess it wasn't so bad, considering the winds and the fact that we climbed from about 800 ft. elevation here at home to 6000 ft. at our destination.
Coming home was no problem...downhill all the way and the winds at our back! I could maintain 65-70 mph without much problem.
In case anyone hasn't seen it, here's a picture of our vacation rig:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/14911798/165036867wuEVDd
As for boost and EGT's: while pulling in direct gear at 65 mph, boost was around 10-11 psi, EGT's at full throttle was 1050. I guess I'm putting out all the power I can with my present fuel system. EGT's crept up to 1100 on some long hills, but mostly stayed in the 950 to 1050 range when pulling hard. Max. boost I ever saw was 14 psi, pulling hard in 2nd gear.
Right before we left, I re-wired the tranny so that I could manually lock up the TC in 2nd and 3rd gears....that worked really well. It lowered my cruising rpms a little, and I know it was better on the tranny.
One other minor problem I had, was that the tranny didn't want to go into Overdrive for a couple of days. It worked when I left, even after re-wiring the tranny and changing the fluid/filter. It stopped working somewhere in KS. Mainly I tow in third, but on one hill, I bumped it up into OD, but it wouldn't engage, just stayed in third. A couple of days later in Canon City, it started working again. Weird. Must had something lodged in the tranny somewhere.
One of the most exciting things we did on this trip was drive to the top of Pike's Peak! That was an experience. I'm not a fan of heights, so I had some white knuckles by the time we got to the top. If you haven't been up that road, it's nearly 20 miles from the bottom to the top. You start out 7000 ft. elevation, drive about 9 miles on a winding, paved road, and then the pavement ends, the rest of the road is a winding, narrow dirt road. You drive another 10 miles, zig-zagging up the whole way. The road had been recently graded, so there was a lot of wash-board type ridges in it, which caused the back of the truck to break loose and skid around several times....my wife didn't like that one bit! Well, after about 2 hours of driving, we reached the 14,110 ft. summit. I was feeling a little out of breath, and so was the truck! It was surging and sputtering a bit by the time we got to the top. The turbo wasn't spooling up because we were driving so slow! 1st gear nearly all the way up!
I have a pic of the truck at the top of Pike's Peak, but my webshots account is acting up. I'll post it as soon as it straightens out.
On the way down, we kept the truck in 1st gear to save the brakes. The engine never really had a chance to warm up, it was pushed all the way down the hill! It smoked like I've never seen it smoke before! White/blue smoke just poured out the pipe until we got to the bottom and started running normally again.
Overall, we drove over 1800 miles with no major problems. My only complaint was the fuel mileage: averaged 9.5 mpg on the whole trip. Low was 8, high was 11, and that was a tank of fuel driving mostly without the trailer! Before the turbo, I usally averaged 13 mpg while towing. I haven't driven enough without the turbo to get an accurate unloaded mpg figure. I hope it's still in the 19 mpg range!
Thanks for letting me ramble!
Casey
We just got back from a 10 day vacation. We took the newly turbo'ed truck and RV out to Colorado and back. Just thought I would give you a quick update:
We headed out Wed., July 7. Drove all the way across Kansas, and arrived in Canon City, CO. on the 8th. Spent a few days there, touring the Royal Gorge and a few other areas. Then on the 12th we drove up to Colorado Springs, spent another few days there, touring the Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, and a few other places. Left on the 15th, got home on the 16th.
Only a few minor problems. First problem was the a/c clutch decided to start slipping before we were even out of Missouri. I replaced the clutch while in Canon City, no super big deal.
The first day out, somewhere near Wichita, one of the rubber coupling hoses blew out on the turbo. Boost dropped, EGT's climbed up. I carried some spare parts with me, but I could tell the hoses I had weren't up to the task. The next morning, before continuing on the way to Colorado, I went to a NAPA store, and they had some super duper braided hose that they cut to length for me. Installed that in Pratt, KS, and went on my way. That hose has been holding fine since. That was the only turbo-related problem I had.
The engine ran a little warmer than before, but the engine fan would kick in and cool the motor off when needed. The only real heating problem I had was when we drove from Canon City up to Colorado Springs. It's about 45 miles, and uphill all the way. The truck pulled so hard, the needle stayed on the red mark nearly the whole way, even with the engine fan engaged. We shut the a/c off, and that seemed to let us cool off enough we could make it the rest of the way there.
Power was reasonable...considering we were headed west into some mighty strong headwinds. The worst part was from Wichita to Dodge City, KS. The winds were so strong, we could barely maintain 55 mph. That wouldn't have been so bad, except we were getting passed by Fords pulling even larger trailers! Didn't even act like it was a problem for 'em! That really frustrated me. However, I guess it wasn't so bad, considering the winds and the fact that we climbed from about 800 ft. elevation here at home to 6000 ft. at our destination.
Coming home was no problem...downhill all the way and the winds at our back! I could maintain 65-70 mph without much problem.
In case anyone hasn't seen it, here's a picture of our vacation rig:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/14911798/165036867wuEVDd
As for boost and EGT's: while pulling in direct gear at 65 mph, boost was around 10-11 psi, EGT's at full throttle was 1050. I guess I'm putting out all the power I can with my present fuel system. EGT's crept up to 1100 on some long hills, but mostly stayed in the 950 to 1050 range when pulling hard. Max. boost I ever saw was 14 psi, pulling hard in 2nd gear.
Right before we left, I re-wired the tranny so that I could manually lock up the TC in 2nd and 3rd gears....that worked really well. It lowered my cruising rpms a little, and I know it was better on the tranny.
One other minor problem I had, was that the tranny didn't want to go into Overdrive for a couple of days. It worked when I left, even after re-wiring the tranny and changing the fluid/filter. It stopped working somewhere in KS. Mainly I tow in third, but on one hill, I bumped it up into OD, but it wouldn't engage, just stayed in third. A couple of days later in Canon City, it started working again. Weird. Must had something lodged in the tranny somewhere.
One of the most exciting things we did on this trip was drive to the top of Pike's Peak! That was an experience. I'm not a fan of heights, so I had some white knuckles by the time we got to the top. If you haven't been up that road, it's nearly 20 miles from the bottom to the top. You start out 7000 ft. elevation, drive about 9 miles on a winding, paved road, and then the pavement ends, the rest of the road is a winding, narrow dirt road. You drive another 10 miles, zig-zagging up the whole way. The road had been recently graded, so there was a lot of wash-board type ridges in it, which caused the back of the truck to break loose and skid around several times....my wife didn't like that one bit! Well, after about 2 hours of driving, we reached the 14,110 ft. summit. I was feeling a little out of breath, and so was the truck! It was surging and sputtering a bit by the time we got to the top. The turbo wasn't spooling up because we were driving so slow! 1st gear nearly all the way up!
I have a pic of the truck at the top of Pike's Peak, but my webshots account is acting up. I'll post it as soon as it straightens out.
On the way down, we kept the truck in 1st gear to save the brakes. The engine never really had a chance to warm up, it was pushed all the way down the hill! It smoked like I've never seen it smoke before! White/blue smoke just poured out the pipe until we got to the bottom and started running normally again.
Overall, we drove over 1800 miles with no major problems. My only complaint was the fuel mileage: averaged 9.5 mpg on the whole trip. Low was 8, high was 11, and that was a tank of fuel driving mostly without the trailer! Before the turbo, I usally averaged 13 mpg while towing. I haven't driven enough without the turbo to get an accurate unloaded mpg figure. I hope it's still in the 19 mpg range!
Thanks for letting me ramble!
Casey