Please help! Problems with first diesel

[crazy4ink]

I bought a 2003 F350 CC dually. It has the 6.0, auto and 4wd. When I bought it, I got it for a pretty cheap price because the rear pinion had walked and broken some teeth. I figured with 130,xxx on the clock, it was worth buying and fixing.

I drove it for 15,xxx + trouble free miles. Recently, I was going from PA to RI to pick up a car. The dually drove great pulling my 20 foot trailer. I loaded the car, amd headed for home. About 2 hours from home, I had to stop to get fuel. I filled up and got back on the road. About 20 mins later, I started losing power. It kept getting worse and worse until finally, I was at my new top speed of 30 mph. I limped the truck home and chocked it up to bad fuel.

The next morning I went to look over the things I could. I am not familiar with diesels at all, so please be kind. I changed the air filter out since it looked pretty bad anyway. I changed the oil and filter. I changed both fuel filters and noticed that the filter under the truck looked like it was crushed inside the canister. I tried starting the truck and it would idle just fine but as soon as I would put it in reverse or drive, RPMs would drop and the truck couldn't get it's own weight moving. I thought maybe the Cat had collapsed so I cut the exhaust just before the cat and fired the engine up again. No change. The exhaust looked great, so I welded it back on. A local Ford mechanic told me the EGR valves are prone to caking and getting stuck, so I pulled the EGR out and cleaned it. Re-installed it and still no change. I recently removed the EGR all together and installed a spool. Still no change.

The truck is not putting any smoke out of the exhaust. I can barely get the RPMs over 2500. Like I said, it will start and idle like a champ. It just falls on it's face when I put it in any gear. If I let it run for 15-20 mins, I can drive it on the road, but there is a noticable lack of power.

I forgot to mention at the beginning, but as far as I can tell, there are NO mods on this thing anywhere.

Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks in advance,
Rob

[crazy4ink]

I also forgot to mention that I am not getting any check engine light.

[mudrunninpig]

When you pulled the fuel filters were they really dirty? Do you know the last time they were replaced?? I had a similar problem and I had a few bad injectors

[SCUFFY828]

run a fuel pressure test and see if it is getting at least 45 lbs of fuel pressure at idle and under load

[crazy4ink]

Originally Posted by mudrunninpig

When you pulled the fuel filters were they really dirty? Do you know the last time they were replaced?? I had a similar problem and I had a few bad injectors

I didn't know when the fuel filters were changed last. Yes, they were extremely dirty.

Originally Posted by SCUFFY828

run a fuel pressure test and see if it is getting at least 45 lbs of fuel pressure at idle and under load

Ok, I will try that in the morning. If the fuel pressure is not at least 45 pounds, does that mean my fuel pump is the culprit?

[Diesel_Diagnostician]

Does the truck stall out? You said there was no smoke of any type right?

[2005F250]

Maybe you got some bad fuel.

[bmoore884]

If the filters didnt have the thin membrane around it to stop moisture it could have damaged an injector.

[smokem if u gotem]

look at your boost line on your turbo i put a chip in my truck and had to move boost line some i never got it tight enough and i lost all power it would not pull its self up a small hill and it would not rev up at all 2500 is where it would stop at

[Paulliewog]

just a thought, but did you sample the fuel?? Gasoline in a diesel may run and idle like a champ. Ask for power and it dumps off like a misfire or quits shortly thereafter!! I've had a few customers who just fuelled up and then felt problems. Sometimes there own fault, most times someone elses!!! Like the gas station attendant who doesn't know you own a diesel powered truck. Or the delivery truck which fills up the wrong tanks with gas. That has happened before and the resulting damage was catastrophic.