No power when climbing hills

[Desertmedic]

For those of you how have not read my introduction I drive a '09 F550 Armored Gun Truck in Afghanistan. A little back ground on these trucks... GVR of about 18,000 pounds, armor plate one both sides and below the engine, and a push bumper in front of the radiator and various coolers that I would say blocks most of the air flow from the front. Consititant speeds of 75mph driven on most days. Hard acceleration off most stops, when we pass or have slowed for obsticles such as IED holes in the road. We have local national mechanics that fix things half assed at best if at all. Blown head gaskets are a norm, burnt turbos and bent pushrods coming in a close second.

Now, with that said, my truck seems to run fine on flat ground but when you come to a hill things change drastically. RPM'S drop to about 16-18 hundred and speed begins to drop off to a maximum of about 45kpm. (30 ish mph) This could be a small hill or climbing a pass that elevates 2000 meters over 20 k. No difference. Boost gage is still reading right in the middle which is normal for that truck. I have tried hitting the tow/haul and manually shifting the auto transmission with no noted change. What the heck is going on with this beast. Our local mechanics can't figure it out and we rely on these trucks literally with our lives. Thank you for any help or advice you all can give me.

Best regards,
Harry "Doc" Clark

[twee21]

Wow...that sounds exactly like what happened to me. My max boost was 10 psi. I was turned on by a member here to get an obdII code reader. Turns out my problem is an egr high temp. sensor. I cant say for sure what your problem is, but it sounds like either an egr issue, or the coolant level in your rad.

[Desertmedic]

Well right now I would piss on a spark plug if someone said it would help so I will tell them tomorrow to replace the egr high temp sensor. That is if they have one.... If not should only take a few weeks to get one out of Dubai. I love third world countries. Thanks for your input I appreciate it very much.

Doc

[sinner6.0L]

would a truck over there even have an EGR system or any emissions components for that matter? I know trucks shipped to mexico and offroad government trucks don't have any emissions components on them

[Desertmedic]

That is a fine question sinner6.0L. However, I do not know the answer. I will have to check on that one and get back on that. It is not US emissions legal according to the sticker under the hood.

[superdutydixie]

any pics of this beast....OPSEC in mind of course

[Desertmedic]

I posted one with my introduction. I have more of various angles and some with various ammounts of damage from small arms or IED's if you will pm me an email address I can send you some that way. OPSEC is no problem I just wont post pics of hits where we have had fatalities is all.