HELP! no power towing

[utah300rum]

This weekend was the first time in over a year I towed with my PSD. I have a small 22 foot camping trailer that has a dry weight of 3900 lbs. The tanks were empty so lets be generous and say my wife packed over 1,000 lbs of stuff in it, I am towing 5,000 lbs.

On the freeway it felt like I didnt have much power but when I hit the canyon it really sucked. Going up the canyon I had to drop all the way into 2nd gear and could barely maintain 35mph. My EGT's, tranny temp, engine temp, oil pressure all looked fine. My turbo was making a chirping or squeeling noise but It has done that before. I was told that was the turbo surge that makes that noise. I have heard that noise before but had plenty of power in the past. No engine light or any signs of trouble, just no power.

My bro-inlaw has a 3/4 ton Chev w/ a 6.0 gasser and he blew past me pulling his 30 foot fith wheel like I was standing still. Usually I have to wait for him but not today.

Fresh motor oil, new fluids all the way around, diff, tranny, transfer etc. 200 miles ago. New fuel filter 1,500 miles ago.

Anyone have any ideas what I can start looking for ????

[quadrace13]

so you have a boost meter? your probably leaking boost out of an intercooler pipe

[tocools]

Dang that can't be good I am ure someone will know what is wrong I would say it mite be your turbo

[utah300rum]

I had between 16-18 lbs of boost @ 3000 rpm in 2nd gear

[99bigred]

sounds like some sort of fuel delivery problem

[Patrick]

no idiot lights?

[utah300rum]

Well the tow back went a little better. I am hoping I got some crappy fuel. I filled up about 3 weeks ago in anticipation of this trip and added some cetane booster. I have not drove it since the fill up other than just back to the house.

On the way there horrible power up the first 2 canyons about 150 miles. I was down to almost 1/2 a tank so I filled up and added some fuel cleaner before the last canyon. My truck ran a little better up the last canyon. After droping off the trailer I drove up the canyon several miles to get a signal to post a thread here. After several more trips checking for replies and then towing back down the canyon I was down to 3/4 of a tank so I filled up again. The trip home went much better than the trip there but I am still not up to full power.

I am praying it was just crappy fuel or if my pick up screen was plugged up. I will run this tank almost empty to try to get rid of any fuel. I was thinking of dropping the tank and modifing the pick up system tube as in Guzzles website, then adding a helper pump and inline filter. This may be the best time for those mods. If I have any extra $ I am tempted to add a fuel pressure guage in my cab. I have had several friend with fuel pressure problems on their PSD's, now I will have to ask them more ? about there problems to see if they were similar.

[sirnunya]

at 3000rpms i would think you'd be closer to 25psi of boost with the edge, especially pulling a load

[utah300rum]

I remember seeing 20lbs several times but I think it never held there consistantly. I would say it held at 18 lbs most of the time. I was letting on and off the gas trying to see what happened. It would get to 20-21 lbs but the turbo would surge too bad, sounded terrible so I had to back off. Then the surge would come back around 2100rpm so I had to stay above 2100 but below about 2900 or the turbo would start to scream. It was hard to keep it there because the motor would loose power and rpm would drop, then I would downshift but the rpm's would go too high and the turbo would scream. So I had to stay in second and do my best to keep in that rpm range. But that was tough even in second I was having a tough time holding those rpms. It was like I was dragging an anchor.

[outlawdiesel]

It sounds like leaking donuts or up pipes.or your pick up tube in tank is clogged.