Boost

[LazyBum]

Please forgive me on sounding stupid, but, I am new to the "powerstroke" world. I just bought a 2001 F250SD 4x4 with a 7.3 power stroke. I was told when I bought the truck, it had a "chip" in it. It does have 2 extra gages, a pyro and a boost. Boost seldom did anything except with you really step on it, or while driving down hiway, and around town, it usually just set on 0. Today, I noticed it didn't do anything, even on hiway, or when I floored it. I just took it on a 500 mile trip, and noticed that my milage dropped about 2mpg. Other than that, it all seems to be doing ok. They are autometer gages, so I feel sure that the gages are in good shape.

Any clue as to where I need to start looking? Where can I find this "chip" and find out what I have so I can find out if I need to replace it or not with something a little more "for me" type?

Most of what I do is a little town driving, and some long distance driving to go shark fishing. Once in a while will go to a local lake and haul my pontoon boat, but other than that, thats about all it is used for.

[Logan]

First off, to the ORG. Glad ya found us.

Ok, there is a small tube that is running out of your gauge pod, through the fire wall and towards the right side of the vehicel. That is going to the tube that goes to the MAP sensor. Make sure all of your connections are good there. Make sure it is hooked up and all of that. Of all that is good, you can usually gently slide the gauge out of the pod to check the back of the gauge. Make sure it is hooked up there. If all that is good, your boost gauge may have died. They are usually not too much to replace.

On to the chip. Do you have any knobs anywhere that you can change your settings with? If not, you may just have a single HP setting chip. There is a cover over your PCM that is down by the parking break. There are a couple of 10mm bolts that hold the cover on. If you take that off, there is a space in the end of the PCM that a chip would be. If you just see a black cover with a sticker with a number on it, then you dont have a chip. You may still have some sort of programmer loaded into it. That is a little harder to tell. If you ever blow any black smoke, you may have something in there. Hope this helps and there are no stupid questions here. Once again...

[LazyBum]

thanks for your reply and welcome! I'll go out and look at this in the morning before it gets too dang hot. Sounds simple enough.

[Logan]

Yeah, its not too bad. Both of those are pretty easy to check. If you have any problems or any more questions, let us know.

Oh, if you get a chance, introduce yourself in the intro section.

[LazyBum]

Oh, and no, there is no knob to change things, so I suppose mine must be a single as you said. So maybe tomorrow, we'll know more on what is going on

[Logan]

Well, you can always take it out if you have anything, and get you a multi-position chip. Way more fun, and you get to smoke people

[LazyBum]

Originally Posted by Logan

Well, you can always take it out if you have anything, and get you a multi-position chip. Way more fun, and you get to smoke people

Funny you say that. I was next to a kid the other day, and his radio was so loud, I could hear it, and I am deaf, and my truck was vibrating... I floored it when the light turned green..... 1st time I ever seen it shoot out a puff of black smoke, and couldn't have been aimed any better.

[LazyBum]

Originally Posted by Logan

Yeah, its not too bad. Both of those are pretty easy to check. If you have any problems or any more questions, let us know.

Ok, found the problem. Tube came loose under the hood... Put it back in, gage worked, but, it popped back out after a while under a little pressure, so, will see about maybe a little wire tie around it tomorrow to see it maybe that'll hold it in place.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by LazyBum

Ok, found the problem. Tube came loose under the hood... Put it back in, gage worked, but, it popped back out after a while under a little pressure, so, will see about maybe a little wire tie around it tomorrow to see it maybe that'll hold it in place.

Good deal. Glad you found the problem.