lose the cat!

 

all that black smoke was that extra fuel your dumping in there, blocking the wastgate will not stop this. You need more air to clear the smoke. you can adjust how much smoke you can stand by messing with the afc and starwheel. When adjusting the afc remember that alittle goes a long way it is a more dramatic adjustment. You will get faster spool up by loosening the starwheel completly, but either way you will smoke on the bottom end or the top end. mine will smoke for 3 seconds on the bottom then clear up then smoke like a train on the top when my boost can't keep up, but I never see that much I like all my power on the bottom helps when towing, but no good on the interstate, my truck won't do but about 80 mph but it will pull a hill loaded at 60 or better. This is just how I like mine.

 

Yeah, lose the cat, or at least hollow it out. I'd say that if you saw only 1100 degrees with the wastegate plugged off, your boost is probably limited because of lack of fueling, rather than an exhaust leak before the turbo or something like that. Stock, your truck should produce around 18 psi, and maybe a little more. I'd say fueling might well be limited if you can only hit that with the gate plugged. Here's what I'd do if I were you: Replace the fuel filter. Drive and test, observing egt's and boost gauge. Then, get under front of truck with a 17mm socket, a fairly long extension, and a small catch pan. Put the socket on the bottom of the fuel prefilter, which is located on the left side of the engine. The bottom of the housing has a hex, which is what you put the socket on. Unscrew that, dodging the fairly small amount of fuel that will come out. Inspect the prefilter, which is simply a mesh. There is a "sheetmetal" nut in there (you'll know what I mean when you see it) that can be removed to allow replacement of the mesh, and cleaning of the bottom of the housing under the mesh. I think any cummins dealer should have the mesh if it's trashed, and probably a dodge dealer too.

You won't have to remove anything else to get at this, and it's good to know it's not plugged up. Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.

 

Joe, great post! You got good response because you provided good information. Where your engine is now, you could back off the plate/AFC a tad to reduce the smoke, towing power won't suffer. You are probably producing power/torque to meet the capacity of the transmission now. You could get a #10 plate and advance its location, but your EGT and tranny will suffer. My engine with your same load gets the same milage and climbs better, but the ATS was necessary. I have determined that the stock air filter (NAPA Gold element) does not inhibit performance at this level. The CAT might, but your EGT is under control so you probably don't need to loose the CAT or get a 4". Like I said, your engine is performing to spec. If you upgrade plate, boost, intake and exhaust, you can climb faster but you will need a better transmission.

 

Joe;
The only thing to add to Rare1's post is that you need a timing bump.
Your EGT isn't out of line for low timing with a bumped stock plate.

I was hoping you would get more than 2,300 out of the engine, especially in 3rd lock-up. I got close to 3k with stock springs. I get 3,600 rpm with 3k GSK. 4K spring is staying in the drawer for now.

-John

 

The cat can become plugged and restrict the exhaust and cause low power.

 

Sorry for the delay. I REALLY appriciate everyone's input. I was out all week, took the family on ~ 200mile trip up to Navajo Lake in NM. I noticed I got a bit less fuel mileage this time around (usually getting 14-15 @ 60-65)... now seems I can hold a higher MPH while towing. Up a 6%, in OD if I hit it at 75mph, I can keep it up above 70mph without going much over 1125F on the EGT. If I hit the hill at 65mph, I drop a gear because I'm hitting 1225-1250F. If I drop a gear and run 2600rpm or so I can usually maintain 60-65mph @ 1200F. Boost will get up to 20psi in 3rd gear loaded, but only if I hit the hill with the boost up before hand, otherwise I'm usually stuck at 16-18psi and no real accelaration.

I am already saving my pennies for a transmission. I want to spend about 2500-3000 MAX for a towing transmission. Suggestions here would help. I can't STAND 1st and 2nd gear, truck doesn't move all that well. 3rd-4th no problems. I hate having to anticipate low speed hills and either heat it up or drive above the speed limit to keep her locked.

I still saw no smoke hitting the hills under high load. I found this confusing since the EGTs would hit high in 4th.

I got a fuel filter, haven't put it on. Thats next, and I'll do the prefilter check too, thanks for that tip! Air filter is brand new. Wastegate blocked as I said. Still running on only a slightly pushed up stock plate. I would have to say that, at least based on my exeperiance now, I would never bump a stock plate without gauges. I'm glad I had them. I am looking into a friend that might know someone with the tools for timing the truck. Only thing I'm scared of is not being able to run below 1700rpm. With 3.55 gears, it's kinda tough at freeway speeds to save fuel and stay about 1700rpm at say 60mph. In 3rd gear, your at like 2200rpm or so (just guessing from memory), and in 4th I'm at around 1500rpm. Don't want to have lugging problems. Suggestions there would be helpful.

Thanks,

Joel

 

I am already saving my pennies for a transmission

How many of these does it take to get a built tranny? ANd how many do you have so far?

 

I'm a stick guy guy, but for a sub 500 hp truck I'm thinking you can get a Gorends w/a 100k warranty for about $3500.

 

Yep. I think Goerend can ship you a built tranny with 100k warranty, and lifetime warrantied triple for $3200 or so.

joelayan: If your transmission is doing good right now, and doesent have a bunch of miles on it; I suggest you do a valve body, or shift kit(lot cheaper, but not hardly as good), and torque converter and I feel this REALLY makes a tranny last a lot longer. Goerend( www.gbtransmissions.com ) sells a single disc converter with a 100k warranty for $650(i had one), and you can buy a transgo shift kit for $60 or so on ebay. The converter makes all the difference in the world pulling because the stall speed is awesome compared to a stock one. Feel free to PM me if you want anymore info or have anymore questions. I am making 281hp, and 693 ft lbs on a stock tranny with Goerends triple disc, and a transgo shift kit. I drag race, and have truck pulled 3 or 4 times, and I also drive it every single day, and haul plenty of loads. No problems yet. Many will tell you its just a bandaid, and maybe it is, but I feel like if your tranny is in decent shape right now that it is a very worth while upgrade. And if you go with Goerend, when I went from my single disc to my triple disc, he gave me the full $650 from my single disc to go towards my triple disc after i had USED it. So basically I used the triple disc for free until I could afford the triple. Sorry for the rambling, just trying to maybe help ya out a little. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Good luck!

Eric

 

Actually, this is really helpful advise. I appriciate it. I don't have any trouble with the transmission at this point. I don't know how many miles are really on the transmission, 166k on the truck. I bought it with 158k about 6 months ago. I have a lockup switch for towing, never slipped or skipped a beat other than a **** brake pedal sensor that goes haywire every now and then (cruise won't turn on either, have to lift the brake pedal with my foot to get lockup or cruise to work when not using the switch sometimes).

How could I tell how well the transmission is holding up? When I changed the transmission fluid on my truck I had some gunk on the magnet, but my dad truck (Ram 1500) had tons more than mine. Fluid needed changing, but not too bad. Filter wasn't bad either, was still somewhat clean when I tossed it. I think this truck was serviced well. Any way to tell other than ripping it apart to see if it's in good shape? I don't know if it's ever been rebuilt or not.

Joel

 

Well just thought I'd put in my $.02. First off, this post has been great. One thing to consider...I've got the 4k kit, #10 plate slid forward, AFC adjusted, Exhaust all done, stock Turbo with an adjustable boost controller and a fully built ATS (now with Billet shafts ) My truck when stock pulled just like Joes except for worse mpg. I did all the mods and was AMAZED @ the difference! Pulling my boat down to Lake Powell was incredible, like the boat wasn't even there! However on the drive home I was starting up the canyon and when the truck shifted into OD there went the Input shaft! Cracked it in two places and totally spun the inner splines!

I figured I was way under the HP/Torque capabilities of my Tranny but I was wrong. My boost gauge only goes to 35 psi and I have to watch it so not to peg it. I only use around 1/2 throttle to keep the egts down below 1300 but it sure pulls nice I think the best mod so far was the 4k kit! That really woke it up. I guess the 3k would be fine as well I've never reved it past 3200 and that was pushing it. It moves up the hill 6% to 10% @ 75 to 80 no problems unless it's warm outside then my temp pegs near the top of the 10% hills around here. I went from 12.5 to 15.5 pulling and 19.5 being a good boy...but that is hard to do so I'm getting around 16 to 17 on the last few tanks.

You'll love all the mods you can put on this truck but be careful about too much HP before your tranny is ready. I hope the Billet is worth the money. This truck has broke the bank this summer but I think that's cause I just paid it off! I highly recommend upgrading the front brakes and the rear 1 ton upgrades for the rears. It really helps bring this rig to a hault while pulling! BTW make sure and kill the KDP, I went as far as buying the kit from TST but kept on rolling the dice and over the 4th of July shot that little sucker out the front of the motor and through the timing cover, cracked the housing in 2 places...OUCH! the $400.00 repair is less than 1/3 of the rebuild! Git Er' Done!!!

 

Well. It sounds as if your tranny would be fine with just a shift kit/VB, and converter. If the magnet/pan wasnt bad with shavings, then that means it is probably doing ok. Mine has enough shavings in it when I change the fluid. Mainly some gunky stuff on the magnet. I have been to the drag strip plenty, and I haul plenty of loads with it. This is a guess, but I would imagine my tranny has just a little under 100k on it. It was wrecked before i got it, and the dummy's pulled it without disengaging the t-case, and it burnt up the tranny. I pulled it at a truck pull the other night, and outpulled every d-max in the class(none of them stock), and a lot of other trucks. I was 9th out of 20. Plenty respectable I thought for stock injectors, and delivery valves with a tranny that is stock with the exception of the transgo shift kit, and Goerend TC. If you bought a triple disc from Goerend($1200 with a lifetime unlimited power/mileage/year warranty), then if your tranny did go out and trash the converter; he will replace the converter free of charge, and the only thing that would put you behind as far as money is the removal, and reinstallation of the tranny to put the converter in. So, when my tranny goes out, I plan on going with a built Goerend. If the clutch material, etc ruins the converter when the tranny does go out; it doesent matter to me, because it will be replaced free of charge, and I wont be behind a penny because i did the install myself. And I will also have already paid $1200 of the total cost of a built transmission, and I should only have to pay around 2k more then. If you only wanted to buy a single disc right now($650 with a 100k mile warranty), then it is warrantied for 100k, and im pretty sure that converter is also covered if the tranny dies, and trashes it; and if that happened you would already have paid $650 towards a built tranny. So if you arent planning on going with any more than say a plate over what you have, then you will be fine with the single disc. If you are planning on going anything over what i have, then id say a triple disc is needed. But, your future upgrades, and current financial shape should be the main factors. Id say if you can swing the triple, then get it, but the single is plenty fine too, so if that makes the most sense to you, then id go that route. Sorry again for the huge post. Just trying to help you out a little. Let me know if you have anymore questions, or call Dave and see what he tells you. Good luck!

Eric