Hello again guys,

Having some trouble with my truck, the symptoms seem to be, when trying to speed up or going over a hill, the truck seems to lose power. Noticed this problem a couple weeks ago.

-happens after driving a extended period of time "highway driving" but also happens while driving in the city.
-vehicle begins acting up passed 3000rpm
-when downshifting to pass a vehicle or going up the high, the vehicle seems to "run out of breathe"

I have checked the spark plugs, and going to check the power coil next. and I am wondering what could be causing this problem from. It seemed to happen out of nowhere. Hopefully the dakotagods could help.

 

Sounds like you may have a notorious Plenum gasket leaking. Have you noticed any oil being used? You can take the breather off and open the butterflies on the throttle body and check to see if there is any oil puddling up in the bottom of the intake.

 

Sorry for the belated reply on my post, the problem is still occurring though I don't think its the plenum gasket. How I know this is that I took my throttle body off and looked down in the intake manifold but only noticed carbon residue not swimming in oil which is a plus. Though that doesn't solve the problem, I replaced my power coil with one from the v8, thinking that was the problem. Didn't help. All the spark plugs are new and injector's too. This is looking more an more into a bad fuel filter but I still don't know. I have two fault codes on the truck, 51, and 12. I think one is that the battery was unplugged from the past fifty start ups and I think the other on is saying that the fuel mixture is improper, though I don't know it could either be a bad o2 sensor, a bad fuel filter or an exhaust leak. I am thinking it is either the bad filter or exhaust leak. The truck is suffering from an exhaust leak on the passenger side where the headers link up to the actual pipe. I know this might be a dumb question though do you think all of my problems from lack of power and problem "breathing" is all from this exhaust leak.???

 

It very well could be since the o2 sensor is on the passenger side and if the leak is before the o2 sensor it can cause it to read incorrectly and change the air fuel mixture.

 

Well, I will go to a muffler shop to have it fixed, How hard is it to fix the exhaust leak. I know one of the bolts might be a bare to get at though and probably means I have to remove the fender. Has any one replace there exhaust before or had similar problems.

 

When I installed my headers I had to cut the original bolts out because I had no one to help hold the bolts from the top. When I installed the new bolts I used lock washers and a impact. It is a pita but it can be done.

 

If you're talking about the bolts where the y pipe meets the manifold pipe then just take it to a shop and have them tighten or replace them (or do it yourself). I had a leak there and got it fixed for $20. IMO...that was too much for a job I could have done, but took it there expecting a better fix, but no...just a random bolt in place of the one that was there...and that was after the POS just cut off my old muffler and SHOVED the STILL welded ends of my old single in, dual out pipes into my brand new muffler and called it good...in case nobody quite gets what I'm saying...he cut out my old muffler then put my new one on and then just shoved the two outtake pipes into the new muffler...no welding, no clamping...nothing! So obviously it leaked like hell!!! Never will I go there again and I make damn sure to tell people I know NOT to go there.

 

So hundred bucks and three hours later, I got my exhaust fixed. Sounded a lot quieter, though that problem still exists. Do you think the problem is a bad ecu? The problem is that if you drive the truck for a while the vehicle seems to run out of power, "chokes" under acceleration. Eventually the vehicle cannot maintain a steady speed and it dwindles away. Any random guesses at the problem.

 

I would try a new o2 sensor next

 

Ya I was thinking that, its worth a shot. Any other ideas? that I can test anyway, swapping the pcm?? Remember while the problem is happening there is no check engine light, and all gauges are normal, the truck thinks it is running perfectly fine.