Saturday, May 21, 2005

This morning they removed the turbo, and it looks fine. They also took off the connectors from the manifolds to the turbo, and we started it up to see if it was blowing smoke from one side or the other -- it wasn't.

Having thus ruled out aspiration as the source of the power issues (and smoke), they next removed the muffler. After putting all the intake plumbing back together, we went out for a test drive.

Now, before I get into the results, I have to say that running without the muffler sort of completes the bad-ass, Pimp-My-Ride aspect of the whole coach. You know -- to go along with the aluminum wheels and the flames. We just need some humongous bass speakers and we can run with the low riders. I'm definitely gonna have to look into straight pipes, or maybe glass packs.

In any case, the speculation was that, perhaps, the muffler was plugged up with oil goo, which would account for a lot of blue smoke on the dyno and a loss of power. Unfortunately, while removing the muffler made a small improvement, a goo half hour test run on the freeway, including a couple of good grades, revealed that our power problem is still with us. Which is actually a good thing, because I have no idea where I would get a muffler for this thing.

So now we're back to maybe it's the ECM. Monday morning, we'll swap out the ECM for a 500-horse unit from a fire truck, and see if she'll put out some more horsepower. If that clinches it, the ECM goes over to Valley to be overhauled. If not, the whole coach goes to Valley for more dyno testing.

Either way, we are here until at least Monday, and maybe longer if the ECM needs work.

Tonight we're going out for a nice dinner, to commiserate.

3 comments:

  1. Sean, take a look at the internal mufflers at the following site: http://www.iowa80.com/iowa80/shop?method=category&catid=MUFFLERS&attr-DIAMETER=5&attr-STYLE1=Internal%20Muffler&last=true. Sorry for the long address. You can cut it down and search under exhaust and muffler. If you have two exhausts, you can use two of the five inch units or one 6 inch unit. I am ordering one 6 inch unit for the Series 60. It really works out well for me since I don't have a lot of room for a muffler.

    Jim Shepherd

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  2. Check the blower high pressure bypass valve, it some times gets stuck open. This opens when the pressure is to high. There is a small hose to it a the end of the blower.
    I did not see that the blower was rebuild

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  3. Check the blower high pressure bypass valve, it some times gets stuck open. This opens when the pressure is to high. There is a small hose to it a the end of the blower.
    I did not see that the blower was rebuild.
    Has the fuel return from the heads to the fuel tank got the small fitting .060 hole (I think)in the fitting, if not the engine will not get pressured fuel to the injecters.
    I have seen this left out.
    Hope this helps

    ReplyDelete

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