Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Low Boost after trip to dealer

[Mingoglia]

I have a '01 3500 4X4 completely stock except for a Edge EZ. Last week I was going home and my oil pressure went immediately to zero. My eyes almost popped out of my head and I pulled over and shut it down.



To eliminate the possibility of getting "red flagged", I removed the EZ and the boost elbow and had it towed to the dealer (Earnhardt Dodge Gilbert, AZ). Had them fix that and at the same time flush the cooling system. Got my truck back and they replaced the oil pressure sender and the ECM. Apparently after they replaced the oil sender it still reported zero at the gauge so they replaced the ECM and it fixed the problem.



Got the truck back and it was running hot and my A/C wasn't working too well. Wasn't overheating, but it got up to about the same temp my truck gets when I'm pulling my 12k trailer uphill in 115 degree weather. At this time I also noticed I had zero boost. Looked under the hood and my boost tube was broken right at the fitting on the engine. I probably broke it when I was removing the EZ by leaning on it? I don't know. Anyway, I hooked the gauge back up and noticed without the EZ/boost elbow I'm only running 14lbs of boost now.



Brought the truck back and apparently they install a shield in front of the radiator when they're climbing under the hood to reduce the chance of damaging fins... and by now if you've guessed that they forgot to remove said shield you would be right.



Got the truck back and the heat problem is fine. Hooked the EZ back up and the boost elbow and now I only have 20lbs of boost. Stock I should have 20lbs of boost and I'm at 14, with the EZ I should have 26lbs of boost and I have 20. Looks like I'm down 6psi across the board.



One thing I have noticed is my boost gauge is buzzing a little bit now. I'm wondering if my gauge is broken and that's why my numbers are low? I think it's strange that I'm experiencing this now. Very odd timing. But I'm not ruling it out.



What do you guys think? Is there anything turbo related that the dealer would of had to remove/adjust/tamper with to get the above mentioned repairs/service done that he could of improperly reattached when he was done? How should I go about troubleshooting this? I assume there's a temporary gauge out there I can route thru my hood and tape to the windshield to get a temporary reading?



Oh yeah, my EGT seems normal in town. I'd really like to get to the bottom of this before this weekend as I'm going to be pulling my 12k trailer 500mi round trip this weekend... .



Mike

 

[Horsepuller]

I would check to make sure your boost hose isn't kinked, pinched or pehaps has a hole. I get a max of 22lbs of boost at WOT, completely stock. Your turbo could be going out too, but I don't think that is very likely.

 

[darkhorse]

Just a thought; that new ECM may have a different soft ware in it.

 

[Mingoglia]

I was thinking about the ECM as well. And my service advisor brought that up. Do you think this could be it? Anyone with experience with the ECM on here? Does the ECM that has a part in monitoring oil pressure also have a part in something that would affect boost? I'm assuming here that there's multiple ECM's?

 

[darkhorse]

The ECM for the ISB motor is pretty much interchangable with all other ISB motors. What is different is the soft ware loaded into it. When the MAD CaTCHER program was being developed it became apparent thet there are as many as 12 different programs for 2001 trucks. I believe the factory has superceeded various older programs mostly for emission control reasons. I have heard complaints of poor milage after some of these revisions have been installed. I'm just guessing something like that may have happened to you.