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Turbo never kicks in....

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  bootstrap 
#1 ·
I just finished installing a boost gauge on my truck after I noticed my turbo was spooling. For a while I thought it wasn't spooling at all. So either it fixed itself or it was always working and I just didn't notice.

Here is the problem. In the 2 years I have been driving the truck I have never felt the turbo kick in. My dad uses to have the same model truck and I can remember driving down the highway and at a point the turbo would kick in and you definitely noticed.

Now with the boost gauge installed I took off the air filter just to be sure I wasn't getting restricted airflow from it and drove it a couple miles hard. I can hear the turbo spooling and at full throttle I am getting about 18psi. From what I have read I should be getting somewhere North of 30.

Any ideas where I should be looking? I am thinking my cat could be clogged and I plan on cutting that out in a couple weeks. Other than that I am not really sure where to look. Do these intercoolers get obstructed?
 
#2 ·
Check for boost leaks.
 
#4 ·
18-22psi is where the wastegate opens up depending on year. It sounds like you are working fine. Perhaps the other truck had some mods yours does not or had a different injection pump because of different type of transmissions in each truck..
 
#5 ·
It sounds like your turbo is fine. Mine only boosted about 18psi even with my wastegate pinched, afc tuned, and housing slid forward along with the fuel plate. I didn't get any higher boost until removing my catalytic converter, then it jumped up to about 28 psi at WOT.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the replies. These trucks really are dogs with the stock setup. I'll slowly work through the cheaper, easy, safe mods to get a little more power out of it.
 
#7 ·
Auto or standard? Your trans will need some work if you plan to add much power (auto can't handle any extra power). Get a boost elbow and you can properly adjust your max boost psi as desired.
 
#8 ·
It's an auto Trans. I'm not gonna do much for boosting the hp until I have all the air flow set up the way I want it, the kdp tabbed, and the trans taken care of. Straight piped the exhaust yesterday. Next is the kdp tab, egt gauge, and bhaf.
 
#9 ·
Just sliding the fuel plate forward has destroyed automatics. the only safe mod for an automatic is a GSK. The reason is the GSK does not actually add power. It simply allows fuel to flow higher up in the RPM band. It will however feel like you have more power.
 
#10 ·
I'd be willing to bet it actually might increase horsepower some, with a GSK. But that's going to be higher rpm horsepower which the auto can handle. After all the same auto is behind a 300 horsepower V10. Tune your cummins to low rpm 300 horsepower and you won't make it down the street.
 
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