A buddy of mine is having some performance issues with his 2002 2500 Chevy Duramax 4x4. I do not know squat about diesels but I do know he use to get 12-14 MPG going to Wisconsin to Wyoming and back. This year he got 6 MPG and could not run over 75MPH and that was with the Hypertech programer at the middle setting! On the way out it was dropping into passing gear and puffing some smoke, he checked the codes and it idicated mass air flow sensor bad.
Found a Chevy dealer and about 2 hours and $500 later we were on our way. Back to stock program and no improvement. (Oh and they told him his K&N filter is what caused the problem something about the oil from the filter getting the sensor dirty causing the failure. So he is now on a stock filter) Bumped the programing back to #2 so we could at least make some time but performance was still the same.
I was driving a Dodge Dakota QC 4.7 liter with a 2 place trailer, two sleds and the back end full of gear. Running with the cruise about 78MPH I was averaged 11.8 MPH on the way out.
His truck has 3:73 gears that I know but am not sure of the HP/Torque he's running 33" tires. When we got back to Wisconsin the truck was at the dealer for two days and they determined there was nothing wrong with it. Even though we produced graphs from the past 4 years showing the milage dropping a couple a MPG per year. The truck has 60k miles on it and I would certainly think it should do better than this.
Smoke was grey in color, fuel filter was changed shortly before leaving on the trip. On a trip a couple weeks before ours another friend was stranded in the middle of SD at 2AM with a plugged fuel filter in his ford. Curt changed his and brought along a spare just in case. He is quite anal about maintenance. The injectors were replaced this summer. This trip has always been made in the winter same time in Feburary for the past twelve years. Milage and performance have never been this bad. Would you be embarresed if a Dakota passed you going 80 up a grade and you rig was to the floor? He sure was.
The winds can be a variable going across lower MN and SD on I-90 but they were not an issue this year. My little Dakota was doing just fine. I changed my avitar showing a picture of the rig going across SD (no wind which is amazing!). There is a slicklift (www.slicklift.com) with two sleds on it and a two place snowmobile trailer with one sled on it being towed. Total weight of cargo, slicklift, sleds and trailer is about 3500 lbs max.
Talking to him tonight he feels the truck performs well and gets decent milage at any speed at or below 60 MPH. Start to push it and it falls on it's face. The dealer thought that perhaps the fuel lines were plugged or clogged but did not find anything wrong there.
Do any of you have any ideas what could be wrong or were to start? Did the 02's have any known issues?
Thanks for your help
Found a Chevy dealer and about 2 hours and $500 later we were on our way. Back to stock program and no improvement. (Oh and they told him his K&N filter is what caused the problem something about the oil from the filter getting the sensor dirty causing the failure. So he is now on a stock filter) Bumped the programing back to #2 so we could at least make some time but performance was still the same.
I was driving a Dodge Dakota QC 4.7 liter with a 2 place trailer, two sleds and the back end full of gear. Running with the cruise about 78MPH I was averaged 11.8 MPH on the way out.
His truck has 3:73 gears that I know but am not sure of the HP/Torque he's running 33" tires. When we got back to Wisconsin the truck was at the dealer for two days and they determined there was nothing wrong with it. Even though we produced graphs from the past 4 years showing the milage dropping a couple a MPG per year. The truck has 60k miles on it and I would certainly think it should do better than this.
Smoke was grey in color, fuel filter was changed shortly before leaving on the trip. On a trip a couple weeks before ours another friend was stranded in the middle of SD at 2AM with a plugged fuel filter in his ford. Curt changed his and brought along a spare just in case. He is quite anal about maintenance. The injectors were replaced this summer. This trip has always been made in the winter same time in Feburary for the past twelve years. Milage and performance have never been this bad. Would you be embarresed if a Dakota passed you going 80 up a grade and you rig was to the floor? He sure was.
The winds can be a variable going across lower MN and SD on I-90 but they were not an issue this year. My little Dakota was doing just fine. I changed my avitar showing a picture of the rig going across SD (no wind which is amazing!). There is a slicklift (www.slicklift.com) with two sleds on it and a two place snowmobile trailer with one sled on it being towed. Total weight of cargo, slicklift, sleds and trailer is about 3500 lbs max.
Talking to him tonight he feels the truck performs well and gets decent milage at any speed at or below 60 MPH. Start to push it and it falls on it's face. The dealer thought that perhaps the fuel lines were plugged or clogged but did not find anything wrong there.
Do any of you have any ideas what could be wrong or were to start? Did the 02's have any known issues?
Thanks for your help
and going 70+.I haven't had it fixed long enough to see if it fixed my bad MPG's but I'm certain it will. I'd check the metal part of the intercooler tube on the drivers side. It rubbed on my frame and caused the hole. Other problems I've had/seen don't seem to drop MPG's that much. Just a thought. Dirty air filter has caused me problems too.
