Coming from a marketing discipline in my first life, i tend to recognize trends. It is apparent that new owners of dmaxs - 02, 03,04's have stated on various forums such as rvnet, diesleplace, dieselpage that at some point in early ownership , ie 3000 miles , they have experienced an abrupt LOSS OF POWER while driving.


In my instance it occured driving an interstate and "pushing it " for the first time. I was pulling 9000 pounds of 5r.


I immediately took note of a loss power. (you could put the pedal down, but no response...dead) took awhile to recover.


It seems since this point on it felt like the truck has never recovered in terms of performance and economy.


It would be good to understand what the heck happens to these dmaxs at this point. Probably the only way is to discuss it amongst ourselves whereas the general would probably just not know for reasons of his own. Tks for reading, BC


ps. at this point i have appx 7000 miles loggedEdited by: bob camire

My experience has been just the opposite!

It felt like at every 5k miles its like someone flipped a switch and it kicked up another 20 HP or so.

Also felt like the more I towed the better she ran.


It was like clockwork at 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, then 20,000. I gave her the juice at about 17,000 so the 20k jump was WOW!!!!!





Edited by: HD-Nate

may sound stupid, but have you checked your fuel filter?

I`m with Nate on this, My truck never had any loss of power. (Well, once, but losing a turbo will do that) Mileage went up along with power as it broke it.

I'm at 30k now and have only lost power once, ran out of fuel. It just keeps getting better even though it is all stock.

Bob,


I had a noticable power change with mine. I thought it was the Stanadyne fuel additive. The truck seemed like there was a chute draging behind it. My wife even noticed it in the passenger seat going up a hill near our home. The fuel milage went down also(about .3). This started at 3,300miles and improved around 4,500miles.


Side note......all the fuel that I use comes from high volume stops and differnent states. So I really think bad fuel was not to problem. Edited by: NoWake200

may sound stupid, but have you checked your fuel filter?


If the filter was bad then the power would not have returned out of the blue. If so, the fiter was blocked or dirty then what ever made the power drop then made its way into the engine and the filter was free agian.(if that makes any sense)http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Confused.gif


I do not know.....this is just a thought.

Ya it would, mine did the same thing only when I was putting the wood to it. If I gave it a rest it would go away, pulled the filter and it was a tar pit. Replaced filter and truck has ripped every since. Change your filter every 8,000 miles or sooner depending on the state of fuel in your area.

I am going to change the fuel filter when I change the oil.


I really did not think the filter would clear itself....I never had any filter porblems before(last two diesels(powerstrokes)).


Hope it works.....I also have the Juice/Attitude sitting at my home......but I am not home!!http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif

Guys, thanks alot for all the input. Its good to see that most of you have realized these trucks performance and economy improving as the miles pile up. Must have just been a blip in the screen as the service manager mentioned no errors current or history in the computer. Appreciate your interest, BC

I have experienced something similar a couple of times. First time was a traffic backup due to road construction. When I got to openning in traffic at end of construction and stood on it, the Dmax just sat back and chugged along for several seconds. Finally caught hold and took off like usual.


Next time: 2 lane road, rural area, line of traffic behind farm tractor on road, opening to pass, stood on it, no response, actually had to pull back in line and wait for another chance to pass.


The next time it happened, I realized my size 14 was also pressing the brake and holding back the truck as I saw the brake indicator lit on my electric brake control.


Since then, I have been careful to make sure my big foot is off the brake pedal {it is sort of tight down there with size 14's} and so far, so good. If it does happen again with out the brakes, I'll be making my first trip back to dealer for warranty check.

Bob,


my '03 did that one time at about 3k miles. No codes, never did it since (17k now). I was pulling about 7,000 lb trailer up a grade. My thoughts are that I was in fifth, did not increase pedal pressure for the grade, and allowed the rpms to drop below 1500. It just plain shut down, but lit back up almost immediately after I pulled it down into drive (third). Once I learned the truck I don't ever let the revs drop that far any more. I'm pretty sure I could make it do it again if I just feathered back on the throttle under similar circumstances.