Truck wont go above 3000 RPM's

[bdutcher]

I am new to the forums and really need some help.

I have a 95 Dodge Dakota and when sitting idle or when in gear and pushing the gas pedal down, will not go above 3000 rpm's and going up a hill will start to slow down no matter how hard I push the gas pedal or what gear I shift in to. I have had a few friends tell me that it could be a vacuum leak or a transmission problem. If driving, I push the gas pedal to the floor and the truck will jerk and studder, and will not pick up speed at all. Have replaced the spark plugs and had a mechanic clean out the fuel system and also had the ERG valve replaced at the suggestion of a friend. Still same problem. Am taking it in for diagnostic on Saturday to see if anything can be found. Please help, I am lost. Thanks in advance

[a_trillion_hp]

sounds like a vacuum

[bdutcher]

Thanks for the fast reply.
I'm not to savvy on this stuff. Will that be something that will show up in an engine diagnostic?

[IROCNOROLL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by a_trillion_hp sounds like a vacuum

Dude..once the throttle is open, the vacuum leak you are making there will cover up any vacuum leaks you may have. This is not your problem. Cycle your key on/off/on/off/on and watch for the check engine light to flash out any codes in the computer. Also did they do the fuel filter and check the fuel pump volume and pressure when they did the fuel system service?

[91shelby]

I say its either a vacuum leak to the map or a bad map sensor

[boosted]

Catalytic convertor plugged??? Just disconnect it and retry. Just a thought!

Chris

[bdutcher]

Well I took it back into the shop today to have them check it out and they did the diagnostic and checked out the exhaust system. And boosted your right, catalytic convertor is clogged up. Thanks for all the help. Hopefully that is all that is wrong, well that and the EGR is getting burnt up again cause of the convertor. Gonna get it fixed next week. Dont know if they checked for vacuum leaks or not but going to get a full check up on it and hopefully wont find any but have to get them fixed if there are.
On a side note, what would be a good turbo to put into the truck once it is running right? Dont know if I should start a new thread for this but will if need to.

[boosted]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdutcher Well I took it back into the shop today to have them check it out and they did the diagnostic and checked out the exhaust system. And boosted your right, catalytic convertor is clogged up. Thanks for all the help. Hopefully that is all that is wrong, well that and the EGR is getting burnt up again cause of the convertor. Gonna get it fixed next week. Dont know if they checked for vacuum leaks or not but going to get a full check up on it and hopefully wont find any but have to get them fixed if there are. On a side note, what would be a good turbo to put into the truck once it is running right? Dont know if I should start a new thread for this but will if need to.

Great to see you found the problem. I'm a GM tech and we get tonnes of the V6 and V8 cars and trucks with the same or similar symptoms as yours. As for a Turbo...depends if your going twin or single turbo setup. You'd need to put a crossover pipe from one side to the other to get enough exhaust volume and heat to spool a larger turbo if your going with a single turbo setup. With dual turbos you can go 2 smaller turbos but getting that all setup properly will take some work. Check in the V6 section..there is a few guys running turbos on there 3.0L's ...they might be able to help better. Good Luck!

Chris