Troubleshooting loss of power with Non-Wastegated Turbo

[cjones]

I bought this 98 6.5TD back in April and at the time didn't notice that it had a turbo without a wastegate. The vacuum pump,wastegate solenoid, and lines are all still present but the vacuum lines that should be attached to the wastegate are free floating. It was like the previous owner switched out the turbo and left everything else alone. It's the Borg Warner S2E (Part # 173379)

During our move in August, the rig started losing power intermittently just like the 99 Suburban did when the wastegate solenoid went bad. Only in this rig the solenoid isn't hooked up so.....

After reading about the pros/cons of having a turbo without a wastegate I'm still a bit confused as to how to troubleshoot this problem. It doesn't make sense to me that the solenoid that isn't connected to the turbo would make the turbo lose power.

Is there a way to bypass the wastegate solenoid like you can on the 93-95 models?

Is there a way to plug the vacuum lines into a 'faux' wastegate to fool the solenoid into thinking it's working?

Thanks ahead of time, Chris

[DmaxMaverick]

If the turbo is working (not broken), the problem is not the turbo. The PCM is defueling (caused by sensor monitoring), or there's another problem, such as fuel or air supply issues. If the solenoid is connected electrically, and the vacuum is "normal", it won't know or care that it's connected to a wastegate or not. However, too much boost or heat will cause the PCM to "fault" the wastegate, even though it doesn't have one. If it's defueling, there will be a DTC indicating why, and the SES should be on. Read the codes and find out what the PCM "thinks" is wrong.

[phantom309]

As maverick says,. it,s likely NOT the turbo,. i,d guess you are short on fuel pressure,. it might be a simple case of the lift pump not working, either OPS or pump itself,. then the motor would be starving for fuel under heavy load conditions,..fuel pressure gauge is your best bet,.laying on the wipers while you drive,.

Nick