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Boosting Power
Has anyone boosted their horsepower and torque on their Detroit Diesel. I have a DDEC IV 12.7 in my H3 and was looking to try to get a bit more power when dealing with some of the steeper grades out west. I was considering hooking up Pittsburg Power’s “power box”, but not sure if it is worth it or what the best approach would be. My coach runs great and I do have reservations on messing with things that are not broken.
Appreciate any thoughts on the subject.
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26 Replies
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Leave well enough alone , just my thoughts
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Ditto what Peter said!
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I’m with Peter, most anytime more is power is added you find the weak spot in the system somewhere down the line. Sometimes sooner………….sometimes later.
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Leave it alone. Our coaches are about at the limit of the ability to cool what we have. Don’t mess with what works.
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Mayor of Polson knows all about them…..I’am sure he’ll have a opinion.
My opinion FWIW….if it runs good leave it. Just dropping a gear or two is no big deal going up hill.
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Leave it alone. Unless you find yourself drag racing Newells up mountains, or trucks from stop light to stop light what exactly do you hope to accomplish?
If you want to go faster start stripping weight out of the coach.
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Like I used to tell my customers: This is a Recreational Vehicle…if you’re in a hurry, buy an airline ticket!
Seriously, I was looking at a similar device for my EcoBoost F-150, but I finally came to the conclusion that Ford had produced my truck with a happy medium of good performance and good longevity. Maybe not so bad! I decided to leave well enough alone! But, hey….that’s just me!
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Pushing well over 25 tons and pulling a 2 ton toad up a 6% grade for several miles is no easy task. But the 500hp S-60 does a pretty good job of it. We all wish we could get over those grades a little faster but I’m content with the performance of my engine. It will take the 13 mile long 6% grade out of my home town in 4th gear at between 40 & 45mph. I’ve owned 3 busses with the same weight and the same 12.7 DD S-60 in them. They all have performed similarly. The big difference I’ve seen is the Prevost can do it and keep the cooling system at a lower temperature than the 2 Wanderlodge LXi that I previously owned.
All that being said, I must confess, I’d love to have a 600 horsepower engine in my bus.
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The need for speed is satisfied by the purpose built emergency car. The bus has a character of it’s own, which is completely satisfactory.
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thanks for all the input. I also can take a long 6% grade just under 50, and I drive normal cruise 60 – 65, so speed is no longer my thing (learned the hard way, but that is another story). I started looking more into this when educating myself on Detroit Diesels. I am an old gear head, but when it comes to Diesels I am out of my element. The research was indicating that the 12.7 DD 60 sweet spot was at 500HP for overall best performance and fuel economy. The specs are indicating my DD60 is standard at 400HP which is why I was looking for the extra bump. She does run great and I never had any heat problems running up the mountains or thru the desert here out west even in the hottest summer days.
this community has never steered me wrong, so I think I will keep with the advise and not mess with it. Maybe I will put my money in headlight upgrade instead because I can not see a dam thing at night, but that may also be because I am getting old.
Thanks again
Alex -
Alex, try the trans in perf mode and it’s not you…the stock headlamps are &%#@. Try the new LED lamps that Jeff has for pre 04 H’s…huge diff even over HID. Geo.
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A whole lot of engineering went into the engine installation in our coaches. Our coaches are certified by Detroit because Detroit is responsible for their warranty, and Detroit needs to know they aren’t going to be damaged by excessive heat. That is why when we are using every single horsepower to pull a toad and climb a hill we can watch the coolant temperature gauge cycle up and down instead of continuing to show increasing temps.
Adding horsepower creates more heat. That heat has to be rejected, but that is the problem. Our engine cooling is based on the installed horsepower and not increased horsepower so if we add a larger amount of horspower we have to have additional cooling. Ironically, if we don’t have enough cooling, the engine computer is going to take steps to protect the engine, and the results are going to be less horsepower. So when we need the HP most, we don’t get to keep it.
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Alex
No one ever answered your question, what you got was 8 opinions. There is a right way and a wrong way to run these boxes.
There are 6 of us on the westcoast that run power boxes and we have over 400k miles between us without a glitch for over 4 years.If you desire info, my email is open and you can contact me.
Just for the record, collectively we few that I know very well think the power box is the greatest thing since
sliced F^%*(ing Bread.Later
bv -
Mayor,
Your email is not open for a question or opinion. BTW…..I don’t have a power box question but do have an opinion on them.
Guess what ? I have a question, Mayor. How much does a power box cost ?
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As the resident cynic, who has the data on the pre-power box performance, specifically 0 to 60 times, pulling a specific hill under the same conditions realtive to speed and gear, mileage, etc? Surely if you got the boxes you know exactly what the gain was.
Then show the comparison with the poiwer box.
FWIW I drive the central US towards the east coast far more frequently than I do the mountainous west, but we have hills. A guess is 99% of my driving is in 6th gear, with the other 1% in a lower gear climbing hills. If I could increase my uphill speed so I can pull the hills in 5th or 6th WOW! Unfortunately today I could have 1000 HP and 2000 ft.lbs of torque and I would still be looking at the ass of the tanker that jumped out in front of me and matched the speed of the trucks he thought he would pass.
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