Zero power going up a hill?

Was loaded with a camper shell and camping gear I do have skids and sliders but we where going up a dirt road at 11,000 feet and I was worried I would just stop dead! Why? I mean I was barely doing 5 miles per hour? Any idea why this would happen? I don’t even have 10,000 miles on my 2021 is it a altitude thing plus weight? Or a hearing issue? How do I solve this? What a pain in the ass….

 

Yes altitude and weight thing. I have a manual and to do highway speeds I have to keep it in 3rd/4th gear instead of 6th. Getting it tuned (KDMax, OV Tune etc) or getting a Throttle Controller (Pedal Commander) might be a temporary fix, can't really speak for automatics too much. Only other option at that altitude is re-gearing (4.88s, 5.29s etc) but once you come back down, it'll feel real clunky unless you have the tires to back it up. Otherwise, the truck is fine.

 

Ya I’m on 33 and figured it wasn’t a horsepower issue. I’m wondering if the regear would be good? We do a lot of exploring at high altitudes. And the truck is tuned as well. It was a bit depressing and made me miss a manual. My cars have always been manuals..:

 

I havent been to 10,000ft more than a few times. All vehicles struggle, some more than others.

I was taught in school sometimes it's a good idea to turn off the vehicle then restart it, but that's for MAP Sensor cars, so I don't seen it helping with a MAF truck.

 

Interesting?! Didn’t think of trying that..

 

If you travel at high altitudes often, it is a good reason to justify a modification.
There is an old saying, "no replacement for displacement". While I do agree with that most of the time, not so in this case. At higher altitudes, engines and drivers benefit from the use of power adders such as turbo or sc.

 

At sea level you have 278 hp @ 6,000 RPM (assume you have a V6). At 10,000 feet you have lost over 80 horsepower.

 

Woah ya that sucks.. I need to fix this lol good info thank you!

 

That’s a huge investment. One I’d love but can’t afford at the moment. Man a SC or turbo would be fun..

 

Ambient pressure at 10,000 is 10.2 psi vs 14.7psi at sea level. You end up making a little less than 70% of what you can make at sea level. Add some warm tempratures and you lose some more.

Your trouble was that there isn't any air up in the air up there.

4 low can help if it's an occasional thing, if you're going to be doing it a lot, forced induction is the only fix.

 

How steep was the road? If wheels were slipping, turning off traction control may help.

 

Not to steep had plenty of traction… sadly

 

Get the Nexus +P Premium tune.
You have to run Premium fuel but damn it gives you a lot of pep

 

I’ll look into that! Thanks

 

Thanks for the shout out @Gmak621! I think he'd like to wait for what's to come in the very near future.

 

Hey Kronk, if it was steep dirt road I go 4lo on the reg. That’s what’s it for. Plus I’m always in S mode off road, if creeping im in s1. I hate gear changes when I’m not expecting them. Turn off VSC always too. It cuts power to avoid slipping the wheels which feels like the stalling out you described, it doesn’t take much.

 

Change gears. Use the "shift your gears manually" option on your automatic. It makes a difference.

 

Also, if it was a particularly warm day it would make the problem worse (think density altitude for you pilots out there). You may have been at 11,000 ft but depending on the outside air temperature your engine could have been performing as though it was at an even higher altitude. And yes, weight is a very big factor. Ask any pilot who has attempted a takeoff from a high altitude airport on a hot day with a loaded down aircraft. All of this applies to a normally aspired engine. A tune is not really going to help you. The only real fixes are lightening your load as much as possible (gear and people), adding a turbocharger, or a different truck.

 

Huge difference in Colorado with my old Twin Turbo Ford Transit (3.5L) compared to my 3.5L Tacoma.

I am still running stock wheels and tires, but it's heavy with a cap, skids, and rock sliders. Just take your time and enjoy the scenery.

 

At 11,000 ft