Cat C7 starts, idles, but won't rev up in gear.

[Randy_A]

I have a 2005 Fleetwood Excursion on a Freightliner XC chassis with a 350 hp Cat C7. I drove it about 40 miles two weeks ago and it ran fine, accelerated good and ran 55-60 on the highway no problem. Yesterday I started it up tried to back out of my driveway and it would not make it up the small grade. It started easy, idles good, and will rev up when in neutral, but when in gear, forward or reverse, the throttle pedal goes down and nothing. I thought maybe it was fuel filters so I changed them this morning, no change. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Rolandh]

Randy. Were you able to fix this problem as I have one that has the same issue? 

[bid_time]

Randy hasn’t been on here in almost 10 years so it isn’t likely he is going to respond to your inquiry. However, if you would have read down through a few posts you would have found that Randy changed the air filter and it solved his problem.

[Rolandh]

Thank you. I asked the question before I signed up so I couldn’t see dates or other post

[msmith1199]

.

[FIRE_UP]

I'm not overly trusting in those filter minders. We had them on all our fire trucks and, just like when I changed it on our motor home, they all read the same thing when we changed them on the fire trucks after quite a few miles. Mine on our coach, was never changed prior to 50K miles and, it read about half way. I changed the air filter, and reset it and, it read about half way. So, it's simply a "catastrophic" reading that I will have to pay attention to.
Scott

[Randy_A]

Air filter minder was getting down to the last open yellow line, but I recall that when I replaced the air filter 3 years ago I reset the minder and it almost immediately when back toward that area. The filters I get from Freightliner are Racor. I haven't cut it open, and probably won't, but it does feel heavy and dust flies when I bounce it on the concrete shop floor. I travel from PA to WY and back each summer and PA to FL and back each winter. I don't drive on any dirt roads by choice, maybe some dirt driveways, but very limited, have been forced to use a few dirt construction zones in WY, but again very limited. Who knows where that much dirt came from, but it works now. I do need to reset that filter minder and see what it does this time.

[Diplomat_St_Poo]

It was a few years ago so I an not sure what our air filter minder said. Although I would have thought the Cat Service would have checked it and they didn't mention the air cleaner at all.

[wolfe10]

Yes, what was your AIR FILTER MINDER reading when this occurred?

[RayChez]

Racor sells the best filters for those cat engines. I have been very happy with the more power I got when I switched from the Napa air filters.

[SCVJeff]

Out of curiosity, do you have a back pressure gauge on the intake, and what did it say?

[Diplomat_St_Poo]

Excellent news Randy A.
When it happened to us the cat service centre we limped into did not solve it either. They pulled the codes, they said low fuel pressure, changed fuel filters but it didn't help. My husband and I talked it out while camped overnight in their parking lot. Husband pulled out the filter the next morning, run perfect.
Had to search around a few places for a replacement (cat service didn't have one). Finally found a cleanable one. Back to full power 🙂

Thanks for the follow-up.

[wolfe10]

Randy,

Cut the old filter open. Look for excessive dirt or signs that it got wet. Water is a real killer of paper filters (doesn't matter if gas or diesel).

[Big_Katuna]

Standard Poodle owners rock! Glad you got it figured out.

[Randy_A]

Thank you to all that responded to this post that I made last Sunday as I pulled my hair out trying to get my moho to run. Well Diplomat St Poodles wins the prize this time, as it turned out to be the air cleaner. In discussion with several friends we had dismissed the air cleaner as I had changed it only 22,000 miles ago. On last Monday morning I loosened the clamp and pried the hose off and retried it with the air intake wide open, and it ran fine. I immediately called my Freightliner dealer and they had to order it for me. The new air cleaner arrived Friday, and is installed now, and the Excursion is running fine, ready to leave next Tuesday for a 30 day trip to Wyoming. I still have no idea why it was blocked enough to effect performance that much after only 22,000 miles. Thanks again for the replies.