I made a trip yesterday it was about a three hour round trip. On the last part of the leg to get home my truck started to sputter and loose power........for about 2-4 miles, I was going about 55 MPH ascending a hill (I live in the mountains). Fearing I would stall I shifted down in order to get the rpms up higher. There was some sort of odd smell.....exhaust? After about 2-4 miles it seemed to stop. I got back home a few miles later. The truck idled and seemed to be okay.

Also, which may be a part of the problem, when idling the rpms seem to be up higher than they should be and I have to press on the gas to raise the rpms before it will settle down to a normal idle.

...and every once in a while after I've driven for a hour or more.....or if I've only started it up and shut it down in say 2 min worth of time it will struggle to start, i.e. once the starter has done it's job the engine seems to slowly gain momentum.....it sputters a bit and then clears out within a few seconds and then idles.

Any thoughts?

Thank you in advance.

 

Drove it yesterday around my community with no issues......seemed to idle great and had power, etc.

 

what was the odd smell like?

 

This is the thing, I could not place it...it was odd. In other vehicles including toyotas I've has everything from bad seals to bad catalytic converters, etc. all have a distinct smell......this was not like that. It was odd, though it definitely SEAMED to come from the exhaust.

 

I had and engine with a cracked head and blown head gasket. The head gasket probably lead to the head cracking due to low coolant levels. The coolant would slowly leak in after shutting off and then it would be hard to start. It would run on 1 and 4 but 2 and 3 would sputter til the coolant burned away. Burning coolant will have a sweet smell to it. Might be that weird smell you noticed. No way to say you have a similar problem, just throwing out an experience of mine.

 

Start at the basics. How is your fuel filter and last overall tuneup? Any vacuum leaks?

 

I would look in that direction.......however, as of today everything has been working fine. I have not taken it on a long drive to see if the idle jumps up......but the idle has been smooth and the truck is running really nicely.

I would tend to think that if I had a cracked head the problem would be persisting until that problem was fixed. I am wondering if I am having some sort of vacuum issue, or maybe a piece of my exhaust pipe broke off restricting flow......yeah I am ready for a new exhaust pipe.......lot of holes, lol. But it's been that way for a long time, and the issue of the hesitation is brand new.

 

I do need to check my fuel filter. I'll do that now.

 

smell like a perm? eggs? burning mud? plastic/rubber? almost sounds like a plugged cat occourance. check each plug and read it for common signs like white ahs, red, worn contacts, oikl fouling, carbon deposits, etc. check for arcing in the drark. mostly champion and autolite plugs are prone to insulator breakage. what happens is fuel or oil can dump into the exhaust and burn in the cat, causing a restiction, and it can even glow red (causing different smells, like underbody coating, paint or dirt burning) once it's burned off, it flows good again and the problem seems to go away. a misfire or dead cylinder would cause the hesitation, as well as a bad mixture from, like a bad 02 sensor or cracked intake boot.