Thanks for the input all. I am glad I asked this question, this gives me a whole bunch of new cards to throw into my deck.

Scott, does Banks offer that type of delete?

Sam, The truck did not shake just the RPMs up with no power. Sounds like you are safe from the HPFP problem.

Slowmans, Thanks for the info, I will check them out.

UGA33, Were the Spartan tuned trucks you worked on used for heavy towing? I do a lot of 14K to 18K towing.

I will not be racing my trucks and I am not as concerned with huge mpg gains as I know after 3.5 years of 4:30 rear end gears this is unrealistic. However, I do want to eliminate the problems associated with the entire regen DPF system with something that can be removed and turn the pcm back to stock for warranty repairs.

 

gwcon,

the 6-gun is a dpf on tuner. So not much gain there but it a clean tune so you don't loose either

 

Well I have now had my Spartan for over a week, and am starting to regret it.

 

PLease do tell why. I am really unsure of this move.

 

Couple reasons. One the tunes just seem to be extreme. For example running 210 my EGTs are 1400 and boost was 47 going up a hill half throttle empty that to me is just unsafe. The lower tunes seem worse then stock. The 210 is great but to me unsafe. Did a fair bit of reading and there seems to be a lot of tranny failures and other concerns. Read spartan forums you can get a lot of info there. Seems like there tunes are built for racing and sled pulling.

 

I've been running Spartan for 117,000km's now and 99.9% of that has been on the 275 tune and my truck runs almost too good to be true. I don't tow very often and when I do it's around 9000 lbs and I do that on the 275 tune. I'm very careful to monitor everything and the truck rarely runs more than 3-4 degrees hotter than when it's unloaded. I gained a solid 3MPG over stock and can squeeze more than that out of it when I drive the speed limit. I run synthetic, change oil every 10,000km and do fuel filters every other change.

Just recently replaced both belt tensioners under warranty and other than that I haven't had any trouble to speak of. Most of you will cringe when I say this but I hardly ever open my hood between services. I have NEVER drained the fuel separator, only checked my coolant level twice since I've had the truck and have never checked my oil level in between changes. I had the dealer do a 99 point inspection on it when they did the tensioners roughly 3 weeks ago and they couldn't find a thing wrong with it anywhere. I know most of you think I neglect the truck and maybe I do but it has never given me a reason to be nervous. I regularly watch all temps on my Dashdaq and the truck consistently runs like a champ.

I recommend Spartan Tuning to everyone that asks about my truck or suggests they are unhappy with their performance. This truck can and has beaten Mustang Cobra's and Camaro's and can tow a house when I need it to. Anyone that expects 30MPG out of a vehicle that can do that and weighs 9000lbs is borderline insane. And sure there are reports of guys having tranny issues but keep in mind that lots of guys that run this tuner and hang out on Spartan's site do use these trucks for racing and abuse them for most of their miles. This is a KNOWN issue to Spartan and they highly recommend a tranny upgrade if you run the higher tunes and beat on your truck. Many people have said these trucks were not designed to run at the HP levels we run them at and yet they act surprised when the part of the drive line that is responsible for handling that power breaks. My question is what did you think would happen?

Sorry for the long winded reply but in the end the answer to the OP's original question is yes I would HIGHLY recommend Spartan tuning and don't look back. I unfortunately can't comment on regular heavy towing with it but I know the guys at Spartan would happily answer your questions if you give them a call. Good Luck

 

Hey Brandon question for you do you have any other engine mods? Also what kind of boost and EGTs are you seeing? I really like the way the 210tune performs but the high boost and EGTs concern me.

 

Most tuned trucks I've driven seem too erratic & shifts crazy makin tranny life shortened.

I

 

X2, I love mine! My truck runs the same egt as stock and boost comes on sooner, but doesn't seem to go any higher than it did stock. I'm running the 210 tune and dpf delete and love not having the regen all the time with short trips back and forth to work. I've only towed with it once on the 210 tow tune and it did really well with a 20' enclosed trailer with 5 atvs in it.

 

Well I wish I had your 210 tune because mine is just dangerous...What version tune is yours?? or all the 210 tunes the same??? Is there any way to fix this???

Its really to bad I bought this tuner so I could run the 210 tune.. I have a hard time keeping the EGTs below 1000 driving like a Grandma, I cant imagine what would happen if I put my foot to the floor.....Probably melt my engine....

 

1000 degrees is nothing in these trucks. Regen is in the 1300 degree range. The 210hp tunes still have the Ford safeties in the program. Driving in the city (stop & go) will have EGTs higher on acceleration, but you should have about 600 riding down the highway empty (flat terrain).

 

factory safteys my ***!!!!! How do you explain the 47 psi boost and the 1400 EGTs?????

Thats right you cant....

 

I know with my Banks IQ display I can set alarms so that I am alerted for when I think I need to take action, rather then letting the computer get to that limit.

I set my water temps at 230F
Tranny at 210F
EGT's at 1375.

I feel these three are the most important and still within the limits. Gives me time to take action before I actually get to the melt down point.

 

Senix I set mine as well but it happens so fast there is no time to react..

 

I run the 210 tow tune on mine and pulling 17,000 lbs throught the mountains of Va. And W. Va. I never hit boost or egts that high. Other than the low speed converter lock up I really like the tuner. Monitoring functions are great and the 210 tow makes a great daily driver and offers plentynof power while still taking care of the egr.

As far as I know the tunes I got for my truck should be the same as the ones you got, so those funky numbers make no sense.

Tranny failures there may be but the real question is why? To my knowledge all the Spartan tuner does is up the line pressure on certain tunes, and change the torque converter lock up point. I would imagine the biggest culprit is people running high horsepower tunes on stock equipment and then driving like every day is a day at the track. Like I told someone else, load up a 350 hp tune and you can make bad things happen if you aren't careful, especially on the stock gear.