Maybe this has been asked before but I 'm new here so please bear with me. I just bought an 06 f250 fx-4 with the 6.0 diesel. I'm sitting with about 150,000 miles. I have been advised not to put a programmer on my truck because of the egr cooler. I'm averaging 14 mpg and I'm wanting better. According to ford the only work done to my truck so far is a fuel injection control module and #2 injector. So basically I'm stock as it comes. Is it true that if I put a programmer on my truck it will blow the egr cooler and possibly head gaskets as well. If not can some one recomend a good, safe programmer for my truck?

 

First thing I would do is do some research on the tuners and who does the custom tunes for them. I would suggest that you get some gauges first, turbo back exhaust, and an SCT X3 from either Matt with Gearhead Automotive Performance or Eric at Innovative Diesel. Both those guys do great work and have great customer service. I searched custome tunes and SCT first and read post for about a week before I made my decision. I went with Matt because of the type of tunes and smooth shift points. But that was just my choice.

 

Everyone here likes the SCT with custom tunes, and that's about it as far as "chips" go. There are some reliability mods you may want to do first, esp coolant filter. Check out the tech folder - great info there. Change your filters and fluids, make sure the filters are OEM, maybe change to ELC coolant. Read a whole bunch here before you get started and spend a bunch of money and end up with expensive problems - trust me, easy to do.

BTW, everyone is going to say don't count on MPG improvements just lay off the skinny pedal. However, the tuners do help get you 1-3MPG if you go easy.

 

don't tune ever!!!!!! It will just blow things up. I just put a new transmission in because of my tuner. The truck has good power leave it alone. unless you have lots of money.

 

Dudei hate to tell yu but your tranny didn't fail because of the tuner! There was a problem there before the tuner. I kno bout 50 people wit tuners on their 6.0 and no problems, but everything was ok BEFORE the tuner!.. Just sayin

Curious.. How many miles? Been your truck since brand new? And driving style?

 

I think if I remember right he had an Edge tuner which is hard on trannies from what I hear.

 

i can vouch for the edge being hard on the transmission. my 06 has all the power in the world, but if i get crazy with it, it shifts awfully hard and goofy.... I just stay out of the higher settings, and drive it like its meant to be driven, not like i stole it.

 

i have on 03 with the edge juice with attitude monitor. i havent had any issues with my edge. i went into the settings in the edge and "defuled all shifts" and it keeps the tranny from shifting hard and funny. i run my programmer in setting 5 unless towing, then i drop down to 3. if i can keep my foot out of it, i am 14-15mpg. i like the edge because it has the egt, boost,rpm,tepm, etc...so you dont have to install other gauges. the truck had 15,000 mi. when i bought it, it has 59,000 2 years later and still ok.( i drive it like i stole it. )

 

Welcome to FTE! This is the best place to be with a 6.0!
I've owned my '05 Ex for just over 3 weeks now and these guys are tops.

You'll probably want to change fluids, if you don't know what the PO did.

Next step is get an ODBII gauge (I'd recommened scangaugeII).
I just connected mine last night, it'll monitor nearly all of the
temps you need and it's as simple as plugging it in, and a few
command entries.

Then you'll be able to determine your EOT (Engine Oil Temp) and
ECT (Engine Coolant Temp). These are the key temps that
give you an early indication (hopefully, fingers crossed) if you
have a problem brewing. The EOT should be within a "few" degrees
of the ECT when @ operating temps (within 15 degrees is the MAX gap).

Next step, install a coolant filter to help keep the coolant system from
plugging up and causing the temps above to act up.

Then you'll have a good idea of how your engine is performing and
get some clue as to whether you have issues or not.

And enjoy your truck!

 

Thanks for all your help guys. My main concern is for fuel mileage. It has all the power I need or want in a truck that size. But I average 14.8ish on the highway with an extremely light foot. Driving back and forth to work (30 miles) averages 13.2 mpg. I just want something better. Plus I gotta drive to Illinois for thanksgiving so I would love to improve it even if its just a little. I do know the coolant is new. How I bought the truck was the PO thought it had a bad injector so he sold it on ebay. I bought it, drove it two hours home and pulled the valve cover to find #2 injector was brand new. I called Ford dealer to get a service record on the truck. I then went back outside and started looking around to find one of the push rods broke and bent in 2 places. $5 later and the truck still runs great 10k miles later. So would it be safe to go ahead and get a programmer such as the SCT( cause this is not the first place to recomend the SCT specifically ) and keep it on the lowest setting for fuel economy. I will be looking for a coolant filter soon cause that does make perfect sense to me with all the coolers it has. Also the book says change the oil every 7k miles. I understand the importance of oil changes to fuel injector life but should I change it every 5k or so or at 7k as the book says?

 

Does anyone know the p/n for the SCT programmer for an '05 F250 w/ 6.0?

 

Change the oil every 5K to be safe. If you want to get **** about it, send it off for a UOA (used oil analysis) to establish a safe OCI (oil change interval). The manual references severe driving conditions as reason to change every 5K, and then proceeds to list just about everything a reasonable person does with a truck as "severe." I think you will see nice MPG gains with the SCT although I don't have mine yet. Oddly some of these tuners will get good MPG gains with performance tunes, just driven lightly. Another thing you can try for MPG gains is FICM (fuel injection control module) tuning (I haven't done this either). Eric at innovative can do this or Power Hungry Performance (PHP). Some have claimed nice MPG improvements with this. Read a lot before you do any of this though so you can make up your own mind - esp what's worth the money. Enjoy!

BTW I mentioned the FICM tuning because your MPG sounds low and different flashes for this have resulted in poor MPGs. Read about it though because I am no expert on this.

 

What fluids are you talking about? Just oil and coolant? Or oil, coolant, tranny, differential, etc?

 

 

Sct has a vehicle specific product page just type in the truck and see your choices I use the SF3 pn # 3015
http://www.sctflash.com/index.php