Owned my first diesel now for a couple months, and now starting to have some questions. I bought a 2008 Ford F-250 CrewCab Lariat with 50,000 miles. Since I it purchased I've put roughly 15,000 miles on the truck, along with some exterior add-on's just to change it up a bit. I also purchased the extended warranty which covers me up to 100,000 miles and some change. I've been reading a lot about doing the DPF delete just to change the sound, roll some coal, and improve the gas mileage. I've been averaging about 10.7 MPG, but don't really care. I didn't buy the truck for gas mileage.

Now to the question part:

1. How hard is it to take the DPF off? It didn't look too terrible when looking under it.
2. I understand this will void part of my warranty, but which parts will it make no longer covered?
3. If I remove the DPF do I need to purchase a tuner in order to turn the REGEN cycle off? I read some where that people said if I remove the DPF, and the truck goes into REGEN mode without the DPF on it can do damage to the engine.
4. Couldn't I always just put the DPF back on the truck when I take it in for maintenance work?

Any help would be appreciated, just trying to get more knowledgeable about it all. Thanks.

 

If you don't want to remove your DPF there are DPF-on tuning options. If you're just going to be happy with the Big 3 (tuner, intake, exhaust) your best bet is Spartan. They usually have package deals going on them too. There's DPF on and off tuning and you can run the 275HP (over stock) tune quite safely (the tunes do go higher, 300, 310 and 350, but then you might start pushing your luck with headgaskets, transmission, etc.). The DashDaq is an exceptional gauge display too that does way more than most people use it for (data logging, etc.) and allows you to monitor important engine parameters like boost, engine oil, coolant, transmission and exhaust gas temperatures; all critical when running a tuned diesel (particularly if you tow).

Your gas mileage is going to improve significantly (percentage wise at least) and you can realistically expect a 1-3 MPG increase, more is possible, but some of the crazy mileage claims you might hear or read are going off the Lie-O-Meter (LOM) which is notoriously inaccurate to begin with, and even more so when your truck is tuned.

Hope this helps, good luck and if you have any more questions, let's hear 'em!

 

I'm pretty sure Ronin meant to say "do not remove the DPF WITHOUT a tuner. I tried it unintentionally and the regen started within two minutes or so.

As to the warranty and reinstalling. That is of course your call but in my most humble opinion doing so is fraud. I don't think ford would call you on it but it is fraud even if someone in the shop is aiding you. just for what it's worth.

 

Also, rolling coal is frowned upon these days. Draws too much attention to the diesels and gives us all a bad name. So don't be surprised if you catch heat on this and other boards for asking about it.

That said, these truck will emit some soot when you really get on the skinny pedal and if you run some dirty tunes.

 

IMHO the 6.4 doesn't roll much coal at all considering the fuel and power.

The turbo's spool too quick.

 

Mileage gains are really different from user to user, I find.
If you had a 6.4, and drive it all highway and don't get bad mileage to begin with, you might not gain too much.
However, if you have a 6.4 and you're struggling with it in town, lots of interrupted regen's, etc, you could see a huge boost in mileage.

I gained about 2 MPG's, but I got good mileage prior to tuning it and adding aftermarket exhaust and tuning. Out of fairness, even though I gained 2 MPG's, the first week I had the tuner put in, mileage was at an all time low.

Go for the spartan, it rocks.

 

Yeah, I ment to mention the smoke. I have to hit mine real hard to get any and then it's just barely enough to see. under normal driving I see none.

 

^^^ What they said...

In the OP's case an increase of 2 MPG would mean nearly 20%...that's pretty impressive!

"Rolling coal" is simply the truck overfueling. I've done it myself on more than one occasion to the annoying hybrid/ricer/douchecanoe but it's not worth the added "attention". It's pretty easy to avoid; you don't push the skinny pedal any more than you need to go faster...not sure if that sounds like it makes any sense but the black cloud you're leaving behind you isn't making you go any faster. If you don't have your EGR completely deleted either (not just disabled) you're just mucking up the inside of the motor too...

I was previously running Eric/IDP's tunes and I'm now running Matt/Gearhead's. Matt won't write a smoky tune, and it barely hazes under WOT. It's been reported that his tunes are more efficient MPG-wise but I haven't had them long enough to make that assessment in my particular case. Running IDP/Xtreme Street I could make a Cadillac's HIDs disappear behind in the dead of night if I wanted to!

The Spartan 275 HP can tune overfuel if you hammer it; the 250 not as much and it's pretty much non-existent in the 210 except for a slight haze. You can do solar eclipses on demand on the 300, 310 and 350 if you like though!

If you REALLY wanna clean up that smoke and use all that extra fuel, bigger injectors, dual fuel pumps, bigger turbos, nitrous, headstuds, built transmission, deleted EGR, built valvetrain, etc. along with $25K and up can help you with that! Other than that just don't bury the skinny pedal and you'll be fine...

 

I think what everyone's saying here, for those that Haven't run any tuners; is that there is only smoke if you want smoke. The trucks dosn't blow black clouds just driving around.

 

On the H & S tuners you can change the amount of fuel dumped in and make coal roll if you want to but I always thought why waste the fuel. I have mine set to minimally blow smoke.

I agree that it is necessary on a Dbag hybrid purposely going slower than the speed limit thinking that you will save fuel too by them doing this. Yes, I live in WA and they do this on purpose all of the time.

 

Alright! Thanks guy's for all your help.. I think in the end I'm going to wait for my warranty to be over. At the rate I drive, only about a year and half then the tuning will begin. I'll just continue doing exterior upgrades! (:

Also I'll keep in my mind everything you guys are saying about rolling coal, and just keeping it to a minium.

I really appreacite all the responses.

Lastly... What do I really need to do at the 60K mileage mark? Maintence wise.

Thanks.

 

I just hit 60,000 this winter and did Tranny fluid and filter change, transfer case and dif fluid changes, fuel filters and I would flush the radiator but I am going to wait until it hits 80,000 since the dealer did a radiator replacement at 25,000. If not, I would be flushing it now. I would look in your manual for the suggested maintenance items and suggested time frames. I change my oil every 3500 miles even though they say it can go 10,000 between changes. Just my preference.

 

I have been thinking about a dpf delete/exhaust/intake/tuner addition to my 2008 F350 that is completely stock with 83K. The only problems that I have had since new were with the radiator. I am on my 3rd radiator and hope that the problem is now fixed. I would love better mpg because I take a lot of short trips to my storage unit were I park my box trucks for my business, 3 miles each way. Has anybody modified their truck and regreted doing it? I don't want to have problems in the future related to the mods. What am I looking at spending for this installed? Under $2K?

 

Jesse, looks like you have a whole slew of powerstrokes! I deleted my DPF, run Spartan 300 tune and have a S&B intake. I'll never look back! It is a whole different animal and I went from 13MPG to just over 18MPG (hand calculated of course. The LoM has read up to 34MPG before but usually hovers between 22 and 26). These trucks don't do well with short trips everywhere. I live 2 miles from work and try to take my motorcycle whenever possible. When I can't I let me truck warm up to at least the EOT being between 90-100 degrees. You will burn more fuel trying to warm up while driving than you use while parked. I also usually average a few trips into town (30 miles each way on a highway). As far as price, my tuner and DPF delete ran me right at $1300 I think, intake was $280, and I would also highly suggest the EGR delete (I think that ran me like $200?). Look around you can find some pretty good prices. And if you are willing to do all the work yourself (it'll take some time and a few beers, but the money you save there will be work it).

On a final note, I would suggest doing a search for the CCV Mod. Putting oil and such thru your turbos was a terrible design by Ford. I can't believe they were stupid enough to do that.

If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks and Gig'em.

 

I have an 08 6.4 Lariet with a 6 speed manual trans. I added a H&S Mini Maxx and an AFE Stage II, DPF deleted, and I am having a terrible time with the amount of smoke out of it. I cannot get out of any gear without a substantial "puff". I have tried all the low boost fueling options and the different pre defined settings on the module with little change. It is getting to the point Im thinking of putting the DPF back on. Any thoughts?