I was wondering with all the mods advertised (got my first subscription issue of Diesel Power) and knowing first hand from my friend what could happen to your engine with all these performance mods why don't we hear of anyone selling these products how they helped out the consumer when their truck bite the dust?

My case in point happens to someone with a lot of money who had a "certified/ dealer/ installer" put in everything RECOMENDED by that manufacture of modified components...in other words everything that company marketed for his diesel truck(not a ford) so it would be OK and supposedly done right to their specifications and their bank account.

Lo and behold when the truck "dies" and the manufacture won't warrenty it guess what? Neither will the company who sold and installed the mods. It turns into a "its their fault" pi**ing match with my friend caught in the middle with no truck.

Well being well to do cattleman he just dumped the truck and its been sitting for about 2 months with a blown piston on the side yard and he bought a new Dodge diesel...my question is how come NONE of these mod manufactureres step up to the plate and say "hey well take care of it if it screws up; because our product really is as good as we say it is"???

I read this forum a lot and I have never heard of anny of these big shot big talking and esp. big money making companies taking care of the guy who spends all thses thousands of dollars?...At least if they don't plan on it there should be some small print saying "even if you do and install all we say- your on your own when the motor burns itself up"...just wondering.

 

Play and pay.
Don't mod the truck and as it's designed it will go for a half million easy.
Crank up the juice and all bets are off. You are now taking it outside of design perameters.
You can't make an engineer responsible for breaking the design if you change it without the engineer's approval.
Play and pay.

 

I see and hear all these trucks running chips and such without even a pyrometer or boost gauge installed. I wonder why I don't hear of more melted engines than I do.

Then you hear from the guy that has gauges and don't know what they mean. I have seen several posts about running the pyrometer up to 15 or 16 hundred degrees for hours.

That is a lot like playing russian roulette with only one shell out instead of only one shell in.

 

We have an '05 6.0 on the lot right now with under 30K, edge tuner and a hole in a piston. Needless to say the customer is out looking for a used engine right now because Ford won't cover it, and I'd imagine the good folks that made that tuner don't really care either.

 

CanadaGuy; thats what I mean... I'm not running mods and dont ever plan on it, don't know why my friend did it but he pulls a lot of cattle and equipment trailers around the mountains...but still with all the products from one manufacture that were recommended so there would be a well "thought out" total modification for his wants and a lot of money they blame ford's, chevy's, or dodge's "infierior" product, not their "system" or should I say "bundle"?

 

I run the Diablo Predator in my truck and they make you click on an acknowledgement that states you understand the risks before they will permit the tune to be loaded.
Play and pay.

 

OK thats the right deal then, I don't know what he signed...he told me about how they bragged up the system and it reliability and longevity.

 

When you mod an engine you are exceeding some design parameter.
As an owner you need to be aware of what parameters you may exceed and the possible damages that may result.

Take the '05 6.0 in the example above. If the guy would have watched the pyrometer and backed off the throttle when he was exceeding 1250 degrees EGT he would still be driving his truck. But since he did not, he is looking to replace the motor.

 

Out of all the vehicles that I've seen using tuners (not that many really), I have only seen one that uses an actual pyrometer that is installed in the exhaust manifold... but, I have seen installation instructions for a pyrometer that said it was not necessary to remove the exhaust manifold... isn't that putting the turbo at great risk?

 

I think it's pretty much standard in the high performance world that there are no guarantees. How do you know if your tuner or your propane injection blew the motor? The only way they could cover their tails would be to have complete control over every aspect of that vehicle, including how it is driven and maintained.
That is why not everyone has a hot-rod, cause it ain't easy or cheap to have a good one. You can bet that a lot of careful wording goes into any power adder type product.

 

Yes you could do some minor damage to the turbo with careless drilling and taping the manifold. If you do the drivers side you can always remove the crossover pipe.

And you can also do some serious damage to the turbo and pistons without a pyrometer.

I know how fast I can get my 6.9 turbo hot enough to start damaging things.
Then we are comparing a 7.3 or 6.0 that is making lots more power with the same basic components. More power means more heat produced. It's your call from there.