Greetings,

I'm new to the board and wanted to solicit the advice of some of the experts. My 2004 6.0 4x4 Excursion just came out of warranty and was thinking about doing some upgrades. I'm more interested in increasing the efficiency/economy than the performance. I'd like to upgrade the induction and exhaust systems and install a tuner.

My concern is that I don't want to sacrifice the longevity of the drivetrain or risk damaging a major component. As an old school muscle car guy, I'm comfortable with the intake and exhaust upgrades. They're simply improving the breathing, which is easy for me to grasp.

I read about the 30-50+ HP increases you get by just installing a tuner. I gotta admit, I'm a bit skeptical, probably because I really don't know how they achieve such dramatic results. I'm of the mindset that there's no such thing as a free lunch and that something's got to give. Is there truly no downside to installing a tuner or are we shaving miles off the lives of our engines, risking the turbos or trannies? If such incredible results are so easy to attain, why didn't Ford produce the engines in these configurations?

This is my first diesel and I'm just a bit nervous. Don't want to make a $50K mistake. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Donny

 

Welcome to FTE and the 6.0 forum Donny1973

When you get a chance you might want to cruise over to our Tech Folder for some great 6.0 info.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303583

Please take a few moments to read our site guidelines as well.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/guidelines.html
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If it is running good and not causing any problems leave it alone. My friend is a service manager and he said with these engines if you use a tuner be prepared to change head gaskets. These tuners produce impresive results but you will sacrifice longivity! Ask anyone of these companies that sale tuners and chips to give you in writing a garauntee that they wont damage your engine. They wont cover your engine for repairs when ford voids your warrantee because of there use! Maybe change air intake and exhaust mods, leave the rest alone. Good luck.

 

What are you looking to improve most importantly?

 

donny, the most important thing to remember is that if you are gonna run a tuner/chip
you must run a intake, and preferably an exhaust. a chip just tells your computer to dump more fuel. but that cant be eficent without the increased air to match it. personally i would purchase an intake (both volant and afe seem to be popular and high quality) and an exhaust, (i recomend mbrp). with these mods u are only helping your engine breathe. u will see an increase in fuel economy with out changing anything with the computer or drive train. bottom line a chip with out the proper addons will hurt your enging in the long term. banks.com explains this much better than i can. hope this helps
keep it ford

 

Donny, Do you have 100K on your vehicle? If not then you still have warranty on the engine for 100K just not the rest of the vehicle.

 

Donny...Don't be skeptical about the tuners. The 30-50 hp gain is the very low end and upwards of 100+ hp is easily in reach. There are a couple tuners SCT and SuperChips that are very safe and as long as you return the vehicle to stock before bringing it into the dealer you won't have any problems. They will really have to dig to find anything. Now one thing that they don't seem to like to see is an aftermarket airbox. I've had two Ford Diesels and my wife has an Excursion Diesel that we have MBRP exhaust and the SuperChips 1805 installed. We both drive within reason and don't abuse our vehicles. We did it for mileage and they have paid off.

Yes you can blow your head gasket by abuse with enhancement products installed, but you can also do the same without by the same forms of abuse however it will take a little longer. To answer your question as to how/why a Diesel Tuner can create such dramatic results after adding a tuner...Go to the Tech folder and read how they work and how a Diesel engine makes power. While airflow and exhaust are important and you will notice a difference by adding those two...the Diesel is much more capable of making instant power over a gas burner.

Good luck...

 

Thanks for that awesome explanation. I just installed a superchips tuner yesterday and my intake and exhaust are stock. Looks like my next step is those two. I heard that the stock intake is good enough to run with a tuner and that I will only have to upgrade the exhaust. Is that true?

Mahalo,
Kaipo

 

Yes...I would not bother with the airbox since it's an 2006...They finally got it right. I went with the Single MBRP exhaust mainly because it keeps the CAT in the stock location and goes in SOOooo easy. If you are doing it yourself you will most likely have to cut your stock downpipe to get it out. If you have access to a lift then you can work with it and snake it out, but that's not easy. I paid $625 for my MBRP installed and it only took them 1.5 hours to do the install and I was back on the road. I almost went with the MBRP Cool Duals, but there is no extra performance gain. Just looks and you have sound coming out of both sides. I also didn't want the duals because I didn't want to hear the exhaust on my side. I still am very impressed with how quiet this exhaust it and there is virtually No hwy drone. It has a real throaty bark when cranked.

You won't be sorry going with the MBRP! The price is great! The fit and way they keep the stock CAT location is great and the sound adds a touch without being obnoxious and annoying to you on the hwy. The only other thing is to add some quality diesel additive like Stanadyne Performance Formula. I've used it since day one. The FORD additive is the same thing. I put 15oz in my tank at every fill up along with 3 oz of their Lubricity Formula with the new UltraLowSulfur Fuel especially when I buy fuel in Texas.

Good Luck!

 

FWIW...........I saw my boss replace the head gaskets in his Excursion (To the tune of 4000 dollars) because he had a program in his truck. He had to remove the program and the tuner to get warrenty work.

My 06 6.0 PSD is tunerless, and does everything I could possibly ask of it. Those engines cost 12K (for engine and labor as I understand) to replace. IMO it's not worth it.

Gunner15a

 

Also FWIW...What year Excursion was it? There are always these types of stories to add some sort of balance to everyone of us out there that Don't have any problems. Ford changed the Head Gasket design along with other items for the 06 model PowerStroke to correct things. There were also a lot of people that didn't have tuners or any other modifications that drove the hell out of their truck and blew head gaskets among other things.

Your 06 probably does everything you want largely at the expense/experience of others adding tuners, exhausts etc... that exposed weak points in the head gasket design quicker than normal in the life of a PSD.

Just curious...What exact tuner and program did your boss have? You said he had to remove the tuner and program to get the warranty work done($4000)? How long did he have the tuner/program loaded before he had problems? Was he hauling anything on a regular basis? How about his driving habits?

If you could possibly answer these questions it would give all of us better insight to what happened. It's much to easy to say... Hey I love my Tuner and Exhaust here is where you can get one!

It's just as easy to say...Hey I know a guy that blew his engine because of a tuner. This is what the Dealerships love to find so they can deny warranty work.

Gunner15a...You know you want a tuner and exhaust....You just haven't been properly exposed(grin).

 

I've also been exposed to my wife when she's pissed..............And replacing a 12K powerplant in my new truck because I wanted 50 extra horses is a good way to be sleeping in the living room for, oh I'd guess 20 years or so.................

Gunner15a

BTW Bosses Excursion was an 05 6.0 PSD, with 55K on the clock, as I remember. It was 4K to replace the head gaskets because he checked at another dealer first and thought about doing it himself. He got over THAT in a hurry. As for the tuner, I'm not sure what particular brand it is, but I do know it has an LCD color display that has virtual guages on it. I asked him about the display because I liked the optional guages that came with it, but no program, no guages...........so I opted out.

 

Welll you answered the main question about the tuner without naming it. There is only one that could meet that description and I'm not surprised the outcome.

Yes...A head gasket job is not something you want to tackle without some real knowledge and the right setup.

The 50hp gain is on the low end of the tunes and the truck's performance overall is increased. Not just so you can burn rubber. With the HP tune on my truck I get awesome mileage. In town I get average of 17.4 on the hwy I average 20.8 and got as good as 22.2 one time going across Texas(using Louisiana Fuel).

Like I said before...You can blow your engine in it's stock config by abuse. The people that usually tear their engines and tranny's with tuners are the same types of people that keep their foot in pedal or haul with the tune in the wrong setting. I'm not saying that there are not some poor guys out there that drive normal and have fallen victim, but using a quality tuner like SCT or the SuperChips Flashpaq make it much safer to use.

Lastly...I doubt your boss blew his head gasket while using the lowest HP tune on that particular tuner unless he had unknown problems before the tuner install. The tuner isn't usually the actual problem it's a design issue or it's the end user that dishes out the real abuse.