hope you guys can give me some quick thought on the head gasket reliability with a diablo programmer th truck i am looking at is an 05 250 6.0 the gaskets were rplaced in 06 how is the diablo on these trucks and should i worry about the gaskets?

 

I think it all depends on your truck. If the gaskets have already been replaced i would assume the tech checked the flatness of your heads and block. If all that checked out you should be ok.

 

We have a customer with an '03 running the diablo on the highest setting since new. He is on the original stock gaskets. The only thing I think that is saving him is that he doesn't hot rod.

 

Knowing what I know today versus what I knew a couple of years ago, I wouldn't walk away I would RUN away.

Do a search on Diablo on this site.
I was filling out the order form when I found this site (Thanks FTE ) probably saved me several thousand $'s. Because I have a heavy foot.

ab

 

That's a pretty big assumption. Assuming that he did check it for flatness and if they found that if it was off that they took some measure to correct it(machine or replace the heads). I have seen more and more reports of dealerships just putting a new bold and gasket kit on and not doing anything to the heads themselves to make me leary of that and once you had problems with the heads and if you don't in someway correct it, you'll repeat those problems.

 

Agreed... good point.

 

Regardless of truck-trickness and excellence in workmanship while doing a build, etc.; IMHO, anyone, using any tuner can lift the heads on any 6oh on any given day if they really hot-rod the living daylights out of it. Nevertheless; why risk it by running a tuner that has a reputation for doing so on a good day?It an age-old argument...

 

You can run a tuner and not have hp and tq affected at all. Reason why to do is to make the truck more efficient for your driving habits and if your towing and have an automatic, make it more efficient of a towing vehicle for your habits as well. Alot of people think that tuners do nothing but add power and they aren't good for anything else. Now I have gone above and beyond just a normal tuner upgrade, but the argument still holds good. However, I will say this the tow tune that I have for towing my horses(I actually have 3 total tow tunes for different things), has it down to almost stock hp and tq readings, but compensating for the injectors(which those injectors help out alot on the low end), so there is a lot that you can do with tuners that people really don't consider. Also the shift points that I have on that same tow tune are not the same as the factory tune with or without tow/haul mode activited. I believe Matt spent 3 weeks getting that specific tow tune ready for me. So there are a lot of reason why to run a tuner without even having to touch on the hp and tq boosting part of it(although that is the typical reason, just not the only reason).

 

Hey Tex,
I am not currently running a tuner but I am considering it, but for obvious reasons I am concerned. When running a tuner but not boosting hp and tq do you benifit with better fuel economy? I don't tow much but almost always have 300 to 500lbs in the bed.

Thanks

 

The best answer I can give you is that you can experiance better fuel economy. If you have the truck programmed to your needs and how you drive, you do increase your likely hood, but you actually have to try to drive for economy as well. All the mods I have listed and I've gained 2 full mpgs of economy on winter fuel(have yet to have tried it on summer fuel) which is what I normally get on summer fuel. However, I did it to make my truck better not for fuel economy as a primary concern, it is just a perk in my case, which is good because I would have to drive the truck til it hit 700k to make it worth what I spent on it so far and I have two more mods left, but I do plan on keeping it til 500k, so I think it'll be close enough, hopefully. Feel free to PM if you want any other additional info.

 

X2...tuners always increase the risk of HG issues unless you're 'de'-tuning