Hi guys;

After wrecking my 2000 excursion I'm now the proud owner of a king ranch f450 dually. I feel like I'm in a whole different world, different fuel filters, different oil filters, etc. I'm hoping some kind soul will answer some question for me:

- Is it ok in this motor to use shell rotella 5w30 year round. I live in indiana and my 7.3 ran well on this oil.

- I have the audiophile audio system and it has a phone icon. I had hoped that was to pair a bluetooth phone, but I can't find ANY instructions in any of the manuals. Is that what it is, or is it some fancy mute button or something?

- Do people still use a cetane booster in these trucks? I used to use Power Service at every fillup on the 7.3 and again, I *think* it liked it.

- I used fleetguard stratapore filters on my old truck. Is motorcraft my only choice for oil, air and fuel or do baldwin or fleetguard make anything similar?

- I find the range (fuel tank * mileage) to be a little low. On my excursion I could easily get 700 miles. What are my options for increasing fuel? Is there a transferflow or do I have to go with a bed tank? Anybody have any advice on that?

Thanks all for now, it's a great truck. Plenty of power, runs quietly and starts quickly.

If anybody could help with my questions I'd appreciate it, thanks.

Mike

 

One other question. Those god-awful cheap looking exhaust tailpipes have got to go. I know banks has something but I don't want to replace the whole thing, just the last couple feet so it doesn't look so crappy. Any advice there? I hate to spend the money on banks, would rather mbrp or something similar.

 

and one more, My window sticker says it has a block heater. where can I find that damn thing?

 

answered one of my own questions. Transferflow has a 60 gallon tank for the 2008 that would be perfect. Give me a range of around 640 or 50 miles

 

Block heater cord should be down low behind the front grill, almost in the middle, maybe a little on the passenger side. It is black in color and has a cover on the plug, which pops off and then you can plug it in. It might be tucked in there so look around and you should find it.

 

and there it was ctownson, thanks for the tip.

 

Be careful replacing the tailpipes. You can't use just anything. They are designed that way for the extreme heat produced by the regen cycles.

I use the cetane additives. Gray in the summer white in the winter.

 

Yeah.... don't just hack those tips off and put a slash cut on. The inverted fins draw in cool air at the last second to help cool the exhaust charge. This is a rather critical design piece for when the truck goes into regen when the temps are above 1000*.

 

What year model truck is your 450? 08 or 09? Maybe the phone icon is for sync?

 

Your going to love that tank brotha..

 

Before you look into the Transflow tank I would check out the 67 gal titan tank. Its a polly tank just like the stock tank. It mounts nicely on the frame rail and will only leave 3 to 5 gal of unuseable fuel in the tank at dead empty. The tank runs anywhere from $893.48 to $1047.00 depending on who has a sale running. I live in Jersey and I deal with Extreme Diesel Proformance they are awsome with their deals. Also go with the Banks monster dual exhaust and ram air kit for the truck it is all you need the truck breaths and runs so much better. Good Luck The Gambler

 

The oil has to meet the CJ-4 spec. This plays into the emmision stuff on the 6.4


You should have recived a seperate manual for the sync features of the radio. Go back to your dealer and request it, there is alot of info on it. Also if you have the nav and did'nt get the manual now would be a good time to get that as well.

If you press the phone button you will have to go in there and select a phone to pair with. These a code you will to enter which will be prompted into the phone so they communicate. Once there paired it should work fine.

Cetane booster is not required but recomended. Make sure your using ULSD and not LSD fuel as this will affect the emmision equpiment on your truck.

I had problems using a none OEM oil filter. The oil pressure light would come on every time i started the truck after it sat for awhile. Chaged back to the OEM oil filter and never had the problem again. Walmart has the OEM motorcraft filters at about the best price i have found. I would stick with the oem filters if i was you.

If your going to tow heavy i would look at the additional fuel tank options your looking at. Most trucks only seem to get around the mid 200's miles per tank towing heavy. The Titan tanks and Transflow are good options.

 

Did you mean the 5W40 Rotella synthetic? That is OK to run year round but I wouldnt run a dino 5w30 if you are towing.

I have the audiophile on my 08 and dont recall a phone button on it. My wife's car has it and I think its just a mute button rather than turning the volume down.

I use the PS on every fill up in the winter and about every 3rd fill up in the summer. My truck is driven less in the winter and I dont want the fuel to gel. I havent seen any change in MPG but it hasnt hurt it either.

Cant go wrong with Motorcraft filters. The Fram oil filter (I think CH9549??) is also made by Racor so those are the same. Typiclly the Fram is about $15 compared to $20 for the Motorcraft.

I think you already answered your question on fuel capacity. If you want to increase MPG you will have to remove the DPF (filter in the exhaust behind the cat) and get a programmer to deactivate the regen process. However it does void your warranty and violates the emmissions laws so thats an individual choice.

When it comes time for fuel filters there is one on the engine and one on the frame rail. A quick search will bring up plenty of info but since this is different than your 7.3 thought I would mention it.

 

Early production Rotella T synthetic 5w-40 containers dont show a CJ-4 spec on the container, If you go to their web site they have the CJ-4 spec listed for the Rotella T synthetic oil line, so dont panic if you dont see the spec listed on the earlier style container.

 

I just wanted to say thanks for all the helpful comments everyone.

Mike