I was seriously considering buying a BD exhaust brake and was wondering if anyone had any problems or heard of any horror stories associated to it. My truck only has 40 000K on it and I really don't want to have any hassles with Ford on the warranty work. I was reading some of the older threads and there was really nothing in them to convince me either way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Here's a quote I found from the diesel stop regarding a message from Ford:

SSM # 10389 states: "Some aftermarket products may cause severe engine and/or transmission damage. There are various manufacturers offering devices to increase turbocharger boost, exhaust brakes to increase stopping/hauling capacity or other such devices to increase the power/torque of the 7.3L DIT. Severe powertrain damage may result from use of these aftermarket products, which will not be covered by the Ford warranty."

 

Speaking from experience. I am a full time Rv'er and tow a 13,000 lb 5th wheel. I had the BD exhaust brake installed shortly after I purchased my truck. It had less than 5,000 miles on it at the time of installation. It worked great with no problems after the initial recalabration to set the back pressure a couple of months after installation. Then, at 19,000 miles my transmission went out. Still well within the Ford 36,000 mile warranty. I went to the nearest dealership to have it replaced. Prior to the dealership completing the work they informed me that Ford would not replace it under warranty due to the exhaust brake and that my warranty on the transmission would be void. This of coarse upset me greatly. I then contacted BD to tell them of the problem thinking that BD would be paying for the transmission. I was told by BD that Ford could not simply void my warranty based on an after market devise being installed. They (Ford) must prove the the after market device caused the failure before voiding the warranty. I went back to Ford and requested that they provide me with written proof of cause of the failure. They refused. They told me it could'nt be done because they did not have any way to determine the cause of the failure. They then reinstated my warranty and paid for the new transmission. After I got the truck back I went back to where I had the exhaust brake installed to discuss the situation. I was told at that time that the exhaust brake may indeed have been the cause of the failure due to low transmission pressure. The fix was to install a pressure lock devise to the transmission, this was also made by BD. An additional $450. I ask why I was not told about this at the time of purchase of the brake. They said it was not available then. Now I had a decision to either take off the brake and get my money back or add the preeure lock. Not wanting to loose the benifit of the brake I elected to add the addional device. I now have 50,000 miles on the truck and have had no addional problems with the brake or transmission. The brake works very well, and does a fantistic job. I highly reccomend it. However Ford may give you some grief over it. Hope this information helps in your decision to purchase or not. Happy trails...