Just found this video from Flying Wrenches, another Ford Tech who quit the dealer and went out on his own.

He mentions that when going out to the factory maximum recommended mileage for fuel filters, that he finds the primary filters turned black. That black color, which in my reading about this, are alphaltenes that are already present in fuel but will precipitate OUT of fuel when exposed to the heat and high pressure that our modern day diesels produce. Sounds like that can be avoided by not following the Ford recommended service change interval or by using a additive designed for this...

I follow the change interval on my truck of 22.5k miles and I never find a dark brown or black primary filter on my truck. It's always a light tan color. But I have always run my additive which states it dissolves alphaltenes back into fuel and also functions as a fuel system cleaner.

He also talks about oil change intervals.

I can attest to what he says about power steering systems as I flushed mine at about 100k miles IIRC and when I took a sample of it for Blackstone Labs testing (Mercon LV we use), it came back in good shape.

He talks about trans fluid drains and fills as well. My truck has 153k miles and I have done 4 pan drop and fills along with 3 trans filter changes. I have also done two rear diff gear changes...

I may have to come back and correct my details.

 

Nice!
Brake fluid, definitely one that is over looked. It will wipe out costly ABS pumps once it degrades. Then you have to have software to flash the new pump. Almost always a dealer or Indy fix.

 

Yeah buddy...

Saw it this morning and thought it would be a good video for the new users here.

 

Ut would be a scary thing to run fuel filters out to max ford recommends in their maint schedule.

fords only concern is low fleet maint cost for bulk truck buyers….which has a high roll over turn around at the end of the 5 year warranty.


some s art things about the fuel system which is counter intuitive…..

the engine bay return filter nipple…I thought that was for returning excess pressure back to the tank. The line that attaches meets with the line that comes from fuel rail return and the exit path is back to the tank. But ford to counter particles from wear of co4 and injectors getting back into the fuel stream is now pitching this as a hot recirculating return that feeds the injectors when fuel is cold. Via a mysterious by pass in the filter that is not a by pass but some type of flow directing switch. End result particles can get into the injector which would be a defect in my book but a feature in fords.

same gimmick in the fuel tank of 17-19 and maybe later trucks. Since particles from cp4 and injector wear can renter the fuel stream with out getting filtered ford did another tap dance and calls this defect another “keep it warm when it’s cold@ feature.

i put a middle filter in between the tank and bay filter of 4 microns. Just changed it at 5k miles and the drain into a clean brand new bucket has metal dust in it. Not a lot. It it’s there. How is this getting past the intank filter is beyond me. It’s not coming from the internal fuel pump becuase all that stuff is plastic. Ca t be service station debris becuase the intank filter should get that. This is metal dust from all this loop the loop stuff ford had going on.

so I have an in between filter of 4 microns that is doing its job and is catching this stuff.
What I don’t have is filter isolation if injector return lines and mainstream fuel….another filter is needed to isolate any debris from injector return lines from looping the recirculation loop in the bay filter and going back to injectors.

in going to eventually isolate these return lines with 4 micron filters but what I also want to do is run all the returns to a tank neck manifold where they can drain back into the tank making it impossible to recirculate back to the fuel stream unfiltered.


run the fuel filters to fords “we don’t care becuase all we care about is surviving the warranty period” ….no way Jose.

 

I'm not scared because I believe additive keeps my fuel system clean, keeps the alphaltenes at bay and she has 153k miles... I also monitor the primary fuel pressure during the change interval whch would show a drastic reduction if the primary filter were to clog up with alphaltenes or other contaminants and the resulting reduction in supply fuel pressure would show...

But that said, do have plans to install my previously purchased Air Dog 4G pump and keep Ford's DFCM aka primary pump and filter on...but with a Titan 50 gallon fuel tank and S&B fuel pickup. Lots to plan... but later on... too many other things to do to my truck.

 

15K on fuel filters, 5K oil changes, 60K rear diff changes. Front diff at 100K.
Brakes are still about 8mm left front the rear @92K miles so when they need replaced, brake fluid will too.
Hydroboost reservoir will be done probably at 100K.

Already did a coolant flush as it was degrading at 88K. That should be done at least at 100K then at least every 60K thereafter.

That is what I do, otherwise, pump alot of fuel.

 

And don't forget the t-case fluid...........Ford says at 150k miles lol. In my opinion the 1.9 quarts of ATF gets pounded in that case, especially with a hyvo chain dragging through it. Mine is done every 30k, really cheap insurance too.

 

Good point... I've done mine at least 3 times when I did the trans fluid drops. I'll have to check if I did it with my 4th trans pan drop or not...

just checked... I did NOT do the transfer case last year with the trans pan drop and filter change. Will do this summer....

 

I had some bad downshift when towing up a grade at 55,000 miles, I had the pan dropped, new filter and fluid and it fixed that problem.
At 78,000 I was in for the Trailer controller recall and had them Flush the tranny, It was $320, so not that expensive and they put in 12 quarts of new fluid. At least that what they charged me for,
I don't use the 4x4 that much, So I have Front and Rear differentials and transfer case done at 100,000 miles, and the coolant.

 

My last trans pan drop, the fluid was around 50k miles. Meant to change sooner but the sample came back good. I used LubeGard Platinum additive this time along with their newer aluminum protection additive (for the first time).

Going to go out to 50k miles again and do a pan drop and filter change at that time. I will also take a sample.

When I first started looking into aftermarket pans, I liked the B&M pan which adds just under 4 additional quarts... it includes filter spacers and longer bolts, and also the capacity to retain the factory donut magnet.

I have a few K&J Magnetics high temp rare earth magnets in my stock pan.

Then I saw the Goerend trans pan which adds 4 complete quarts... no spacers nor option to retain the magnet.

I have seen but never considered the SPE aluminum trans pan. It includes filter spacers and longer bolts also, the capacity to retain the donut magnet as well but adds an additional 8 quarts... I like that...

So when I reach the end of 50k miles, I will most likely go with the SPE pan... an even two cases of Mercon LV fluid... the more the merrier IMO.

I also will buy SPE's larger 6R140 trans cooler and their set of trans lines. I'll have to remove my plow frame to get off the lowest line from the factory trans cooler because the plow frame sits right on the plastic factory fitting keeper... I'll grind down the bracket in that location to avoid that moving forward.

 

If I were in the market for a used and any of you were selling I’d only hope to come across one of your rigs.

 

B&M's 6R140 pan.






Goerend's 6R140 pan.





SPE's 6R140 pan.

 

Best $14 I've spent. I use it on all my vehicles that have DOT3 or DOT4.

 

Wow... I'll have to get one of those. thanks for the tip...