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DPF delete?

Anyone else done this? My work truck is an 08, almost 100K on it. Been getting real doggy, no power, very bad mileage. Most days it spends at least 1/2 of my driving time cleaning the exhaust filter. So I talked the boss into doing a DPF delete, cost was about $1,100. The truck is a whole new beast now, throttle response is way crisper, power is beyond what it was brand new, exhaust not is mean. The tuner that he used has four power settings, from stock to 120hp gain (funny it doesn't list the torque gains, just hp). On the "hot" setting, it is an animal, but I'm gonna put it back on stock 'cause I am to hard on tires as it is, and I also do a lot of heavy hauling with it (no way to moniter EGT's). The tuner was called the XRT from hsperformance.

http://www.hsperformance.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=88&parent=30

This is the tuner, very simple to use, but no shift on the fly. You have to plug it in to change the tune.

So far, very impressed with the results of the DPF delete. Haven't driven it enough to see what kind of mileage gains, but I've been told it should get substantially better. The truck weighs about 10k, I was only getting about 12 mpg before the filter got plugged up. After, I was getting aroung 7-8. I'm hoping to see at least 18 now, tommorrow is the first day I'll be able to start tracking it. These mileage numbers are figured, not going by the lie meter on the dash (although it seemed to be pretty accurate).

One other funny thing, the truck don't start itself at the touch of the key now. You have to hold the key to start posistion just like any other vehicle.

Anyone else done this? Any thoughts?
 
Been in it for a couple of weeks now. The mileage seems to have increased by about 4 mpg if I keep my foot out of it. Very strong, tranny is more responsive, WAY less lag at takoff (auto tranny), overall the truck is 100% better, IMO.
 
So it's been on there for about a month and a half, last week somthing let go in the engine. Blew both 3 and 4 cyl. glow plugs out, oil all over everything. The truck has 1300 miles left before the warrenty is up (100k). Had it towed to Ford, they're tearing it down now. Pulled the codes, says misfire on #3 cyl. The Ford tech said if theirs any evidence of extreme heat, warrenty won't cover it because of the tuner on the truck. The Boss isn't very happy, a new engine is pretty spendy. I've got a feeling that I'm gonna be stuck driving a Cummins from now on at work. Which really sucks, since I can't stop my mouth from bragging on Fords all the time.
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
The problem here is, Ford has been bound up until now to have whatever engines Navistar gave them. The 6.0 and the 6.4 are structurally the same engine. The 6.0 is the Navistar VT365. Ford took this engine and doubled the power with programming, and not much more. Programmers add 50-175 horsepower on top of it. At what point do you start thinking about metalurgical failure? The 6.0 and the 6.4 just don't have any "extra room" for power increases. The 6.7 was engineered with extra room, as well as the 6r140 trans.
 
Yep, finding out the hard way. This truck was about 94000 miles with a plugged exhaust filter. The thinking was that since the warrenty was almost out anyway, the DPF was the way to go. Now we're paying the price, from the looks of it. There is still an outside chance it'll be covered under warrenty, but highly unlikely IMO.
 

6L PWR

Kansas Chapter member
The 6.0 is the Navistar VT365. Ford took this engine and doubled the power with programming, and not much more. Programmers add 50-175 horsepower on top of it. At what point do you start thinking about metalurgical failure?
There was room in the 6.0, if done right. :) Some people, <cough> <cough>, were just too hurried and didn't research everything first. :wavey:
 
So a little update, took it to another Ford Store, they are gonna look into it and see if it can be warrented. They sounded kinda promising, but I still won't know anything for awhile. Meanwhile, I'm still stuck driving a Dodge. Did you know the definition of Dodge is "to avoid"?
 

73F100Shortbed

That's how we roll!
5,937
320
NJ
Would it have been cheaper to replace the filter at this point? Just curious.
 

73F100Shortbed

That's how we roll!
5,937
320
NJ
A diesel particulate filter will run you around $1.2k to $1.3k. He probably had an underlying problem that caused the dpf to prematurely fail. He needs to repair that first, then replace the dpf.

Oh ok. I don't know to much about diesels, but from what I read here I think this is the first time someone mentioned a bad dpf. I wonder what the original issue may have been.
 

blacksnapon

Moderator
Staff member
Oh ok. I don't know to much about diesels, but from what I read here I think this is the first time someone mentioned a bad dpf. I wonder what the original issue may have been.
Any number of things can be the culprit. Bad turbo, bad injectors, worn piston rings, valve guides/seals, leaking fuel lines, high pressure pump leaks, even using substandard fuel/motor oil. Too many people are too quick to condemn the dpf. They replace it, then the problem resurfaces again.
 
Update: The "new" dealership has got the engine repair done under warrenty. The truck has almost 99K on it right now, just barely still in warrenty. The engine has about 45k on it since it was replaced last year (I put around 40-50K a year on the work trucks). The DPF was full at around 92k, Ford said it was normal to need replaced at 110k, so it wasn't extremely early for it to be plugged up. The owner of my company decided to go with the DPF delete thinking it was cheaper than a new filter and mileage should go up (it did by about 3-4 mpg). Biggest problem now is that when we get it back I think he's just gonna sell it instead of putting it back on the fleet. I can't really blame him, at just under 100k and it's on it's 3rd engine, out of warrenty almost as soon as we get it back.
 
Update: The "new" dealership has got the engine repair done under warrenty. The truck has almost 99K on it right now, just barely still in warrenty. The engine has about 45k on it since it was replaced last year (I put around 40-50K a year on the work trucks). The DPF was full at around 92k, Ford said it was normal to need replaced at 110k, so it wasn't extremely early for it to be plugged up. The owner of my company decided to go with the DPF delete thinking it was cheaper than a new filter and mileage should go up (it did by about 3-4 mpg). Biggest problem now is that when we get it back I think he's just gonna sell it instead of putting it back on the fleet. I can't really blame him, at just under 100k and it's on it's 3rd engine, out of warrenty almost as soon as we get it back.
When the company I work for has to get a major repair done on a 6.0 they repair them and then sell them.
 
Guess so, they pushed it right through, no problems with Ford. I have learned that if you put any programmer on the truck, it will throw a generic code (P1000, if I remember right) which tells them it's had a programmer installed. I don't think this would have been pushed through except for the fact that it's the same symptoms as the last time.
 

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