Hey Guys, I'm Sean.
Looking for a list or what you guys know on the Pro's and Con's of Deleting the DPF and adding a tuner in a 6.4l
My father and I run a plowing business together and we are sinking way too much money into fuel and not enough money is going into our bobcat fund. Somehow I need to persuade him to take his stock 6.4 and make it more fuel efficient and add a little more torque (Not too worried about the Horsepower).
To quote him, "My truck was built to run the way it came off the line" and "I bought that truck because the 6.0l are too loud, and sound like they are munching on glass" and "I own an "On road truck" so therefore i can not put "Off road" parts on it. (I know DPF deletes are "off road parts")
He is a very hard man to persuade but there must be a way to show him that our truck has so much more potential and power than it did when it came off the line.
We have a Boss 8.2 VXT plow mounted on the front, along with a dual rack Track Rac. We also have added a toolbox/100 gallon fuel cell right behind the cab, in the bed. For plowing and winter tires we run Cooper Discover M+S and in the summer/fall we run General Grabbers. Other than that the truck is 100% stock. No performance parts have been added (Yet).
Really any ideas that you guys have that will help make our truck work better, is greatly appreciated! Post or PM either one works! If you have any questions on the truck feel free to ask!
Have you explained to him exactly what it is the regen does in the motor to burn off the soot in the dpf? You don't need to worry much about fuel economy, its the repairs that will start eating your funds soon. How many miles are on the truck and what are the engine hours? Deleting and tuning a 6.4 is by far the best thing you can do for the truck. You stop that extra 1200* heat from wreaking havoc on your turbo, and you will stop pushing fuel past the rings on the rear most cylinders. I am guessing you guys do a lot of in town driving because its a plow. What that means is regens take longer, and will dilute the oil more. If you aren't doing an oil change every 2500mi then I suggest you start. Have him come on here and do some reading and he may start to understand.
Thank You so much for the info! The truck has 47,xxx miles on it and i have no idea how many hours. I should have him come on here and start reading!! Are there any problems that can be caused by Deleting and Tuning the truck?? We change the oil about every 4000 miles and to quote him right now about changing the oil more often "Not with synthetic"
The biggest problem with deleting is people run high hp tunes. And anytime you push the limits it will cost you. The best thing you can do is delete and run a low hp tow tune if you are plowing. Tell him it will make the truck louder, but if all he does is dpf/doc delete pipe you just hear more turbo and that's it. I have a full 5" straight pipe on my truck and its got a good drone to it. Still is quieter than a 6.0 though.
90% of the problems with the 6.4 stem from the regen process. The other 10% are things like head gaskets and cracking pistons. Neither of those are even an issue (unless lady luck hates you) unless you run a high hp tune. By getting rid of the regen process you run even less risk of a cracked piston on cylinders 7&8.
There is honestly no down side of deleting unless you live in a state like California that have strict emissions laws. Here in MN we don't have to deal with anything, its just a matter of paying registration online and getting stickers in the mail. So I never worry about that. I have had cops stop and comment on how good my truck sounds... A good tune on a 6.4 will have virtually no smoke, I actually get less smoke now then I did with the dpf on. That means that you never need to worry about a cop pulling you over for your truck blowing smoke. Unlike if you go hot shotting around in a cummins...
Honestly you will get more savings out of oil changes and maintenance. You may see 2 mph diff on the highway. 6.4s are fuel hungry pigs, you will never get good millage towing, plowing, or in the city. But going from 2.5k miles every oil change to 5k is a huge savings. Same with the fact that you no longer have to deal with oil dilution that destroys every part of the motor... But I went from 11.5 (hand calc) this winter average to 15.9.
The DPF stands for Diesel Particulate Filter, it is the BIG can in the exhaust. It collects all the soot (Black smoke) and the DOC is a diesel oxidation catalyst (Diesel version of a cat). The dpf is the problem, because as you drive it clogs up and causes mass ammounts of back pressure. The motor has to go into regeneration mode (The message "Cleaning Exhaust Filter" will pop up on the dash when it happens) to burn off all of the soot in the dpf. It does this by pushing fuel in cylinders 7&8 on the exhaust stroke to increase your exhaust gas temps. That heat goes up through the turbos and then into the dpf.
As far as the best tuner, message bigrpowr here on the forum. He can get you set up with anything you will need and his prices are outstanding. He is also a great source of info. There are a number of tuners, you just want to make sure whatever you get supports custom tunes. It is always best to have a tune written specifically for your truck and engine. Again he can take care of all of that as well and explain the whole process. Then you just need to decide if you are going to do the work yourself or have it done. I did mine in about 4 hours, and If I had to do it again it would take about 2... If that.
Awesome! thank you so much for the info! I can see my father thinking about it pretty hard right now! Its just a matter of time before we do it! But thanks again and if you think of anything else to persuade him even more please feel free to post or pm me
Sean
I will give you my opinion. I wouldn't own a 6.4 not deleted period. Don't do it for mileage gains but do it for increased longevity of the motor. As stated the DOC/DPF and egr is no good for the truck. I saw about 1 mpg gain after deleting. I will also second what Crazy said, RUN A GOOD MILD TUNE. You throw a big tune on it and drive it like a d!ck farmer and it's going to get real expensive real quick. Also note, only use motorcraft or racor fuel and oil filters if you didn't already know.
^^^ This guy right here will tell you first hand how expensive a 6.4 is if it breaks...
If you guys delete (and I highly suggest you do...) put a light tune on it and don't try to race or push it hard. As long as you keep your foot out of it and don't floor it every chance you get it will run just fine and live a long life.
You won't regret deleting it however, it turns into a whole new truck. You have no idea how much power and life is robbed from your engine until you pull the emissions crap off.
I will say I met a guy today with a 300k 6.4... Completely stock hasn't even had rockers replaced yet. Only repairs were belt tensioners. I was amazed, it sounded like it was in great shape too. No ticks or knocks... I think my jaw dropped so far it was about to fall off when I saw his odo.
I will say I met a guy today with a 300k 6.4... Completely stock hasn't even had rockers replaced yet. Only repairs were belt tensioners. I was amazed, it sounded like it was in great shape too. No ticks or knocks... I think my jaw dropped so far it was about to fall off when I saw his odo.[/QUO
I know there are quite a few, but most have had some kind of major work done. I know of 2 others but they both have had several turbos and sets of rockers.
That was the first 300k+ mile 6.4 that had no sign of rocker wear what so ever that I have ever seen. I have 106k on mine and aside from my straight pipe, his sounded just as good as mine does. I honestly had no words. Origional radiator and black hoses... It almost brought a tear to my eye.
I just did those type of changes on my 2008.
I agree don't expect a big improvement in mpg.
If you watch your EGT and it is high, you will likely enjoy the delete. I haven't had a chance to prove this but many other users have.
I did a dpf and CAT delete, new air intake and moved up to 4" tail pipe. I am stacking a Gearbox Z delete with a real time tuner display.
If I had to do it again I would: change the tail pipe one time, change the input air, and use a Gearbox Z tune with selectable tunes. I am sure I would miss the display but those part are, in my view more money relative to the other parts, than they are worth. You could just add a EGT gauge which is the most important gauge to have.
Thank you all so much for the information and i also love hearing stories about 6.4's! It makes me a little giddy. So here is another one for you guys. About a year ago, I was driving my fathers truck, just like I always did. (it was my daily driver from the day I got my license) I live right under a two lane divided highway leading from Duluth to Two Harbors. A few of my friends piled into my truck and we went to go visit an old abandoned building. After being chased out by the caretaker, we sped down the road that led to that highway. Without thinking I was increasing my speed and failed to see not only the stop sign but the highway entirely. Lucky everyone was wearing their seat belts but we were T-boned by a lady going 70MPH (No I am not blaming her at all whatsoever) Her car shot off into the ditch across the other lanes of traffic and we flew into the center median. Nobody was injured but myself. I had a minor concussion and a dislocated shoulder. Even the woman in a 1997 Nissan Sentra was okay.(cant say the same for her car........)
Remarkably the truck had 0 frame damage whatsoever from a 70MPH hit ...... Shows how tough our Fords are! The truck is rebuilt now and runs great! I haven't been able to drive it since the accident because the commercial insurance wont insure me to drive it (not just because of the accident.... have had 1 or 2 speeding tickets as well) Every chance I get Ill go out and work on the truck, cleaning it up and doing maintenance. But it feels like a bit of my heart is missing because I am not able to drive it........
I showed my father the video on Powerstroke help's YouTube channel just so he could hear a pro talk about how bad the emissions are in these tricks. Please keep the conversation rolling on these pros and cons for tuning and exhaust I really need help convincing him to make the right decision. If anyone has any other videos as well please post them.
Thanks again!
Sean Spencer
CrazyS0b, I came across this forum and saw you live in MN like I do and have the same SCT X4 tuner that I just bought. It was brand new and as soon as I hooked it up to a computer to do the normal updates it quit midway through and gave an error message, now I have to send it back to SCT to get reset. Never even hooked it up to the truck.
Do you like the tuner? Should I think about something different?
I just went from 14mpg in my 08' 6.4 to 23mpg. Not to mention the response is night and day. I used a SCT tuner that has 5 preloaded tunes. I'm on tune 3, adding 150 hp 125ft lbs and I can drop it down to a tow tune when I pull my trailer. I haven't really got on it yet so I'm not sure what economy would be like with a heavy foot. Hope that helps..
Just read the thread and gave me some reassurance about the DPF/DOC/EGR delete I'm implementing this weekend. I was quite nervous at first, but don't feel as worried anymore. Thanks guys!
We are going to modify our 2009 F350 6.4 diesel soon. We pull a fifth wheel and their times the truck just can not get up a hill over 30 mph and we are talking major highways with speed limits of 65. we were told this truck would not have a problem pulling the RV but it does. any place I have taken the truck including Ford said it should pull fine but it does not. We have been told after doing the mods this will be a different truck and will not ever be an issue again.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum
5.4M posts
265.8K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to Ford F-series owners and enthusiasts with a Power Stroke diesel engine. Come join the discussion about performance, bulletproofing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!