Bought my first powerstroke

[palmetto9]

I purchased my first psd in October. Its a 97 f-350 reg cab 5 speed drw. I had a couple failures from the start. The throw out bearing failed first time I hooked a trailer to it. Then water pump vac pump the the fuel heater failed and blew a fuse. I wire police cars and repair small engines for the town I live in so I am a mechanic but I always stayed away from our trucks at work. I bought the truck to pull a Suzuki samurai rock buggy so it's a bit of an over kill but I have found these trucks are amazing to drive and work on. I was pissed that I had failures and I was getting poor mpg at first then I remembered it's 13 years old and has 120,000 miles things will fail. I have learned how to drive the truck and I'm getting 18-19 mpg now in my city driving to work. These trucks are a blast to drive and this is a great site hands down. I spend hours at a time on this forum and my roomates call me a nerd haha. I do need a little help. I would like to help the towing mpg. The mods on the truck are Donaldson filter no airbox no cat or muffler and a veg power veg oil kit. It has a 4.11 gear and on the interstate I just don't like the rpm to be so high. 80 mph at almost 3000 rpm blasts just bother me. Im afraid a 3.55 will kill my around town mpg. Thanks for everyone who posts and I'm gonna try to help when ever I can help someone else on here. Let me know what y'all think.

[Ryan Rønning]

Welcome to the ORG. The failed water pump and blown fuse on the fuel heater are very common, you are not alone there. A good 6 pos chip will help you fuel economy some not to mention gain you a lot of power. I recommend TW or TS personally. 120000 mile is still pretty low for an OBS.

Congrats on the new truck.

[palmetto9]

Also I forgot to ask one more thing. I'm up in the air between a chip or a tuner. I'm afraid a chip could damage or cause a PCM failure where as a tuner seems to be a safer bet to me. Open to all suggestions

[palmetto9]

Thanks Ryan. I'm gonna post some pics tomorrow. I bought the truck with 6 new bfg commercial t/a on it and all the mods done already and a 25ft car trailer with 4 new tires and some Toyota axle parts for my samurai for 8000. Didn't think I got hurt. I'll let y'all decide. This forum is so much nicer than pirate4x4. Not as much shot talking.

[Ryan Rønning]

I would take a chip over any tuner. If its a reputable one you have nothing to worry about.

[palmetto9]

I wouldnt think any of the tunes would have any negative affects when running veggie oil. I'm a perfectionist and very meticulous about my toys.

[Mutley]

You're pretty much experiencing the normal failure items from wear as my 94.5's had it all but the failing coolant thing. Other than a good oil change and service schedule it'll continue on like the energizer bunny. It just really frosts a guys dingleberries when it all happens in a short period of time when ya first get it....been there/done that.

Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do. Great trucks.