Anyone running Spartan tuning WITH DPF?

[SanDiegoStroker16]

Hello,

As my thread title indicates, I am curious if there is anyone on here who runs or knows someone who runs Spartan or similar tuning with the DPF intact?

Believe me I would love to do a DPF delete but as a Southern California resident (and owner of a Eco-friendly building company) I very unfortunately cannot consider this option.

I am trying to do my best to stay within the California emission requirements which seems to drastically limit my aftermarket options (all parts must be CARB certified to use). I have installed a K&N air intake and just ordered a Bully Dog DPF-back exhaust system to somewhat help to get the 6.4 breathing right and I would love to run a tuner like Spartan while keeping the DPF.

I use the truck as my daily driver, about 100-200 miles a day, and commonly tow between 6k-10k using a 20 foot enclosed trailer. I do not plan on setting the tuner to any of the Extreme tunes, maybe just a tow setting around +50-75 HP just to get the trailer moving a little easier through the hills.

My main goals (by using a tuner) are to slightly increase my MPG, watch my EGTs/trans temp/etc, and increase power when towing. My main concerns with running a tuner with the DPF is raising EGTs, going to regen excessively, and obviously the overall effect on reliability.

I appreciate everyones feedback and look forward to seeing what everyone thinks.

[INJEKTER1]

The better question would be....which is worse...the huge fuel consumption of a stock rig, u would have to include all the detrimental effects to the environment that oil exploration/drilling and diesel production creates, verses slightly increased emissions with less consumption.... going green is nothing but politically motivated BS.

now to answer your question....you wont gain any real MPG with the DPF on...my tuner has DPF tunes available, but the filter will get so clogged it would choke your truck out if you ran it that way for long....

[SanDiegoStroker16]

I completely agree it is BS but I also don't want to void the warranty or have to deal with reinstalling the DPF every other year just to get a smog check.

That is what I was afraid of, the DPF clogging. Do you have any suggestions as far as adding performance and keeping the DPF?

[smotrs]

Any tuner can potentially result in your warranty being voided.

As for which ones work well with the DPF, that would be the Banks tuners. They have the cleanest DPF tunes out there while providing a performance increase. They are also CARB approved.

Sent from my EVO using AutoGuide app.

[SanDiegoStroker16]

And voiding the warranty with only 41k on the truck is one of my biggest concerns at this point. I have read that the Spartans are hard for dealers to detect but I guess thats a big risk to run on top of everything else.

Do you run Banks with a DPF? To be honest I haven't looked into their products all that much but I am absolutely interested in whichever brand works the best and runs the cleanest with the DPF.

Again, I understand that I will not see any significant jump in performance, MPGs, or ETC without removing the DPF and all the emissions crap but I just can't run the risk at this point. So I am just basically seeing if anyone has had success with aftermarket parts while keeping the DPF. I don't blame anyone for ripping it off immediately, I wish it made sense for me to do.

Thank you for the response and if you know more about the banks product I would love to hear about it.

[INJEKTER1]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoStroker16

And voiding the warranty with only 41k on the truck is one of my biggest concerns at this point. I have read that the Spartans are hard for dealers to detect but I guess thats a big risk to run on top of everything else.

Do you run Banks with a DPF? To be honest I haven't looked into their products all that much but I am absolutely interested in whichever brand works the best and runs the cleanest with the DPF.

Again, I understand that I will not see any significant jump in performance, MPGs, or ETC without removing the DPF and all the emissions crap but I just can't run the risk at this point. So I am just basically seeing if anyone has had success with aftermarket parts while keeping the DPF. I don't blame anyone for ripping it off immediately, I wish it made sense for me to do.

Thank you for the response and if you know more about the banks product I would love to hear about it.

a tech can detect a tuner if they really wanted to.....but they have no reason to...they are usally just focused on finding and fixing the problem....no one tuner is less detectable than another , thats a myth....it sounds to me that you just need to run stock..you said yourself that you will not see any gains ....so why waist your time on this..?

[ScottyP5947]

Just my .02 - If you drive it that much and want more HP and MPG, and want to remain legal and eco-friendly like your business (which I think is a good thing, but that's a whole different topic)... then get yourself a 2011 with the 6.7. Check out fuelly.com and browse the 2011's MPG and then look for the 6.4's MPG... you will make up your cost difference in short time driving that many miles. AND you will have one of the most sophisticated diesel engines on the road.

Scott

[smotrs]

With anything, it depends on how hard they look for it.

I've been running the Banks Six-Gun and the AutoMind since before they became available to the public. Truck is much more responsive then stock. Regens occur in the 400+ range, haven't hit 500 yet but been close a number of times. Mileage for city/hwy has been between 13-15mpg and hwy station to station has been in the 18-20mpg range, all handcalced.

The Six-Gun allows on the fly adjustments and plugs in after the PCM so nothing is actually written to the PCM. You'll get about 100+hp increase at the max setting. The AutoMind actually reflashes the PCM like the H&S, Spartans, etc.. So like them, there's the chance that it could be detected if they really look for it. You'll get about a 150+hp increase with the max tune. Both are CARB approved devices.

The Six-Gun takes about 15-20min to remove and the AutoMind takes about 15min to reflash the PCM, same goes for the Spartans, H&S, etc.. So when I make dealer visits, I just revert to stock. If you went with a DPF off tune, then you would also have to switch that out as well. Some guys have gotten it down to the 45-60min range.

[hodge1995]

I have run dpf on spartan tunes for about a year with the same thing in mind little better fuel mileage, keeping factory warranty,and more power. I could not imagine carrying around my dpf and having to change it on the side of the road before calling for a tow truck. With this being said and I in no way gain from saying so: I hated myself for not using DPF - ON tunes way earlier than I did. I got feed back that i would not see anygains and this could not have been further from the truth.With DPF -ON Spartan tunes I seen way more power from stock, My truck was in and out of the shop quite a few times all I had to do was return the program to stock and I took the tuner out of my truck never had an issue with ford over tuning, I also when not being heavy on the throttle seen 1-1.5 better mpgs( it is super hard to not jump on the throttle when you tune). This was doing nothing other than tuning no exhaust or intake mods as my ford dealer said my warranty would be void for doing so. I think the Spartan dpf - on tunes were well worth my money even if I would have seen no gain in mpg because of the added power and performance of the truck.I also had nothing but excellent service from spartan.

[Eric@PTP]

If you want DPF on performance do some modified stock turbos, a pressure box like a TS MP8, intake, 4" down pipe, dpf back exhaust, intercooler, modified stock intake manifold like a GoGo diesel one. With all of those mods it would be a pretty good runner and still be emissions compliant.