My first diesel! '08 F-350 Lariat CC 8' 4x4

[nuttcase21]

Hi guys, first post!

Just traded my import sedan in a week ago for a truck, my first, and I gotta say I love it. It's an '08 Lariat 4x4 without nav that had 75,100 miles on it which i paid $28,500 for. Love the truck, and now I'm hooked, but this is my first diesel (except for the stuff I used to fix in the army years ago) and I'm trying to learn about weaknesses, strengths and maintenance periods of the 6.4L. Can you guys point me in the right direction?

P.S. I drove the truck across the country last week with 2000lbs of steel in the bed and averaged 16.2 mpg, averaging around 75 mph the whole time. That consistant with what most are getting? (I'm not complaining, just trying to compare for reference is all)

[SWhetsel]

Welcome! I am in a similar boat and will be following this thread. Not my first truck at all, but my first diesel yes. (Like you, all the diesels I drove\worked on were while in the service) That MPG seams about right. That was a lot of weight, and 75 is fast for good MPG. MPG threads are on here by the dozens, just do a search for more info. I will say that to get anything better for MPG, if you can do a DPF delete and tune, you will see better performance and MPG. (My experience at least. I had the truck for only a week before I got my tuner kit though, so I dont have a huge baseline for you. I will say that I love the Spartan route that I went, and its a beast now! Way more power than stock. PM me and I'll send you who I got it through if you are going the Spartan route because it was cheaper than list price.)

From what I gather:
Drain your water separator monthly, change you oil every 5-10,000 depending on usage, buy some kind of fuel additive for lubrication and add it every other tank if you can afford too, make sure you let the glow plug light go out before starting, let you truck cool down before shutting it off if you rode it hard (about 3 min tops for the turbo to cool), and read the owners manual!

Owner Manuals in PDF: 2008 Ford F-250 Owner

[blackcloud2k]

Let the EGT's get down below 400 before you shut it down, Shouldnt take more than 30 seconds unless you have been pounding on it pretty hard. Change oil every 5-10 like was said, most of us change at 5k. Change fuel filters every 10k. Your mileage seems pretty good. Is that hand calc, or via the lie o meter? If you can look into the deletes for the DPF and your truck will like you more. And you will like it more.

[nuttcase21]

thanx for the tips guys, that mileage was calculated by hand. i'm all for more horsepower, but this truck is my primary work vehicle and i'm more concerned about reliability than i am speed. my truck runs great now and hasn't had any major engine problems that i know of (atleast thats what the dealer told me), but i'd like to upgrade the weak parts, if any, of the engine, not just increase power.

also, i've seen a few times now on the info display that it read "cleaning exhaust filter". now being a newby here, is that normal practice for the truck or is it a maintenance thing? i saw it mentioned in the engine manual, but it's a little vague about what it is and what is going on. thanx.

[SWhetsel]

Originally Posted by nuttcase21

thanx for the tips guys, that mileage was calculated by hand. i'm all for more horsepower, but this truck is my primary work vehicle and i'm more concerned about reliability than i am speed. my truck runs great now and hasn't had any major engine problems that i know of (atleast thats what the dealer told me), but i'd like to upgrade the weak parts, if any, of the engine, not just increase power.

also, i've seen a few times now on the info display that it read "cleaning exhaust filter". now being a newby here, is that normal practice for the truck or is it a maintenance thing? i saw it mentioned in the engine manual, but it's a little vague about what it is and what is going on. thanx.

When you see, "cleaning exhaust filter" it's the Regen cycle. Your truck has a soot catcher for lack of a better term called a DPF. It uses diesel to burn up that soot every 100 or so miles. As far as a DPF delete\tuner goes. The rumor is that you actually increase engine life because you arent pumping emissions crap back into the engine. (IE Via the EGR valve) And you aren't contaminating the oil with fuel either. So while it increases performance and MPG, it is also supposed to increase your engine longevity.

EDIT: Info on your DPF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_particulate_filter

EDIT 2: IMHO tuning isnt all about speed either. (It is a nice plus though.) It means more HP and Torque, which means less strain on the engine under load, which equals longer engine life.

[nuttcase21]

Thanx for the info! So if I understand his right, you can load the dpf up when driving at lower speeds an also under high loads. The ford systems have a sensor of some sorts that measures the level of particulate in the filter and then once at a specific level, increases exhaust temp and introduces fuel into the filter to burn off said particulate, and it does this at speeds over 40 MPH...that right?

Would it be a fair assumption that if I do a majority of road driving that I might not have as many problems with the dpf on average? Or am I just as susceptible as any other owner? Again thanx for bringing me up to speed.

[blackcloud2k]

Yes you are on track. The biggest issue with the DPF is dilution of the motor oil. Fuel will end up in your oil due to the regen process and that is bad for the motor. Driving up and down the interstate will net you longer distances between regens, but only by 100 miles or so. the DPF is the devil. If your truck goes into regen while you are driving it, it is better for you to keep driving until the regen is done. If you shut the truck off during a regen, when you start the truck up again and get going, the regen will start over, this costs you MPG in a hurry.