Diesel Tuners....

The Beast

The Beast

New Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Ramseur, NC
Want to improve fuel economy on a 2004 Ford 6.0L Powerstroke diesel.

What suggestion for tuner/chips upgrades would you recommend?

Thanks
 
It's pretty much been proven that it'll take years to recoup the money you spend in fuel savings.

That said, if you just admit that you WANNA do it, a free flow exhaust is a good start, a free-breathing intake (anything BUT K&N), and most of the time, guys report some milage gains with performance boxes (if you can keep your foot out of it) because of the advanced timing..

Gauges first!
 
The Beast said:
Want to improve fuel economy on a 2004 Ford 6.0L Powerstroke diesel.

What suggestion for tuner/chips upgrades would you recommend?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Remember if you play you will be the one to pay!
I went 92k on my 96 CTD and it went south.
Dodge payed to the tune of 11K to put a new motor in it under the 7year 100k warrenty.
I have chosen to do the same with this one and leave it stock tell there is no warrenty left.
All the big 3 are having enough problems with small things that add up to cost a lot of money if not under warrenty.
If you go with a mild build of toys it will run you $1500, Diesel at $2.35 a gal
would give you 638.3 gals of diesel on average (mine) 17-18mpg and thats
11,489 miles you could run for free and one more mile per gal would be 206,800 miles to break even. if i have it correct.

Jon
 
thanks for doing the math... pretty much spells it out...

When i got some new tires I had switched to a little bit wider and have noticed a small loss due to that. I plan to replace them with factory size when(if) the BFG ATs wear out...
 
The Diesel Stop is the best place to hang out and 'lurk' for your answer. They are ALL FORD stuff and best source of info by far!

Personally, I must keep STOPPING myself from hitting the BUY button, I just don't "NEED" any more power. I am getting about 15.5ish mpg or so on the first half tank I ran thru the EX (really old skanky fuel), 10mpg on the second tank (pulling 6k or so up to WV and back)

Course it is getting 'GREAT' mpg sitting on the rack waiting on a new tcase (old one must have got 'tweaked' in the wreck, burned out bearings etc in the first 500ish miles...rebuilt one on its way from CALIF now)

I am "hoping" to do whatever it takes to get about 17/18 around town, but in my case that means new fuel filter and staying outta the gas. My Ex is pretty heavy so I am not sure I will make it, but looking at it this way, my ZJ also got 15.5 mpg around town but it was MUCH smaller, couldn't tow like I wanted, etc etc.

I may drop the windshield on the BUG next trip too, rumor has it that will save on the drag, mpg!

Sam...trying to take it ez...Hinton
 
yes!!! drop the winshield 'air dam' i droped mine up to paragon and it was a noticable difference. I didnt do the mpg math as i let at an odd time and didnt top off like i normally do etc.. but after pap i made a quick 4 hr trip to NY with the glass up and it was very noticable... compared to no ws it was like pulling a parachute... i think JB has actual calculations of 2-3 mpg... top of truck is almost inline with the body part of the jeep, the winshield part is totally above the truck roof line...
 
P.S. Moorefield says that at 73mpg, an unrestrained windshield on a Fj40 behind a large vehicle will lift off the hood bumpers and "levitate" :lol:




Your Jeep may vary... ;)
 
Yo Rich,
Why not K+N??? I'm Runnin one and with my hypertech on stg. 3 I'm getting 19mpg on the hwy- unloaded but haulin a$$
 
because they get the extra flow from larger openings in the filter. you might as welll run no filter, they let alot of particles in.
 
my dad bought a hypertech chip for his 99.5 F250 in an attempt to get better mileage (he is a GC and drives A LOT). he was sorely dissapointed in the results. power increases were awsome, delays shifts for a sportier feel (for a truck that is), but after 3k mi of testing, his MPG's only went up about 2 or 3. the on board computer was telling him he was getting like 26 but i think the best he ever did was like 19 with no load. he has averaged about 18, and about 14 towing my truck
 
ONLY went up 2 or 3? For fuck's sake, it's a 7000 pound brick.

3mpg is a 19% increase, pretty damn good in my book.
 
well my dad is a pretty take it like they say it kind of guy, and it was an advertised 6mpg increase. the only reason he bought it was for mileage, the power was just a side benifit for him. its going to take like 4 years to pay for its self as opposed to the 2 he calculated
 
I sell parts for 6.0s every day and I can truthfully say if you would be best to leave a 6.0 alone with the exception of maybe doing a cat back exhaust system. The 6.0 has enough troubles without adding any to it. You are not gonna get a whole lot of mpg for your money in bombing a 6.0. You can get some serious power but at a price. Reliability. :driver:

I personally would not own a 6.0 :rolleyes:
 
BlueRidgeRunner said:
You got a 05. :smokin: 03-04s had lots of problems with injectors and programing. Hopefully the 05 is fixed. Cross your fingers. ;)
Click to expand...

FWIW A good friend who works for FORD told me that midyear '04 there were a series of revisions done to the 6.0 to address reliabilty... Now I have not seen anything on the internet or elsewhere to confirm this. But I personally am holding off my new purchase to see how the '05s do :D
 
I went back and reread my post, i should clarify my "friend' works for Ford in Mich. Dearbon? not detroit but somewhere at a corp office and is a R&D engineer. We were college roomies but rarely talk these days...
Need to hit him up and see what the deal is with the 6.0
*runs off towards the phon*
 
A good turbo back exhaust (eliminate cat) and intake will be biggest noticable difference. Just be careful when choosing an intake, (K&Ns do suck on diesels) but to much open air will surge/stall the turbo, to little will starve it. You want real improved mpg....propane - I carry the msd digital propane injection on stock.

A SuperChips 1706 tuner will give a little more mpg in 'tow safe' mode, but not enough that will pay for the tuner.

I do have some chips/programmers that will net about 5~7 mpg unloaded. But they are a bit pricey. I also have some little mods that will increase mpg ever so slightly at a very affordable price.

Theres no miracle bolt on or mechanic in a bottle juice thats going to give you 30 mpg in a 7000 brick.
 
StudNuts said:
You want real improved mpg....propane - I carry the msd digital propane injection on stock.
Click to expand...

Blech - I will guarantee any gains in MPG will be offset by the cost of filling.
 
Rich said:
Blech - I will guarantee any gains in MPG will be offset by the cost of filling.
Click to expand...


A 33# cylinder will last approx. 825 miles and will net roughly 5 mpg savings in fuel. Im too lazy right now, you can do the math.
 
I worked out 5mpg (17 vs. 22) saves me $26 over 825 miles, which is coincidentally damn near the exact amount I paid to fill my 33# tank last time, and I didn't pay road use tax.

Then, you need to account for time spent filling the BBQ tank.

I had given it serious thought, but it wasn't worth it to me when diesel was $2.00 / gal. At $2.39, it's just about even in actual costs. Maybe if diesel keeps going up? (Damn I hope not)
 
Where on earth are you paying $26 dollars to fill your 33# tanks at? Thats robery. I pay $14 at one station and when desperate its $18 at another.
 
Hmmm, maybe they DID charge road use tax... it was a place on North Duke St. in Durham.

Gonna have to call around again, check prices.
 
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