Wear & tear from short trips

NDsuperduty · Sep 9, 2010

Like most diesel owners that plan to keep their truck for a long time, I am trying to adjust my maintenance and possible upgrades to make my truck last longer. Given that majority of the superduty owners buy their trucks because they use them for hauling heavy loads and long distance travel, I feel my wear & tear issues may be different. 95+% of my driving is 5-15min from the time I start the truck to the time I turn it off, and make a trip to the other side of houston once a week(1hour each way). Even though I may not have to worry about high EGT's causing damage, im sure the start and stop causes some kind of issues.

Some of the things Im considering:
-gears to reduce the stress on my tranny
-oil bypass system
-EGR delete
-converter/muffler delete
-ARP studs

I know majority of these mods are highly recommended for guys that haul a lot with their trucks but I am not sure if they are necessary for grocery getters like mine. Any incite would be appreciated.

JLDickmon · Sep 9, 2010

gears, no
oil bypass, no
EGR, maybe
converter/muffler, only when the OE exhaust gives up/gets damaged
studs, only if failure occurs

just my opinion.. and everyone has one.

Friis · Sep 9, 2010

Sweet lookin' grocery getter

NDsuperduty · Sep 9, 2010

What about only using the Ford Motorcraft filters? I know it does not have to do with short or long distance driving, but after watching some of the videos on powerstrokehelp.com its got me worried about the filters that my local oil change place is putting in using for oil and fuel filters.

Dogman · Sep 9, 2010

NDsuperduty said:
Like most diesel owners that plan to keep their truck for a long time, I am trying to adjust my maintenance and possible upgrades to make my truck last longer. Given that majority of the superduty owners buy their trucks because they use them for hauling heavy loads and long distance travel, I feel my wear & tear issues may be different. 95+% of my driving is 5-15min from the time I start the truck to the time I turn it off, and make a trip to the other side of houston once a week(1hour each way). Even though I may not have to worry about high EGT's causing damage, im sure the start and stop causes some kind of issues.

Some of the things Im considering:
-gears to reduce the stress on my tranny
-oil bypass system
-EGR delete
-converter/muffler delete
-ARP studs

I know majority of these mods are highly recommended for guys that haul a lot with their trucks but I am not sure if they are necessary for grocery getters like mine. Any incite would be appreciated.

NO, but it makes your truck sound cool.....lol

I'd run with the full synthetic oils front to back and dog the crap out of it once a week, and get a good tuner with econo tune will help too. I had the biggest improvement with the trans. shift point changed to match the tires.

I change my own filters and oil, then I know it's done right the first time. Only use Motorcraft filters. Walmart sells them cheep.

Smoky · Sep 9, 2010

NDsuperduty said:
What about only using the Ford Motorcraft filters?

If you look at the MC filters at Walmart and then you reach over and get the Fram oil filter set them side by side and then look at the writing on each end of the filters you will see that they are identical down to the writing. Be careful to put the MC filter back in the MC box so that someone doesn't buy a Fram filter by mistake. Is the MC filter a Fram or is the Fram filter a MC or are they both made by someone else?

I use Purolator Pure One oil filters and International Fuel Filters (after all the engine is an International) . No problems.

JLDickmon · Sep 10, 2010

Ford has issued a bulletin on the 6.0, 6.4 and 6.7 engines, that if anything other than Motorcraft filters are used, the engine warranty is voided. They make you sign a pledge to do so when you service it..

Dogman · Sep 10, 2010

JLDickmon said:
Ford has issued a bulletin on the 6.0, 6.4 and 6.7 engines, that if anything other than Motorcraft filters are used, the engine warranty is voided. They make you sign a pledge to do so when you service it..

Thats right, I forgot about that......

Scot · Sep 13, 2010

Want it to last? Don't let the quicky lube place touch it. Lots of dealers have fast lane oil changes if you don't want to do it yourself. Might cost a bit more, but you know the filters are correct.

NDsuperduty · Sep 14, 2010

Scot said:
Want it to last? Don't let the quicky lube place touch it. Lots of dealers have fast lane oil changes if you don't want to do it yourself. Might cost a bit more, but you know the filters are correct.

I am planning to start changing my own oil. Since I don't drive far, even if I do it every 5k, that would only be 2-3 changes a year.

No one has really said anything about parts that may wear out because of more starts and not driving it far. Is that not an issue? I was told by a friend, who may be an idiot, that diesels were not designed for that type of driving?

Wear & tear from short trips

NDsuperduty

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JLDickmon

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Friis

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NDsuperduty

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Dogman

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Smoky

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JLDickmon

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Dogman

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Scot

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