I know that I should post this on the Super Duty/ Diesel forum but those guys don't seem to know much (with the exception of powerstroker 73) and they take forever to reply. My question is about the 60 horse predator tune that I installed yesterday into my dad's 2000 super duty 7.3 diesel. Will this hurt the motor? We are gonna do a full 4" turbo back exhaust but nothing other than that and the predator. He doesn't beat on the truck and only occaisonally gets on it. But when he does decide to push it a little, will he hurt anything on his truck with only the 60 hp tune? Thanks and any other info or advice would be appreciated.

 

We do a lot of diesel stuff, and use both the Predator and SCT stuff, so I'm pretty familiar with the 7.3s and 6.0s. He should be ok with the 60hp tune. Once you add the full 4" exhaust, then you can run the big power tune. I'd strongly suggest a filter setup as well, and also an EGT gauge. You MUST monitor the EGTs to run the big power tunes. I would say with 99% certainty that you'll be fine, but you should really have an EGT on there anyway.

 

your tranny should be fine, and your egt's should be ok. Predators run hotter than most other diesel tunes but they run really well. I have an edge/att on my dmax and it has the egt digital monitor. Its nice and I plan on stacking a predator before I trade the truck in.

Probably anything over 90 will really do a number on your tranny if its not upgraded. Dont tow with the Predator unless you have the egt monitor.

 

Thank you very much Sal and fordbyfour. This is the info I was after. Even after the exhaust, the tune will stay at the 60 hp level because we have an 8,000 lb boat that we tow. Plus, the 60 hp tune exceeded our expectations by far. I know that the EGT would be a good idea. Can the sender for the EGT be threaded into the downpipe? If so, I could easily install it right before we do the 4" exhaust. As for the tranny, I had to go to the "modify parameters" section on the predator and upgrade to "firm shift" because it was slipping too much between shifts with the stock 60 hp tune. But now I feel more comfortable with this new info and it is appreciated. Thanks again

 

I ran my 75h.p. diablo flipchip tune on my 2000 f-350 7.3 since i got it at 30,000 miles.Problem free till 170,000(just got stolen from me the other night)I miss it dearly.

 

One really good place to get tons of diesel info is www.thedieselplace.com

They have a lot of info for the dmax and some stuff for the fords. I installed my pyrometer on the downpipe and that is the most common spot. Just pull back some plastic from the front wheel and tap away. Dont get the shavings sucked down in there. Not healthy.

 

thedieselstop.com is a big ford site. I had a diablo 60hp program chip in my 02 f350 when it got wrecked. Not sure what setup im gonna try on my 05 6.0. Im def gonna do exhaust intake and chip but not sure which brand.

 

Yep, thedieselstop.com is an all ford site. It used to be FordDiesel.com but they had legal action taken against them and had to change the name.

I'm not a big fan of downpipe EGT readings. I tap into one of the crossover pipes going to the turbo. I could care less what the EGT is in the downpipe, that's a useless piece of info IMO. I want to see what the EGT is coming out of the motor, and before the turbo.

 

+1 on what Sal is telling you.
Wherever you end up putting the EGT sender I would go back to stock tune for a while and see what temps you run empty and towing just to establish a base line. Lots of folks will throw out numbers on temps and argue but the truth is these readings we get vary greatly with brand and location of equimpent.

Having more power is fun, but you have to know when to back off in order to get long life.

 

Well not much to add to this thread so far as the bases seem to be well covered. As mentioned the DP is the easiest place to mount the pyro, but you really need to know the temps preturbo. The DP reading varies on truck to truck so it could be anywhere from 100-300* temp drop across the turbo. Also you'll see the responsiveness of the probe alot more preturbo which is very nice while towing.

If you open up the exhaust it will help temps a little bit, but you won't get the full effect until and open air intake is added. Remember the turbo needs to breathe in as well as out.

With my Edge Evolution and Juice/Attitude stacked in med settings I can still get close to the EGT redline while towing. In the 60hp setting you might be ok, but depending on which catch code you have (PMT, NVK, XLE, etc) you may be getting there alot faster than you think. The PMT and the NVK tend to run the hottest of the codes, but they also produce more power. My XLE code doesn't make that kind of power, but I can stay in the throttle for quite a while. Since Ford used so many codes every truck is different so its really a necessity to have an EGT and boost guage to keep from doing any damage when towing with a chipped truck. Remember that the EGT redline is 1250* preturbo and 25 psi boost. You can push those limits, but the more time you spend above them the more damage you'll do.

As for the trans the predator trans tuning is nice in that it can be adjusted (the Evo and the Superchips can't do this, or at least Edge I know doesn't). The best way to setup the trans is to get a mechanical pressure boost instead of electronic. This is done in the way of a Factory Tech Valve Body or a Sonnax Tricumulator. Here is what Gregg Evans has to say about the electronic line pressure increases. "One way to increase pressure in an electronically controlled automatic is to have the PCM (or an aftermarket chip) command the EPC (electronic Pressure Control Solenoid) to increase pressure. Doing this will give the desired result, but at a cost. Many systems could in theory raise and maintain Line Pressure at the expense of either the Lubrication circuit or overworking the pump assembly. By the time symptoms appear of the damage this can do, the damage is done and the repairs can be very expensive. If the lube circuit is starved in order to maintain pressure to the accumulator, the first obvious indication could be when the output shaft welds itself to the rear case bushing, a catastrophic failure that would essentially destroy the transmission." This was taken from www.thedieselsite.com and has some other interesting things from Gregg about the workings of the 4R100 trans which can be found here. Gregg for those who don't know has done ALOT in the way of 4R100 performance and is extremely knowledgable when it comes to most of the Ford transmissions (AOD, 4R70W, 4R100, 5R110).

 

Must have gotten moved over here. Don't you hate when that happens? Of course it's not too late to edit so no one gets offended. :santa:

(PS. don't worry, I agree this forum is sloowww and there is more "blah blah" than anything for the most part. )