I am about one year from running out of my drivetrain warranty and thought hard about a GDE tune. I have decided against a tune for the foreseeable future because I think 3.0L engines have weak bottom ends. Specifically, the engine is a glorified version of the JLR TDV6, which is famous for failed crankshafts and, to a lesser degree, spun crank bearings. Ford has modified the engine with a forged crank, and other other unspecified upgrades, but the fundamental geometry of the crank and main bearings remains unchanged.
With Powerstroke-specific changes, I do not fear any of the bottom end issues with the truck in stock form. I am far less confident of that once I put 30% more power that the reinforced.
For reference, you may want to skip to the 8:00 mark in this installment of a 17-part rebuild:
For a bit of a more technical discussion on this engine, you may want to watch this:
I will most certainly be watching for feedback from people that tune their trucks and it could sway me back that way; for now, I don't see this as an engine that can handle and addition 100hp under continuous high-load operation.
This is only tangentially related, but in the recent past, I put a mild tune (Banks Economind) on my Duramax. Within 5,000 miles, my reportedly bulletproof Allison transmission started slipping in 6th gear. A bit of research later revealed that the Allison will last forever, but they are built to handle exactly the stock power level and nothing more; a $4,000 lesson learned.
dieseliq.com
