Had both of these done today. Of course I can't comment on MPG yet. Yes, both done under warranty. The high idle feature is great, had to "BUY" a high idle unit for my Ford

 

 

Anyone getting a delayed warmup with the TSB? Service manager told me that it would take the vehicle 3 times longer to warm up if i got the TSB.
Anyone experience this?

 

That might have some truth to it. It sure takes a while for her to get warm. But that wouldn't stop me from getting it.

 

Just had mine done this morning. The paperwork said 18-007-04 on it and I stopped to talk with the service writer. He grabbed the paper and went back to talk to the tech who assured him he did the right 18-037-04 TSB. I had my doubts, but the overhead is no longer resting at 17.1 mpg, but has risen to 20.3 and is resting there for the moment.

That's all I'll say on this because the tank was 1/3rd full and I need to finish this tank, fill it and empty another tank before I can positively say, Yea! There is an increase, or why did I bother wasting a couple hours in hope of getting this done.

Anyway the overhead has never rested that high before, so I've got my fingers crossed

 

What tranny?

 

ScopeDoctor, Look on your fan shroud, there should be a sticker with the correct TSB number. I went thru the same thing when I had mine done. I am very glad I had mine done! Better mileage, seems to run better and shift smoother.

 

I had this done when it first came out loved it at first then noticed that my truck didn,t seem to have the same low end torque as before and I only gained about 1MPG but the over head is consistantly off byt 2 MPG now it does take a lot longer to warm up and the engine rattles and pings a lot more all the time but it is worse when it is cold I would not recondmend thisTSB any longer it is not worth the loss of power and only proof that DC is playing it's cuctomers for fools but it must be working for them because I seem to be the only one that sees this !

 

I had the exact same experiance. When I asked the tech, he said that 18-007-04 was the latest update & included 18-037-04. Time will tell.

 

Wildbillnc

Thanks for your honest evaluation of the TSB 037. It figures they are just doing something to readjust timing or some crap in the computer readout to make you believe your getting better mileage. Even if you do get better mileage, everyone knows that power will suffer after something like this. I had my gasser done like this, tranny flash and all that. Nothing changed except for the shifting of the auto tranny and the vehicle became a total dog. Had to sell it to allieviate the problem!! I will not touch thsi machine cause i have no smoke or any problems.
Mileage is around 14.9-15.5 city, which is much better than my 360. Highway driving is less cause of the 3.73 auto gearing. Just the way it is. My .02

04.5 2500 4x4 quad 373 AUTO everything but leather

 

Hi all, I'm new to site and new to diesels. Bought 2004.5?/CTD/ 3500/DRW/6speed/3.73/4X4/Heavy Duty/Laramie SLT/Sport/LB 4 months ago.
Ran good except noted that while overhead showed 19-20 mpg, hand calculation showed around 14.8 (75% crusing/25% stop and go). Truck shifted easily, no smoke. After mileage reflash @5k noted more RPM drop @ shifts, some smoke, and no significant mileage gain in another 1k miles. Last tank drove at 55mph, shift at approx.1800/1900 rpm, calculated 16.3 mpg, overhead shows 19.2.
Is this normal or do I have a problem? Truck was bought for I'state runs with 8500/10k # trailer.

 

Scheduled for Friday for the TSB. But, now I think I'll hold off. Get the LOF service, the ODO calibrated for the taller tires and the high idle enabled.

Right now the OCD averages around 15mpg in city and on the freeway at our state speed limit of 75. If I feather the throttle, I can creep this up to about 17mpg at around 58-60mph. I suspect I'm going faster than indicated because of the taller tires, and the indicated milage is less than reality. Have not kept notes to do manual analysis, but will now.

24 degrees this morning at startup. Plugged in. No white smoke. Why fix what ain't broke.

A question: Are the shift points regulated by odometer input? Meaning, does the trans shift based on road speed as one of the factors?

 

I flipped. We (Serengeti) have two 2004.5 CTD, the other a Silver SB. The other driver decided to do 18-037-04. I was scheduled for the 7500mi PM later in the day, so we drove his truck around after the TSB and it seemed to have improved driveablity. So I did mine later.

More on that:

Before & After

Before: I often found the shift pattern mildly irritating. At no load, light throttle, I could not induce the transmission to shift up below about 1700rpm. There was a distinct lack of torque in the light throttle settings in the 1300-1500 range, the range I would normally drive around town if I had a 6-speed. The mileage was therefore always in the 14-15mpg range as I had to spin up the engine to get it to move. I could not induce a shift into overdrive below 50mph. And when it went into overdrive, there was a brief “thrumm” and a light lurch.
In the past 7500 miles, I’ve commuted 37 miles 50-60 times. The first 25 miles are level ground in the valley. By feathering the throttle all the way to the mountain, I could ‘sometimes’ coax the OHC up to 17.0-17.2mpg. When I hit the mountain, with its curves, I was forced to be in the 1700-2000 rpm range to keep the speed up, and almost never got into OD because of the 50mph issue. By the time I got home, the average for the entire 37 miles was always 13.8 to 14.0mpg.

After:
Today was the first run at the mountain, and the change was dramatic. First of all, in town, I noticed I could feather up speed from stop lights and stop signs without exceeding 1500 rpm. In fact, most of the time, I could run right about 1300 rpm and the engine would shift almost imperceptibly. By the time, I motored into the rural areas, my OHC was reading 15.2 and that is a big change. We had a north wind of about 20mph today, and I had to buck that all the way to the mountain. Still, the OHC read 19.6 when I made the turn. Today, the road up was very icy and this 6700lb monster felt like it was on grease much of the time. However, the engine definitely had torque down low and light throttle in 1300-1500 range to keep the speed (on ice) at 30-34mph. I was in 3rd much of the way up. At the 5 mile post, I was still showing 17mpg on the OHC – a big improvement. On the flats before the big hill, which is a 10% grade, it popped in to OD at 47, and the mpg rose back up to 18. The big hill whacked it down 15.4 as most of the climb was in second gear. Remember, on ice. Can’t use the power. The big hill is 1.4 miles long and takes you up about 700 feet. The next 2.5 miles are on the flat. Back in OD again and the final ended up at 17.0mpg. Just like the mountain no longer existed.
I tanked up immediately after the TSB. We’ll run this one down and compare with hand calculation to discover if smoke and mirrors or not. However, I’d bet not because of the big improvement in light load, low end throttle response. The improved shifting was a bonus.

 

mines crazy loud after the flash, can"t hear the exaust over the engine noise, doesn"t white smoke as long on start up, but it will miss acouple of times which it never did before, and mileage increased at least 2 mpg on the over head, up to 22 1/2 hyw actualy 23mpg but I"m have a hard time believeing it. going down to tenn. in a few days,,680 miles one way. i have made this trip several times before the flash, so i will know for sure if the mpg is correct the only difference is now i will be on winterized fuel,,anybody know how many mpg winterized fuel will knock the mileage down?
oh yeah,,and it seems like it is idling alot fast also. what does the fast idle flash do? make it idle faster or slower? thanks