Any 6.4 Powerstroke owners on here?

[bkm]

I'm looking for real world data from owners past or present with 08-10 6.4 powerstroke.

It seems that some love em and some hate them. I know they are maintenance hogs and require you to stay on top of it.

I'm looking at a one owner, 40k miles, 2010 f-250 super crew 4x4. With all detailed maintenance records. It honestly looks like a new truck.

[big specht]

I don't own one but was a diesel tech at a dealer for 13 years. They are good motors make good power after all the emission sh#t is deleted and a after market program is installed(I've seen 495hp 1100lbs with a delete and program). BUT hold on to your bank account when it brakes !!

[bkm]

What about a well maintained stock truck? How many lightly driven, well maintained units did you see have problems?

[slashfan7964]

I've heard they are very hit or miss; you either get a good one or a bad one.

[fabiodriven]

My opinion, I'd run far and fast. The 6.4 was made for about two years, maybe three. A big part of that reason was Ford's falling out with International, but was it the chicken or the egg that came first there? My opinion, the egg was first in this case with the laying of the Powerstroke 6-oh-no, err, 6.0 I mean. Sure they make great power and spool up like a hi performance gas engine, but they break a lot and it's not cheap. Everyone knows about the oil to water oil coolers that let go and the EGR delete that is pretty much a requirement. Then there's the cleaning of the mechanisms inside the variable vane turbo, head studs, IPR's, ICP's, FICM's, and on, and on... My roommate has a six-oh-no. I watched that truck turn him into a diesel mechanic, no exaggeration. I remember the very first injector he decided to replace himself. Now here it is 3 or 4 years later and he's a legit heavy truck mechanic, no bull! He has to be with that stupid truck. Don't get me wrong, it sounds like the cat's ass with the one year only 2003 9 vane turbo and huge straight pipe. It sounds purely sinister, like a vomiting dragon or something, and it gets the fawk up, but then it falls the frick down. Always something, always, always, always. My 7.3 may be a donkey, but it will always get you there. Always, always, always. And you can bring anything you want with you. Just pile it on.

On to the 6.4. I am a mechanic but don't necessarily consider myself a diesel mechanic. I have spent a lot of time around diesel engines however, a lot, and am quite familiar with each. I did a turbo in a 6.4 last winter with my roommate for a customer of his. Obviously we had to remove the cab from the chassis. Obviously this was a gigantic pain in the ass. The truck had somewhere in the low 100k's for mileage I believe. Some might say "Oh well it was due then". Tell that to a 7.3 owner. 100k on a 7.3 is the end of break in. From what I could gather working on the 6.4, it was a glorified six oh no. That's like saying you drive a Yugo but it's a really nice one.

My opinion, I'd personally never buy a 6.0 or a 6.4. I love the 7.3 and 5.9 but I wouldn't own a Dodge truck. The Izusus in the GM's (glad GM gave up after the 6.5) seem very powerful and don't have a ton of problems, save for glow plugs that freeze into the head and fuel rails that rot (and brake lines in the trucks), but then you gotta be a GM guy and have wimpy torsion bar front suspension and soft springs. I don't know a whole lot about Ford's 6.7 or Cummins' 6.7 either, but I don't hear the horror stories that surrounded and continued to surround the six oh no and 6.4.

You should ask yourself why this thread even exists...

[bkm]

It exists because I've never owned a diesel and wanted to by hear from those that have actually owned them.

[fabiodriven]

What I mean is, if you have to ask then there may already be concern, and in my opinion for good reason. I'm sorry if you didn't like what I wrote or if my opinion doesn't matter because I don't own one. I could own one if I wanted. If you like it then go for it buddy! Good luck!

[Jmoozy27]

I cannot comment on the Ford motors (although I have heard good things about the 7.3 only) but I have been driving a 2500HD for almost five years at work. The 2010s and earlier with the Allison are solid units. Most of our truck see a lot of hard city and highway miles as we have offices in basically every major city on the gulf coast (Nola, Houston, Dallas, Shreveport) I personally have put 100k miles on three different 2500HD vehicles. The first was a 2005 with well over 200k miles and it was solid until it was traded for a 2011 that was solid but stayed in the shop for different issues but mainly because of the DEF crap. It's a trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotr ailpro racquet. I wouldn't personally waste my money on anything newer than a 2010. Hope this helped.

[doord521]

I own an 08 6.4 with 199k on it. I love my truck. I bought it with 129k and it was pretty much in stock form. I did have to put a high pressure fuel pump in it at 180k. While I was in there I did go ahead and delete the egr and dpf along with some other goodies. The tuner was the best thing I could have done. The regen cycle is a killer in the back two cylinders. But now it is great having a truck that will eat mustangs and camaros and give faster cars a hell of a run. I consistently run in the 4 second range for 0-60 times and have put down a 12.8 1/4 mile. Oh and I can accelerate up any hill I have tried with 18k lbs on the back.

[bkm]

That's the thing, I don't want to do tuners and deletes. I just want to change the oil every 5k miles and fuel filters every 10k, keep on top of the other maintenance, and drive it. I'm not looking for a race truck. I want a nice newer truck that will reliably pull my camper into the mountains with my family. I'd love a 7.3, but they are pretty much non existent around here under 100k miles. That may be fine engine wise, but you still have a 100k mile truck wrapped around it. I'd also like a 5.9, but like Fabio said, it's wrapped in a dodge truck.

Honestly, I might just look st a newer f250 with the 6.2 gas engine. I put maybe 5k miles a year on my truck, so fuel mileage is not a real concern. I have a buddy with a 6.2 and he has a skid steer hooked up to it 90 percent of the time. He went from a 6.0 powerstroke and will never go back to a diesel.

[Dave Little]

If you really like the truck, the engine problems you will eventually see can be overcome:
http://www.fordcummins.com/

If it's only got 40K on it, yard the 6.whatever out of there and sell it while it still has value.

No, I'm not a powerstroke owner, but have been driving diesels exclusively for the last 16 years, do all my own wrenching and pretty much despise gassers, save for 3 wheelers, lol but know enough to give that engine a wide berth.

With anyone's 'first diesel' there is a learning curve that will happen...you're picking a hell of an engine to do that on, in fact it may very well sour you on all diesels for the rest of your life once you get a few thousand dollars sunk in the engine just for fun.

EDIT: I just saw the comment about your buddy with the 6.2 that left the building after 6.0 ownership- don't be like him and stop learning after taking away the wrong lesson.
2nd edit: 5k miles a year? Stick with a gasser...you don't drive it enough to ever realize a fuel savings with diesel vs. gas. Besides, diesels do not like to sit.

[bkm]

I just spoke with a Ford tech at the local dealership and he pretty much said the 6.4's weakness 90 percent of the time is the owners failure to "over maintain" this engine. He basically said they don't like to sit, idle for extended periods of time, and require a diesel babysitter. He said the more you work them the better they run, but will eat you out of house and home. He advised me that for what I'm doing, the 6.4 probably isn't the best choice.

[sledcrazyinCT]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The ford dealer mechanic gave you good advice. I own a 96 7.3 F250 with 128,000 on it and anytime I am fueling up and see a newer ford diesel these guys always say damn wish I still had my old one like the one you are driving mine has cost me so much to maintain and I don't even tow much.

You mentioned at 100K the rest of the truck is wearing down, my feeling is any vehicle with 50K on it is going to need maintenance. For under 5 grand I can refurbish my entire truck chassis, that is not even a decent down payment on new vehicle. I plan to keep mine until my son inherits it.

[big specht]

I drive a 01 7.3 and and 93 12v dodge. Cause I don't want to work on them all the time or at least cause me a lot to work on when they brake

[fabiodriven]

Dave Little's post I'd say is some fantastic wisdom and I'd have to agree with everything he said. Your buddy is right about leaving the 6-whatevers idling, at least as far as emissions goes. The guys I saw that had the most problems with their 6-whatevers were the ones that babied their trucks. They'd come right out and say it; "I don't understand it, I'm not even hard on it!" That's the problem right there. 6-whatevers like to be romped, they like it rough. You gotta pull their hair and punch 'em in the face or they'll clog right up.

[Samjp22]

Lol buddy of mine drove a 6.4 and its was driven very hard with the chip on max. Twisted a driveshaft off and shortly after that the turbo went and the truck got stuck in four low. I think you can picture what he was doing with it. Only had like 55-60000 miles on it. Let's just say it got fixed and is now being sold. Maybe driven too hard haha

[deathman53]

I drove a 6.4 at work, they have a 6.0 and 3 -7.3's. The 6.4 just plain rips and when the turbo spools, it takes off like a rocket. The mechanics did say there is always something with it. The 6.0 is used to haul big trailers, it is nowhere near stock in any way and very modified, they had head gasket and something else with the motor(sent motor out to be rebuilt). The 7.3's, one is a 97 stick shift, over 500k miles, motor was never worked on much, no problems with it. 99 has over 300k, only thing motor wise that was done was replace oil pan(have to pull motor to do), 03 only had oil pan replaced(another pull motor). The 99 is used day in and out to pull trailers with fences, pull bathroom/shower trailers, loaded up sand bags and fencing supplies while pulling a trailer w/ fence on it. They say they wish they had more 7.3's, you can't kill those motors, I was even asked several times if I would consider selling my 7.3. I have a 97 7.3 f350 dually, 200k, some work done to it and replace of turbo, brake booster, alternator and water pump.

[fabiodriven]

For the record I will never sell my 7.3. The truck will go on the rotisserie at some point if need be.

[bkm]

I found a 99 F-250 with the 7.3 and 80k miles that I'm going to look at Saturday. It's the nicest 7.3 I've seen around here in quite some time.

[fabiodriven]

Stick your head in the rear wheel wells and look at the bed ribs that run across the bottom of the bed and mate it to the frame. See if they look rusty, scaly, or squished. This the the first place these trucks will rust and you can gauge the rest of the truck by looking at just this point. If it looks good, chances are very high you're good to go. If they are rotting then it won't be long before you'll need to either replace them or even the whole bed. See if the spare tire is under the truck hanging from the frame. The hoisting cable that draws them up rots and the wheel falls out from under the truck. Look at every leaf spring in the packs. They are known to break a leaf here and there. It's not a huge deal if there are any broken, mine breaks roughly one a year. Here it costs about $250 to get just one leaf replaced. Look at the oil pan as well. That's about the only thing you have to worry about on that motor. Good luck.

[fabiodriven]

I'm dying to see what you found out Bryan, haha.

[yamaha225dr]

I love the sound and power of the Powerstroke engines but everything since the 7.3 seems to be hit or miss. The emission requirements are really killing the diesels.

[big specht]

Yea and make sure you can start it cold. If they have it warm when you get there they might be trying to hide bad injectors

[bkm]

Super nice truck and I sold the wife on a diesel, but we both agreed to hold out for a 7.3 crew cab. We're both not huge fans of red either, but the truck was cool, cassette player and all.

[fabiodriven]

Yes, I absolutely love my 4 door and would never go back. Good move.

[86T3]

I have friends and neighbors who used to swear by ford diesels, they all have dodges now. 6 in a row makes em go!