Can you make a 6.4 reliable?

mitch13

mitch13

go big
Here's my question. We pull a trailer with our 08 450 6.4 everyday (between 2k to 26k pounds). Trucks On its second motor now at 150k miles. Has dpf and egr delete afe intake and sct tuner. Just had it looked at and needs heads or head gaskets, Oil and fuel pump,injectors,turbos,and manifolds and bolts. Shop quoted 15k to fix it all. Has anyone worked a 6.4 like this with head studs and been able to keep it together, or would we be money ahead to put a 5.9 in it. I have done a lot of reading and all I can find is a bunch of people that don't own them or don't use them as a truck talking about what they think about them. Any helps welcome thanks.
 
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A properly built 6.4 with deletes should last well over 10,000 hrs IF maintained. 99% of inj and inj pump problems are fuel contamination Drop and clean fuel tank also the factory liner is not compatible with bio many areas mix bio and it ruins the tank. You don't want to know how many cbch tanks I bought! I have yet to see a bad exhaust manifold on 6.4 but broken bolts a very common replace them ALL. also replace the up pipes common failure. make sure tuner is set for towing not performance. We had an 08 blew up @ 40k and again @ 102k out of warranty of course put bpd egr dpf delete new heads valve train inj turbos cooling sys ect..in 13,000lb f550 wrecker put over 200k on rebuild with out any major issues couple sensors and radiator still ran very well when traded.
 
And a 6.4 is not cheep probably most expensive diesel in ld pickup but 15 seems high. New ford engine installed is about that..
 
We always leave the tuner on stock when pulling. The up pipes have already been replaced once and is there any better fix or upgrade for the exhaust bolts this will be the second or third go around for them.
 
I bought my 08 6.4 with 30k on it and drove it to 90k tuned at 36, I never did a ting to it besides scheduled maintaince and alternators. I towed heavy quite a bit with it, with Spartan 210 TP no head studs just full delets. I think you got yourself a lemon, or I got lucky.
 
On the bolts all I can say replace them all antiseize new gaskets and proper torque. never had to redo one. On a 250 I changed the broken one 3 months later another broke fixed that couple days later another broke finally" lesson learned" just replaced then all. Never had a problem sense. Also the exhaust has a proper torque sequence and must be followed or it will eat up pipes. We studded all our 6.4's just because of our experience with our 6.0's
 
My 2010 F-450 got it's first engine at 48k miles (10 months old), second one went at 142k (23 months old), both were broken pistons. First engine was dead stock, no tuner etc. Second was on a mini maxx tow tune, fully deleted. First engine invoice total was $18k, dealer claims entire problem was caused by auxiliary fuel tank. Apparently ford fuel filters allow 200 micron chunks of aluminum through them in mysterious ways...

Did the 6.4 delete finally. Problem solved
 
oldblue116 said:
Very interested I'n this as I'm I'n the market for one, or maybe I WAS I'n the market for one.
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All I can say is these trucks run amazing but this truck along with four of my buddy's trucks never made it to a 100k without puking a motor.
 
the international pistons have a less crack-prone design

6.4's are killer drivers and are real hot-rods, but I'd rather have a 6.7 for heavy pulling JMO
 
mitch13 said:
All I can say is these trucks run amazing but this truck along with four of my buddy's trucks never made it to a 100k without puking a motor.
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I don't know of any 6.4s with much over 100k on the original motor either. Ill stick with my duramax or a cummins any day.
 
Damn.....and I thought the 6.0's had it rough mines going to turn 200,000 miles in a couple months and it's still on the original motor with new head studs and gaskets.
 
Bustedknuckles said:
I don't know of any 6.4s with much over 100k on the original motor either. Ill stick with my duramax or a cummins any day.
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I know of plenty of them. My 1 ton has almost 175k on it and I would drive it anywhere.

BUT, I don't tow. The 6.4 is cracked out and high strung. It's a small block with big displacement. For daily driving, highway running, and having fun, you can't touch it. My 1 ton weighs about 10klbs loaded down.

Both my 6.4's live easy lives mostly running up and down the highway, but man are they FUN with nothing other than a tune. a CCSB will run a high 12 tune-only.

But if I needed a tow pig, I would probably look elsewhere. I'd get a 6.7 Ford
 
So has anyone else ran just studs and been fine? Also is there a solution to keep manifold bolts from breaking every 50k miles?
 
On an up side our 09 deleted dpf from day 1 actually got deleted before lettered. H&S black maxx went 300k serviced every 5k with all oe filters and t6 truck routinely grossed over 20k only engine repairs were radiator and up pipes. Still think I like it better than our 07commonfail
 
Yooper75 said:
Damn.....and I thought the 6.0's had it rough mines going to turn 200,000 miles in a couple months and it's still on the original motor with new head studs and gaskets.
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yep they call 6.4 for a reason broke 4 times as much cost 4 times as much to fix and 4 times as hard to work on. Our old beater 03 6.0 just rolled 550,000 original gaskets and turbo. other than injectors its been good my personal 05 280k fully bulletproofed by bpd.@ 75k last 200k only thing it has had was ebp sensor
 
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