Ford 6.4 diesel

davygp38 · Apr 25, 2010

Anyone have a 6.4 Ford diesel. I am looking for a new to me truck, and I heard nothing but bad about the 6.0. I am a Ford guy, but I have seen what a Duramax can do. I hate to go Chevy, but I need to tow 20000 pounds once in a while.

huckie · Apr 25, 2010

I tried one out and thought the motor was to die for. I felt the chassis made more noise then my 96 dodge ram. I would do anything other then spend money on a goverment motor vehical.

jenkinsph · Apr 25, 2010

It will be interesting to see how the new 2011 Ford diesel turns out. Should be available in a couple of months, 395 hp and 6.7 litre as I recall.

I hope it does because I want to purchase another F550 for my business. I do have an F550 6.0 4x4 5sp auto that I use to move my equipment around and it does have good capabilities for towing with the 33,000lb. gcwr package.

You might consider an older 7.3 2002 or early 2003 if you can find one in good shape, I have a 2002 7.3 with 4.10 limited slip and it does a good job with goosenecks.

Diamondpilot · Apr 25, 2010

davygp38 said:
Anyone have a 6.4 Ford diesel. I am looking for a new to me truck, and I heard nothing but bad about the 6.0. I am a Ford guy, but I have seen what a Duramax can do. I hate to go Chevy, but I need to tow 20000 pounds once in a while.

I have heard nothing but good things about the 6.4 but the MPG are not nearly as good as the 6.0 or even the 7.3 I could not see pulling 20K with a GM chassis. Just not its strength.

I have 2 6.0's and they have been a joy. Not a single issue with either the 2004 or 2006.

Chris

Kevin M · Apr 25, 2010

I have not heard much on the 6.4 liters and I would wait at least a year on a brand new motor ! As a 7.3 owner I'm keeping it till the wheels fall off ! My father has a stock 2005 6.0 with zero power adders and so far @ 70k no issues. My friends that have trouble with 6.0s use power adders and red fuel. Something to think about.

burnetma · Apr 25, 2010

I have 50,000+ miles on my 2008 and I absolutely love it! Awesome tow vehicle. Check out thedieselstop for more information.

Dargo · Apr 25, 2010

Kevin M said:
I have not heard much on the 6.4 liters and I would wait at least a year on a brand new motor ! As a 7.3 owner I'm keeping it till the wheels fall off ! My father has a stock 2005 6.0 with zero power adders and so far @ 70k no issues. My friends that have trouble with 6.0s use power adders and red fuel. Something to think about.

My luck seems different. The only two true Lemons I bought, that were bought back by the manufacturer under the Lemon Law, were Toyotas. Go figure. I'm not too keen on them obviously. I had a 7.3 PSD, 1999 model, and I really wasn't impressed with it at all. It leaked like a stuck pig and just couldn't pull enough for me. At the time I had a 'modified' '96 5.9 Cummins powered Dodge and the 7.3 was not only a dog compared to it, but it seems like it constantly broke and was in the shop. It's been a while, but it seems like I had a dozen cam sensor thingys go bad and all sorts of injector issues besides it just flat not wanting to start in cold weather.

I took the advice of a Ford diesel mechanic who drag races diesel pickups and pulls with them. He loves the 6.0 and talked me into one. Once I got an oil leak (some skirt plate gasket or something) fixed under warranty I had the tech who talked me into buying it talk me into letting him put ARP head studs in it as well. He is also the one who turned me on to the SCT programmer/tuner for the 6.0 and gave me several custom tunes. Holy mother! Does that truck ever run!!! I'll admit that I've been a bad boy and towed over 20k all the way from FL to Indiana with it as well without any issues.

My personal opinion is that if you have a qualified Ford diesel mechanic somewhere, I wouldn't be afraid of another 6.0 PSD by any means. I love my truck. With the Dodge, I loved the power and engine but the truck was "okay". My love affair with GM pickups ended in the late 70's and I've not seen any compelling reason to go back. The fact that they took me for more money than I care to discuss with their robbing the public stock deal just seals their fate with me. I have 2 GM products left. One is a collector car which I'll keep. The other is a 2004 Impala. It runs decent but I can see all sorts of areas where they took short cuts and the build quality is exceptionally poor. Heck, they didn't even bother to clear coat the door jams or under the hood or deck lid. I mean, seriously, what could that save them per unit; $10 bucks? Shame on GM!

RollingsFarms · Apr 25, 2010

from the few people i've talked to that own a 6.4 they claim it's a pulling mother....well you know. they rave about the gobs of power this motor can produce. here in SC we dont have emission inspections, so alot of people remove the DPF's and fuel milage increases drammatically from what i understand. warranty gets voided though, but again i'm not hearing any problems from these engines other then poor fuel mileage due to the dpf's. as for the 6.0 and it's bad reputation goes, i'm still seeing quite alot of Ford's on the road in my area that have the 6.0 in them. that's gotta say something that they must not be as bad as people made them out to be. dealership here is knocking off 12K on the f-250's and f-350's without any arm twisting whatsoever. trying to move them before the new ones arrive i guess.

wmonroe · Apr 25, 2010

You are right about the 6.0 there are some good ones but that engine has cost Ford a fortune in warranty money. The 6.4 is a decent engine from what I've seen so far. The only consistent downside it has is the fuel economy is not as good as Chevy, Dodge or the previous 6.0