6.4L Power Stroke Engine and DrivetrainDiscussion of the 6.4L Power Stroke diesel engine and drivetrain in the 2008-Up Super Duty trucks. No gas engine discussion allowed except on transmissions and drivetrain that pertain to all models. Please confine discussion of topics in this forum to those items that are specific to the 6.4L Power Stroke engine.
Guys dont bash. I own a 07 dodge ram quad cab cummins gets 18 mpg. But the rest of truck not up to snuff. Been looking at the deals on the 09 fords but dont really know much of the 6.4 diesel. Proformace wise i hope it will out proforme the cummins in stock settings. but i am a person that cant keep good enough along i will put the sparten on and clean the exhaust up a little but is the engine going to give me any trouble. or would i just be better off keeping the dodge and live with a uncomfortable loose streering, nickle dimeing me but runs good truck.
thanks please dont be baise lots of money involed
Certainly there are some horror stories out there, as I expect there are in all of this new generation of emissions equipped diesels. Many of the stories seem to point to the techs just not being used to the complexity of these new engines and getting fooled by the very interactive nature of the components.
The '09+ 6.4s seem to not have the level of issues the '08- 6.4s have had, and even those seem to represent a very small percentage of those vehicles.
A stock, properly maintained '09+ 6.4 seems to be pretty reliable.
Loosing the DPF, besides being illegal on road, won't really buy you anything in terms of reliability that you won't get from proper maintenance and 5k oil changes.
Tuning for more HP will almost certainly get you lower reliability as well as void your warranty, and given the cost of these engines, voiding your warranty is a bad thing.
All that said, my '09 F350 Lariat / King Ranch CC DRW 6.4 is very very nice, very comfortable, plenty of power, impressively quiet for a diesel, etc.
I'm also not a brand loyalist, my other truck is a '97 Chevy K3500 CC DRW 7.4l and it does fine as well. Certainly the Ford is nicer, but it's also 12+ years newer and twice the price, so there isn't any valid comparison there.
I am a dodge owner looking for a better truck, I am on this planet to grab life by the horns and i have recently let go, and yes i did for get the question mark so here it is for u ? .....
I have a job 1, completely stock and love it. It's quiet, has alot of power and has a big cab. I change the fuel filters every 10000 miles. The oil and filter every 5000 and air filter every 7500. It regens between 400-450 miles and tows like a dream and 16.5 mpg
I don't like the fact that the cab needs to come off for a lot of repairs.
I've owned trucks by other manufacturers and doubt I'll ever get anything else after having this one.
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'08 F250 FX4 6.4L Super Duty Crew Cab SB Silver Metallic & Dark Shadow Grey Job 1
Extang Trifecta Bed Cover,
High Idle Mod,
Spray in Bed Liner
second radiator
EGR Valve replaced
100% Stock
Last edited by Shinny; 11-18-2009 at 08:53 PM.
Reason: added mpg
Certainly there are some horror stories out there, as I expect there are in all of this new generation of emissions equipped diesels. Many of the stories seem to point to the techs just not being used to the complexity of these new engines and getting fooled by the very interactive nature of the components.
The '09+ 6.4s seem to not have the level of issues the '08- 6.4s have had, and even those seem to represent a very small percentage of those vehicles.
A stock, properly maintained '09+ 6.4 seems to be pretty reliable.
Loosing the DPF, besides being illegal on road, won't really buy you anything in terms of reliability that you won't get from proper maintenance and 5k oil changes.
Tuning for more HP will almost certainly get you lower reliability as well as void your warranty, and given the cost of these engines, voiding your warranty is a bad thing.
All that said, my '09 F350 Lariat / King Ranch CC DRW 6.4 is very very nice, very comfortable, plenty of power, impressively quiet for a diesel, etc.
I'm also not a brand loyalist, my other truck is a '97 Chevy K3500 CC DRW 7.4l and it does fine as well. Certainly the Ford is nicer, but it's also 12+ years newer and twice the price, so there isn't any valid comparison there.
X2!! I'm certain this motor will be reliable as long as you don't screw with it and keep up on the maintenance.
Our '03 Ram was reliable, but it was just the engine. The rest of the truck was crap.
I have an 08 F450-company truck. I have a driveway full of 7.3s. I am not impressed with the 6.4, I have not had any issues other than radiators, and the fact that even if you run synthetic oil you still have to change it at 5K miles. I do not like the DPF, I cringe when the message pops up. I do not like the fuel mileage. Now, I have to admit that I like how quiet it is, and as far as the rest of the truck I love it, but I just can't fall in love with the 6.4. I have 100,000 miles on it and everyday I wonder if it is going to die.
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1989 F-250 4x4 7.3 C-6 315000 miles and counting
2001 Excursion Limited 4x4 7.3 107000 miles
2008 F450 XLT CC 4X4 4.88 gears 11' Reading Service Body 68000 miles-too nice to be a work truck
I have an 08 F450-company truck. I have a driveway full of 7.3s. I am not impressed with the 6.4, I have not had any issues other than radiators, and the fact that even if you run synthetic oil you still have to change it at 5K miles. I do not like the DPF, I cringe when the message pops up. I do not like the fuel mileage. Now, I have to admit that I like how quiet it is, and as far as the rest of the truck I love it, but I just can't fall in love with the 6.4. I have 100,000 miles on it and everyday I wonder if it is going to die.
It's nice that you like your 7.3, however since they are no longer available, and all the diesel pickups currently available have new emissions controlled engines, DPFs and slightly lower MPG, there isn't much point dwelling on how nice the old engine was.
Why do you wonder everyday if it's going to die???
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Bill
2008 F350 FX4 CC PSD SB
Most everything but Nav & DVD
Line-X bedliner
BakFlip tonneau cover
Reese 5th wheel hitch
Autodimming mirror with Homelink, compass & temp
HD radio and iPod adapter
I don't see what the big deal is sticking to recommended oil change intervals? Yeah, you could push it in older diesels, lord knows we did with our Dodge, but it still wasn't good for it. It just made the exhaust dirtier and made this nasty smell like horrible BO. I'm no greenie, but I also don't see the point of "rollin coal" and having clouds of black smoke pour out of the tailpipe.
Our '09 F350 gets 17 highway, 14 city, and 12-13 pulling a loaded trailer. Same mileage our '03 5.9 Cummins dually got.
The only thing I do not like with my 6.4 is the regen issue.
Just can't stand it when I am close to where ever I am going and the "cleaning exhaust filter" message pops up. Then it's 20 minutes of driving around and wasting good diesel fuel.
But, the quietness and smooth power is a pretty good trade off.
Yes, as said above, keeping a 5k oil change schedule and required mileage filter change regiment, I see no reason why the 6.4 won't last a very long time.
Thanks for all the replys. still undecided i like the looks of the truck but it probley be best to keep the cummins and live with the dodge i like to change things so i might take my down payment money and mod the dodges suspension to my likeing with kore or carili thanks again for the replys
Go with the 6.4L. Cummins is Number one in every category no doubt, fuel mileage, dependability, and modability. But the 6.4L is showing some of the same characteristics, there are very very few trucks that have the horror stories that people have mentioned. Take Ford's 4.5 MILLION vehicle recall due to a faulty cruise control switch(which was manufactured by Texas instruments NOT Ford). Now factor in the total number of vehicles that actually caught on fire out of that 4.5 million, and your looking at less than 1% of the vehicles with the burn down your house issue. But because that happened and it was exploited on the news, the word around town was, "Hey dont buy a Ford it'll burn your house down". Now i personally have one of the 4.5 million vehicles on the recall list, it has 75,000 miles and hasnt burned down yet. Now my point is you have to look past the glammar negativity and address more common issues, which would be EGR coolers and radiators for the most part on those trucks. In some instances head gaskets and injectors, head gaskets were a major problem on the 6.0L yet, i never changed any thankfully. Its really all in what your looking for. If your looking for an easy and cheap engine to mod, and one of the best selling and longest lasting trucks of all time, then deffinetly go with the 6.4L Superduty all the way. If your looking for a no brainer dependable motor and extremely expensive truck to maintain, with shoty interior, then the dodge for sure.
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F250 FX4 6.4L Super Duty Crew Cab SB Silver Metallic & Dark Shadow Grey Job 1 
My trailer is 2009 Inferno 4012sl Toy Hauler GVWR 19000 soldl Aug. 2011
I'm no greenie, but I also don't see the point of "rollin coal" and having clouds of black smoke pour out of the tailpipe. 
thankfully. Its really all in what your looking for. If your looking for an easy and cheap engine to mod, and one of the best selling and longest lasting trucks of all time, then deffinetly go with the 6.4L Superduty all the way. If your looking for a no brainer dependable motor and extremely expensive truck to maintain, with shoty interior, then the dodge for sure. 
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