1. What is a fair price, the truck in question is a f-350 with 220,000 miles on it I am not concerned with hi miles because I am mechanic (ag mechanic not auto) and have two 7.3s with over 260,000 miles on them but I am new to the 6.4.
2. I have heard these trucks are fuel hogs but I plan on doing exhaust and an cold air intake, and egr delete from mkm custom and it has a h+s pro street tuner with it, what will this gain me and will the tuner take care of any codes generated by removing the dpf and egr
3. Any reliability issues to address before going ahead with above modifications
4. How far can you work on the engine before having to pull the cab
5. How large of tires can you fit on them, plan on leveling the front end and adding a ranch hand bumper replacement grill guard and possibly rims when the go fast mods are done

 

These things are no 7.3 ....

You need a programmer if you want to disable EGR or remove the DPF. Clearing codes won't cut it.

You shouldn't have to "address" anything, but if you run tunes to increase power, obviously things fail faster. That said, lots of guys are making huge power stock with head studs and exhaust.

Be aware these things are common rail and not really friendly for working on compared to a 7.3.

 

Kind of figured these would be a little harder to work on I have seen the mechanical nightmare evolution occur on the new farm equipment.

 

LOL, that's a good one, yep they are a bit more in depth, but it sounds like your already involved, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Drain the water seperator regularly, use a fuel additive, keep an eye on the oil level and coolant level, and do some reading of this forum and it will work out just fine.

 

What's with these trucks wanting to eat radiators, referencing the miles on your truck thread, is it due to the egr coolers degrading the coolant faster both of my 7.3 are running stock radiators as far as i know but I plan on deleting all the hippy additives as soon as possible on the truck. I also run John Deere coolant in my trucks which is formulated for emission equipped diesel engines and I get a hell of a deal on it because I work for a dealership.

 

I think the radiators fail from coolant surge problems from either thermostat issues or vapor lock issues. I don't know, but I do know that the odd truck eats through a bunch of them, so it's pretty hard to blame the rad, and not something else on the engine.

Make double sure that coolant will be good for the truck.

 

From the way you come across I don't think you are nearly as prepared for this as you think you are.

You get parts for free? Do you have a lift you can use to remove the cab? Parts to repair a failed HPFP will run you several thousand dollars even if you do the work yourself.

If the chemistry of Deere coolant isn't compatible with the brazing in the EGR coolers you may well need to get a LOT of parts for free when you hydrolock your engine. You can't just dump any coolant you like in an engine and expect everything to work well. Deere coolant may be just fine, but it may not. Using it without any sort of research is foolish, whether you're a mechanic or not. I would hope a mechanic working on my equipment would be a little more circumspect.

 

lol.... TOM is always to the point!! honesty is good ...especially if you go into buying one of these trucks thinking you don't need any advice.

 

OP mentioned the tuner is a STREET tuner... this will not delete EGR or DPF. So if thats the route of choice then a different tuner will be needed.

 

1. I am sorry if I came off thinking I did not need help that is why I started this thread, I have always tried to figure out stuff by my self but these trucks seem to be a whole new ball game even though the same technology is being used in the ag department I don't have access to the full tech manuals as I do at work that is why i rely on the people here
2. I am not some mechanic that throws money at a customer's machine these are people that rely on their equipment to make living so if you think I am brash in my decisions I am not I had no intention of just dumping john deere coolant in the engine before doing a complete flush of the system and checking to see if it is compatible and John Deere engines also run erg coolers and I have not seen any problems with erg coolers before at the shop
3. I have never got parts for free, and may not have access to a cab lift but I do have access to three forklifts and a payloader and some good friends that would have no problem helping me pull a cab if it came down to it
4. I appreciate the honesty but you are not dealing with someone who is not against dealing with new technology or does not have the ability or the resources to deal with problems, I have had plenty with my 7.3s
5. Thanks for the advice on the programmer the dealership does have a truck that has 100,000 thousand miles less on it for another 9,000 dollars with out a programmer that was a big selling point but if it does not help with deleting the dpf or egr coolers it is useless to me
And finally I am not offended in the least bit but I would just like a newer vehicle and wanted some advice the 6.7s are completely out of my price range. Once again thanks for the help the FTE nation has helped many times over the years.

 

Hang in their buddy, most of the time people ask questions here they don't know what the heck EGR cooler is let alone what it does, so a lot of the time responses are direct and pointed, but sometimes it's good for the buyer to know what can happen. You'll be fine with your background, and who knows, you might never have to do anything to the truck for a long time if ever, but if you do at least you know what your getting into from the start. Nothing to shy away from because it is going to be the nature of the anything new, it's no doubt going to get more complicated with anything new.

 

You might be able to use the tuner that came with it and have it stacked on with one of those GearboxZ DPF-r things. Those are discussed in a few threads on this forum and sound like could be an option. Worth looking into if you are wanting to do a delete. On another note....."the truck in question is a f-350 with 220,000 miles" .... .thats a lot of miles on a truck with the dpf intact...I would take that as a testament to the good maintenance its had and the durability of the truck.

 

Fair enough, the way your post was worded led me to think that you were making a number of assumptions about these engines that could cost you in the long run. I personally wouldn't invest in a truck with that many miles unless you had a large budget for repairs. Just my opinion though, can you find any within your price range with less miles?

 

Radiators don't always go south. When I sold my 6.4 this last August (was a 2008) it had the original radiator on it.

 

how much do you know about the programer? are you going off of what you are told by a dealer? i would be curious if its a dpf deleted programmer, is the truck loud? aftermarket exhaust, no cat and or dpf? very easy to tell if they are there or not.