I have a 08 6.4, had trouble with it in early Jan. Ended up putting a complete engine 19+k, from ford dealer. Started having problems right away with injectors. Turns out dirt in fuel is the problem. I turned it into insurance as a vandalism claim because it seems someone put dirt in my fuel.

Fuel sample taken after the filters shows about a 1/4 teaspoon or a little less in a cup of fuel. Why wouldn't the fuel filters stop the dirt. The dealer said that the filters were really dirty, pretty much plugged. New filter was put on with new engine, 800 miles on it.

My question is if the filter is that plugged, Shouldn't it stop fuel and dirt. It wasn't noticeably down on power at all. How can dirt get by the two filters.

I haven't heard yet what the insurance company is going to say, but I find it hard to believe that filters would or could let that much dirt get by. but they did as the fuel sample was after the filters. So, are ford filters that bad or am I missing something here.

The dealer is recommending a complete fuel system replacement to the tune of about 10K. I'm sick just writing this. Any thoughts or experiences are greatly appreciated.

 

What was the cause for the original engine failure, I have to admit something smells fishy bit maybe not.

 

I bought the pickup in late Dec. from the southern US. Flew down and drove it back. I live almost at the canadian border. about 50 miles from home the temp guage start acting goofy. Overheated once, but came back down real quick. Outside temp was -20. Turns out not enough anti-freeze in coolant. Got it indoors for the night and the next day we drained the coolant and put in a 50/50 misture. A couple days later we had an injector go out. Took to dealer, turns out two cylinders very low on compression. When it overheated, the coolant was like slush, so they figure the coolant couldn't flow through the radiator, therefore the coolant in the engine was basically stagnant. By the time the temp sending unit showed it was overheating, the coolant at the lower end of the engine was real hot. That caused the cylinder problem which caused the injector to go bad.

Now that I know there is dirt in my fuel, what I think happened is someone put dirt in my fuel back in early Jan. with as cold as it was the dirt chunk(s) stayed frozen in the fuel, and some dirt got by the filter and caused the 1st engine failure. Then once it started warming up the dirt chunks broke apart and now is causing more problems. My theory is plausible except for the filters not catching the dirt the initial time. The dealer didn't notice a real dirty filter the first time, or so they say. So, my nightmare continues.

 

Were you able to take any photos or get photos from the dealer if the damage and dirt in the fuel system?

 

Sounds a bit far fetched to me with the dirt, I would like to think it would have just plugged the filters and starved the engine of fuel.

 

What about the coolant in the fuel cooler?
If that was also frozen, maybe it started leaking coolant into fuel or something, and thats where all the crud is coming from.