Im going to update my comments in case someone is reviewing this thread and thinking of making the mistake of buying a used 6.4. and the point of operator maint practices is point less since buyers will not know service history , idle conditions, etc, so bashing new owners of used trucks about "do your maint and you will not have any problems" is just out right stupid.

so on my 2010 6.4 with 85K miles, and all fluids and filters changed by me upon getting the truck home and checking the fuel water drain weekly, as well as having 2 micron oil bypass from amsoil, coolant filter by pass, and big dog fuel filter and up lift pump.....the story

drive down the road and wrench light and low rpm rattle rattle. you name the code and it was in the ecm. truck left me stranded out of state and 500 bucks to tow home. ford would not give me an estimate based on the codes unless the truck was in the shop. 125 to tow to ford. truck sat there for ten days with no activity. 125 to tow back home.

45 days later as I prep for a mechanically deep dive, I saw a youtube video about cleaning injectors in a tin can and using a battery to excite the injector...a hose and funnel for the fuel feed. after a few minutes of tap, tap, tap, the obviously bad injector can clean and worked. IDEA lights up

open the engine mounted fuel filter and drained the fuel, added 4 onuces of fuel injector cleaner. started the truck and let run for 30 seconds. did this 4 times. engine sounded better and new error codes appeared about dpf being clogged (dont tell me to remove DPF, NYC does emmissions testing), reved the engine for a few minutes at varying speeds so the regen could complete and the engine now runs good enough to be used as a local truck.

remaining errors are indications of bad rocker arms on the drivers side (6 always, 4 and 8 sometimes.

I would like to do all the rockers but the drivers side is a night mare to get to and I may have to raise the cab.

during this adventure I noticed a shudder in the drive train at shift points in the 35mph area.

sometimes I hear a rotational item spinning past itself as if there was a trash can lid with a hole inside the torque converter freely spinning.

bottome line, with the money I spent on this used american truck, I could have bought a new import truck with full warrenty

soon as I get this truck in trade in condition its going back to the lot.

buyers beware of the 6.4

 

As i said before I chose not to tune mine, due to what I hear that folks do with the tuners, As I have seen there are upsides and downsides to both staying stock and tuning. Its like a double edge sword. There are those of you who will swear by tuning and others that will not. Therefore I cannot and will not say one is better than the other. They all have their risks, Not tuning you have all that hot gas EGR crap that kills the engine, however tuning will also.

I know they guy at powerstroke.com is very opinionated, and just one person. But I found this and found it extremely interesting as to what he says about tuning a 6.4 or 6.7. Take a look and make your own call. Just thought I would share it and see what ya think.

 

OK. I watched almost 2 minutes of Bill's video and saw enough. I'm not going to tell anyone to tune their truck or to not tune their truck. I can advise them on what has worked for me.

First off, do you think the owner of the truck in the video drove it like a truck? Or drove it like a toy/hotrod?

In my opinion, tuning is not necessarily the issue. Trying to get 1000hp out of a stock truck is more than likely the issue. I have been running H&S Minimax on my truck for more than 60,000 miles without a single problem It's a 2008 6.4 that has been deleted. I run a mild tune in it since it's my work truck. I experimented one time with the full race tune in it, and it is way too much power for a work truck. So, I've been sensible with the tunes and have not has a single issue with it.

Also, another reason H&S says their tunes are for off road use only is because it is ILLEGAL to delete and tune a truck! Legally, you are not allowed to mess with any of the pollution control stuff on a vehicle that is used on the highway unless you are simply repairing it.

 

Its funny you say that about how did he drive his truck.. The guy in the video says the very same thing in the end of his video. Its so very true, You have to be responsible no matter what you do, and if your going to ask it to do things beyond its capacity then you can bet its gona break. Common sense goes a long way with everything.

 

2008 F-250 Job 1
186,452 Miles
Cat & DPF deleted
H&S MiniMax running "No Power Added" Tune


Oil changed 5,000-6,000 miles
Fuel Filters changed every other oil change


I had to have the oil cooler replaced due to universal green antifreeze being mixed with the Ford Gold antifreeze and gelling occurring. I also had to have the transmission temperature sensor replace due to a pinched wire during original assembly.


Blackstone oil analysis performed on every oil change.


Highway miles 90% of the time.


Just my experience, yours may vary...
Clint

 

2008 F350 Xlt
CCLB 4x4
119,500 miles
3900 engine hours (bad I know)
Deleted since 97k

All I can say is that mines been getting me back and forth from work for the last 2 years problem free. It's been from Washington state down to Alabama once and back and forth between Alabama and Texas multiple times. No issues. I just do the maintenance right drive it like a truck. Granted it is a DD and I don't tow much. Best diesel I've owned or driven. Just thought I'd give some input.

Bubba

 

LOL,

135,000 miles 6100 hours........your not looking to bad now

 

Well that makes me feel a little better haha. I thought the previous owner had too much idle time. I also have to drive a lot of city though so that has some to do with it.

 

I'm very happy that these trucks have been displaying idle hours. I walked away from a '13 F250 last year because of the hours. 48,000 miles with 2,400 idle hours and 3,550 total. No longer interested, I drove home in a new F150 instead.

We bought our Transit used, and engine hours were useful in the decision. This thing was an ex-rental van, but averaged 44 MPH with only 100 idle hoursover 24,000 miles.

 

Man I wish mine displayed idle hours. But after doing the math mine turns out not so bad. Just more idle time than I'd like.

 

120k with 3700 hours here...

On most non commercial diesels that's about normal up here in the north. Any diesel will see some idle time with how cold things get up here.

 

I live in Texas right now and I'm about to move to Alabama but I bought my truck in Washington state. I definitely think it was a company truck at some point so it probably idled a good bit and there's a lot of traffic where I used to live so the city driving is probably what makes my hours what they are.

 

Forgive me if I'm in the wrong thread but my question is.....

Im hearing the soot build up and extra fuel dumping/burning to clean out filters can tank your mpg so What do you recommend as a tuner for dpf delete? I hear Spartans are good?

Second do I need to delete ERG as well? What is the easiest way to correct or i.prove my 08 f350 and cost wise what am I looking at? All nowledgable comments are welcome thank you

 

I've aslo heard the Spartans are good and my tech even tried to persuade me to get a spartan claiming they're the best. Naturally I did my own thing for a long time and went with the gearboxz tuners which worked great and deleted the truck but they are definitely low qaulity. My truck ran fine for a while but started acting funny. It always ran at a high idle and developed a skip and lope after a while.

I recently bought a H&S mini maxx and I couldn't imagine there being a better tuner for the truck. It runs great now. I went with the mini maxx because my buddy has one on his 6.7 and I liked it's features. I figured it's better to pay for something I've had first hand experience with instead of something I've never seen.

As for the egr delete, it's recommended to do one but it's not required. The mini maxx will turn the EGR off so it won't function. Coolant will still flow through the egr unless you block it off. For the love of all things holy and for the sake of your 6.4, please at least block it off. You can buy block off plates for about $30. I ran them for two years no issues but recently decided to do a full delete with the river city delete kit and I'm glad I did. Mainly because I'm certain that nothing can happen with the egr now lol. I also recommend doing a new intake elbow because mine was fairly gross and caked with soot from the egr.

The gearboxz tuners run from about $350-$600
Mini maxx was $1100
River city delete kit with intake elbow was $280 I believe.
Afe down pipe back pipe was like $350.
Block off plates instead of full delete $30
Edit: Spartans are like $1400 I think, if that's what you're interested in.

I'm sure a spartan user will comment about how much they love their tuner. listen the them and buy whichever fits your personal needs the most.

 

Yea I run the Spartan tuner with the 210 Tow Tune. It has been great so far, my first real test is this weekend though. Taking the camper and boat over the rockies in Colorado.

So far I love it, I don't think you can go wrong with either Spartan or H&S