Hi all,
My Girlfriends dad (just passed) has a 2009 F-350 with what acts like turbo surge when driving up hill.
The truck is Spartan tuned, and completely deleted. Has 89,000 miles on it.
anyways I took it out the other day, to run it a bit, and it runs and drives amazing, lots of power, and just a good driving Super Duty. Than I got to the hill, and It started with what I believed to be turbo stall. It would just buck and all gauges would jump around. (turbo psi, and RPM) No engine light or anything. It ran fine back home, but out of curiosity I went up the hill again, and under harder accel, it surged again. Any Ideas?
(I was a 6.0 guy, and never followed or messed with a 6.4, but am considering buying this one, it is in great shape, but I don't want a nightmare.)

 

Start with replacing the fuel filters and centering your foot on the go pedal - any surge that I have experienced has been my size 13 boot, the go pedal is far more sensitive than a 6.0L.

 

Whatever is happening is more than slight variations with my go foot! It cuts power, than gives it right back. literally feels like the turbo stops, than kicks in again. or it is defueling, than coming back.
wondering about an ebp sensor?
After reading on this forum, I think I'm going to pass on it. Seem's the 6.4 is worse than a 6.0. I could at least work on and understand the 6.0.
I know that my F-150 has to go! The EcoBoost is amazing, the truck is poop!

 

depending on the version tune your running and size of the tune there was a issue with the early 210 tunes, the issue was corrected with the updated running, additional the spartan tuning is very sensitive at the peddle, some times you can hit a bump and not even notice your peddling the issue yourself.

if you have the dash daq, your should be able to check the version of the tuning

 

best bet, unless you have deep pockets and plenty of time on your hands.


my intro to the 6.4 was having my truck parked for 10 months as I failed to find a dealer willing to work on it....ultimately did the work my self....which involved a cab lift.

if you buy it, also get AAA, and warn your passengers.

 

Dude,
If you really don't like it that much sell it, by a Chevy, or a Dodge, Jeez, I'd drive my 6.4 anywhere and I would buy another if so inclined. They all have their faults, all of them, just pick your poison.

 

Truth is I love the truck! And if I could get out of this damned F150, with my skin attached yet, this truck would better suit me. Scared to death of the 6.4. Are they as troublesome as the 6.0? Plus half the payment.

 

I’ve owned the 7.3L, 6.0L and now the 6.4L - at 174k the best thing I can say about my truck is that I add fuel and snake oil to the tank and it has never let me down.

 

Sounds like issue with the Spartan Tune. i was having same issue with the early tunes. mine would defuel under hard acceleration though at 50 mph and then just come back instantly. Scared the **** out of me first time it did it. Turned out to be a tuning issue with the update. I dealt with it a while but then Patriot brought out a new update for the dashdaq and the spartan tunes. Ya get less tunes now but the issue is gone so Im happy with it.

 

Going to have to agree with bubba here. Fritz...Your knowledge and willingness to chime in is invaluable...but the way you speak of these trucks constantly in a negative light leaves me to wonder why the hell you're still driving one.

Always good to hear Copper. I do the same and have had no major issues myself. Hope it continues that way rolling up on 123k.

When did the updated Spartan(Patriot) tuning come out? How many fewer tunes? I still seem to have the various options of 40hp all the way up to 300 or whatever it is. I have an nDash. I thought I was up to date...and if I indeed am...I don't like Spartan tuning. No need to run around with a 210hp tune before you can tell any difference. At least this is my experience. They are also WAY to boost heavy IMO. Switched back to Torque Technologies T1 ("Mild" tune level 1...80hp tune). Truck has great response without all the tremendous amounts of turbo spool without anything to show for it. Don't misunderstand me...I drive the truck like an old man...but there is no reason to be flirting with 35psi going up a 20 degree grade at 40 mph...empty. Anyway...was a Torque Tech owner before I bought the Spartan.

Only thing that can't touch the Spartan is their monitoring capability. Those tuners can tap in to nearly ANY sensor on the truck and display the readouts for you. Again...can't be touched when referring to monitoring capabilities.

 

It has been about 6 months. Has only 7 tunes now. I have 40, 75, 125, 150, 210, 275, 325. DPF delete. I used to have a 175, 250, 350 before the update. Patriot has a patch update plus a program they use now to update the actual flash files on the tuner which is very nice. Mine hadnt had an update to it since 2012 before that. I had problems with hard shifts and defueling. Everyone told me it was because my AirDog 165 wasn't giving enough fuel for a 300 tune. Problem was i was defueling at 50 mph on a 75 hp tune. Someone also told me the hard shifts were axle wrap because i was pushing to much power to the wheels. Since the update I have no hard shifts and zero defueling issues. Runs like a dream right now until something else breaks.

 

Thanks for that Brew. Time to plug her in and see if she updates. I think she will. Perhaps I'll try their tunes again just to be certain. Hard to beat the Torque Technologies tune in my experience. Spartan may shift smoother into OD is the only thing I could say performance wise.

 

 

Understood sir........understood.

 

I have heard that Torque Technologies tune is very good in comparison. Possibly when I bump the HP numbers up a we bit more I will look into them.