Good news! The dealer rep advised me this morning that the dealership just learned today that Ford does not ship the 6.4 diesels with full power. The dealership learned through a Ford bulletin, and also via a class just attended by their mechanics, that adjustments must be made during the PDI (predelivery inspection) to boost power and torque to the stated ratings.

The dealer rep says this is a new policy of Ford that, to his knowledge, has only been used so far on the Cobra Mustangs and the 6.4 diesel. He says it is designed to avoid accidents and/or mischief by the people who load, unload and initially drive these vehicles on lots until delivered to the dealership.

He says the F450 6.4 they received about a week ago was driven by several customers who complained about a perceived lack of power. Turns out they were right. I suspect that posts on this site that have commented on the 6.4 not being as powerful as a 7.3 or 6.0 were based on driving a 6.4 before the dealerships knew it had to be adjusted!

My truck is at the Tampa railhead and should arrive tomorrow or Saturday. Can't wait and will post to let you know how it drives once fully powered.

 

The 450 has less power than the 350. They have 325 and 600 instead of 350 and 650. Just for a little info.

 

Ballbandit,

Thanks for the information but I knew that and was one of the first to post that information the first week of November when I went to order a 450 and found out about the reduced power. I eventually decided to go with a 350 due to that issue, and other reasons.

In any event, for purposes of my post on this thread, according to the dealer, every 6.4 is shipped with reduced power. It apparently does not make a difference whether 350 or 450.

 

The reduced power is with the 4:88's only, correct?

 

does anyone have a copy of this alleged Ford Bulletin?

I'm looking through my dealer system and do not see a thing as of yet....

 

yes, the 4.88s only have 325/600 vs the 4.30s having 350/650. I had to fight to get my f450 order changed because of a mis-print in early pre-release info

 

mmm.. If they are having to "re-flash" the computer to put the power back into the engine, maybe they could flash the computer in the trucks that have 4:88's to have the increase power...
Or better yet they could add just a smidgen more hp/trq to the non-detune engines to get more power... <O</O

 

Does anyone know any more about this? I am picking my 2008 psd up tomorrow and would like to know if it has been "corrected" to achieve its full power...

 

Has anyone seen a dealer bulletin yet? If this is true im sure there are ALOT of trucks out there that havent been "adjusted" yet. How is the adjustment done?

 

they'll just plug into the diagnostics port and flash the computer most likely

 

I just did a thorough search through my dealer system and ran an OASIS on our 08 350 and there is nothing regarding this matter.

I'm not ruling it out but I cannot see there being anyway Ford would leave their dealers out in the dark regarding such a crucial new vehicle especially when it has to do with power output of the much awaited and anticipated 6.4L motor that every truck guy in the world is watching closely with eagle eyes.

If they were infact doing this I would have to believe we would have been special instructions prior to these vehicles landing as there is no way Ford would want these vehicles being test driven if they were not performing 100% up to snuff. At the VERY least I would hope they would have included a document outlining a special PDI procedure but I can ensure you there is nothing like this that came with the vehicle.

just my .02

 

I agree and I would think that they would have put a big orange sticker on it somewhere stating it also so none of them would go out under powered.

I would think that ford would program it in the computer to a certain mileage and then release the boost to give full power before they would do that,just too many ways trucks could fall threw the cracks.

 

I just talked to my brother who is a ford service mgr and he knew about the de-tune issue. He said as part of the PI the re-flash the ECM

 

Will your Brother provide you with the Bulletin, Directive, or special what ever Ford is calling it?

 

I'd love to talk to your brother about this. If you would PM me a contact number I'd honestly like to call him. My service manager, mechanics etc etc have not heard anything about this. I have been all over the ford system looking for information and bulletins, ran an OASIS etc etc and have come up with nothing.