Hey guys, I'm looking at an '08 F-450 with the 6.4 PSD. My brother had one in an 250 for a while, it didn't give him any trouble but it did get poor mileage before he tuned it. I'll be posting the same request for advice in the 6.4 forum but figured I'd tap into the EX community here first.
Anything specific I should look over closely or check on? Or should I just run away.......... Any and all info or advice is welcome.
Don't worry the EX is staying in the fleet!
Thanks.

 

Liar!!!!!! You haven't looked at anything.
On another note, if you would have looked at the 6.4 you should have ran! Before I purchased my 6.0 I actually looked at a few newer diesels and every time I mentioned the 6.4 to my mechanic he would just shrug his shoulders and start talking about how good the 6.7 is.
I have zero knowledge of diesels, I guess I just wanted to call you a liar again so I posted here

 

Thanks Michael, I actually wish it were a 6.0 but it ain't. It's so darn purty though, I just feel kinda queasy not knowing what I should be looking at to see if it's healthy or not. I'm scared, and that ain't no lie!

 

Tom, seriously saying my cousin is a retired ford diesel engineer now living in Minnesota. A few months back when I got the itch for a diesel truck, I looked at some incredible deals from 6.0,6.4 and even a few 6.7.

From my understanding, when a 6.4 breaks down it is much costlier to repair and in some cases even requires cab off to get to some of the parts. Eventually I just lost interest in the f350 drw and bought the 6.0 EX. At least I know what that would cost me to either bullet proof or some of the possible repairs that can come up.

If, you can swing the prices of the 6.7's that would be a better choice. Just my .02

 

The radiators were a weak point I know that much

 

Arrrrgh! This whole deal is tough on my nerves and even worse on my fingernails! I don't know if this rig would be a forever truck, like my EX and it does come with a transferable warranty with 3 years and 34k miles left on it. At least with that I should have some time to decide if it's a keeper or not and any fixes would be on Ford..........
Did I say arrrrrgh yet?

 

Thanks Joe, was also warned of the radiator concerns over in the 6.4 forum.
Hey nice tux picture too, didn't think you would ever be that clean again after those offloading pics!

 

Man, they had an f-450 here locally With the King Ranch package and a 6.4. All I have to say is that it's a good thing the wife said no way.it was a gorgeous truck, and my fingernails and nerves couldn't take it. I also have no "Need" for a truck that beefy, but I really wanted it. I feel your pain. From what I could find it sounds like coolent issues are the big one. Filter, thermostat, radiator. And fuel economy was a comon complaint I saw when I was looking at buying that beast.

 

My work truck is a f450 6.4 and I would never own one personally. Not a terrible motor but the exhuast sucks! Smells bad can't idle for more then 15 minutes it will tell you to keep driving even after you reached your destination to try to clean the exhuast. I have gone through 4 radiators put in by ford with 68k on the truck. I beat the tar out of it and have just had one gasket go bad but they had to pull the whole cab off to fix it and one sensor went bad. Mpg can't say other then the 6.7 we have get way better mpg.

 

I'd fill my garage full of 6.0's before I bought one of those 6.4's. When I look at the problems that the 6.0 has compared to the 6.4...I pretty much figured out I can fix a lot of problems on my 6.0 before I can afford to fix the issues those 6.4's have. Nasty stuff...pistons, rods, etc. No thanks.

Seeing some of the 6.7 performance these days, and videos showing up on youtube with guys that have 500K+ miles...they're starting to get my respect.

 

I thought I read in one of your other posts that you pull a travel trailer... Would you use the 6.4 to pull the trailer? I've never owned a 6.4 BUT I can say that pulling heavy with the 6.0 is a dream compared to a gasser and I've read that the 6.4 has more power than the 6.0.

 

Granted there's only 21k on my dad's 2010 F-450, but so far no major problems with it. We tuned it at about 8k- best decision ever. Sound, performance, everything is just better tuned. Luckily we've never had a problem with any engine parts, like the cooling system. Might be because it has so few miles on it.

I know the Job 1 '08 trucks only had a 4.88 rear. I think the 4.88 remained an option while the 4.30 became standard. We ordered it with the 4.30 and I think it's still too much for this truck, IMO. Before tuning, mileage isn't even worth discussing, now it's about the same as the V10 Ex, which is at least tolerable.

I'll tell ya, you'll quickly love the wide track front end and how easy it turns. I don't like the lack of front seat arm rest (console is too low for where I like the seat). Rear bench can be a bit hard probably due to having the fold out storage platforms underneath there.

Only 'problem' with it is when I got it stuck in the sand and it sandblasted all the cheap/thin clearcoat off one of the wheels. Dealer wouldn't warranty it either, so we live with it. Another part replaced was a front hubcap- they stick out quite far, farther than the wheels that already stick out farther than usual. Definitely misjudged the location of a rock when backing up a trailer one time...

Otherwise, we've just changed the oil and fuel filters regularly and drained the fuel/water separator at the same time as part of maintenance, and that's it.

If you have any other questions, let me know!

 

Thanks for all of the help guys!
The truck was part of a truck and fifth wheel combo deal, both vehicles were very nice and well cared for and pricing was reasonably fair. Jon, the truck has the 4.88 gears and yeah, the console lid is too low to act as an armrest.
After much discussion the wife and I have decided we will be much better off shopping for a new bumper pull travel trailer and continue to let the EX do all of the work.

 

Why did Ford only had the 6.4 L from 2008 to 2010 then change to 6.7 L? I also hear that 6.4 and 6.7 can't be fixed by backyard mechanic (us) anymore. They need a real expensive computer that only the dealer can afford to buy to check for problems...
Check with M-Chan over the 6.0 Forum, he is a Ford Tech and can tell you much more on the 6.4 and 6.7 issues before you buy that truck.