This is one method of ensuring proper oil levels are maintained between changes, but , there has got to be a better way and I expect FoMoCo to come up with it. I did not purchase a new Ford Diesel to have to go through this procedure for the life of the truck just to keep something from happening to the engine. Ford should have designed an engine that prevented these issues, and especially as long as this engine has been out, should by now have designed a CURE for the oil/fuel issue...A person should not have to "wet nurse" a Ford Diesel to avoid a problem that should have never existed to begin with. Does GM have these issues with their diesels? I love my truck, but this is ridiculous! Sorry...had to vent a little.

Mailman, remember that a these problems are caused by mechanical failure, NOT normal running conditions.

It's not normal for these engines to grow 10 quarts of oil in an oil change interval. Something is WRONG for this to happen, just like any other mechanical failure.

My 6.4L never grew much oil at all in it's short, traumatic life. Most don't have this concern. Senix is referring to checking weekly simply to head off an engine failure should your truck develop such an internal fuel leak.

I need to get better at this myself; I've only checked the oil in mine three times in the last four months!

ok so we all want to blame ford for this...
how many hours are on the meter. lets start there?

OK I have 866 hours, 28382 miles, for an average of 32MPH. What should that mean to me?

Almost all mileage/time is either towing a heavy trailer or driving in city or tourist traffic. That's just how I live my life. On edit, I have no problem with Ford. I accept my responsibility to maintain this and any other vehicle and expect Ford to abide by the warranty. In over 50 years of vehicles I have never had Ford or any other dealer not meet their obligations, just lucky I guess.

45K and 1171 hours..=38.42 mph.

Problem....... Ford was bound by whatever International gave them for engines. Nope, not "designed" by Ford.

Sorry, let me rephrase my previous sentence to read: "signed off on and accepted by Ford." How long has Ford been getting engines from International? A while now. This is not a new issue and at this point in time, should NOT be happening unless the buyer is aware of it going in and agrees to accept the added maintenance responsibility to ensure he/she remains on top of the oil issue. Should not have to be made aware of this through a Forum AFTER purchasing the vehicle, but should be included in Ford operations procedures if the vehicle cannot adhere to the posted maintenance schedule without serious issues, ie; 10,000 service for standard/non-severe use.

Mailman those are excellent points and there is a thread on here from the last day or two where the guy was following the normal duty oil changes and blew the motor and SO FAR Ford is denying the warranty saying he should have been on the heavy duty program. However, I think in the end Ford will pay.

Having said that let me say this; anyone who buys a 50,000 dollar plus truck and does not do whatever is neccessary to take care of it and maintain it brings the pain of a broken down truck upon themselves. The fellow above did not know that his engine had made so much oil that it overflowed into the intake and caused the motor to over speed. How often must he have checked his oil? That is negligence pure and simple. His mileage was a little over 30,000 and he had changed the oil twice. In my mind he is as guilty as Ford. I see it as a partnership, my obligation is to maintain it properly and Ford's is to make repairs in accordance with the warranty. And if maintaining it properly means reading a little then so be it.

I have a Job 1 08 F250 SD ....mileage 135600 Hours 5394 = 25.1 mph . I use this truck to work out of and towing a small trailer....I take very good care of it. I was told by my service advisor...I should have no problems with warranty work...I have a 200K miles / 21 major engine componet warranty....at 117K miles the HPFP was replaced....Ford did send a rep...to check the truck out before approvaling the repair. I have the dealer do the bulk of taking care of the truck, I only change the oil at every 4000 miles and use a Motorcraft filter.

How many of you check your fluids in your cars every week?


I've got to agree with mailman01 on this one. Owners shouldnt "have to" check the fluids every week on 6.4's to ensure that all is well (with the exception of work/extreme use trucks of course). This makes one feel like the engine is not trustworthy nor reliable.

I do when I'm using it, and when I'm towing I check it every morning. May be a little over cautious but some bad things can happen to these motors. I just don't want to be trying out my roadside assistance somewhere in the middle of kansas and waiting for a week while they get the parts to fix the truck. nothing against kansas but it's a long way from anywhere I'm ever going.

Do you check the fluids every week in your cars also?

I check my fluids in every vehicle I have every week. Been doing it for years.

No I don't. I do all my own oil changes though and check everything then. I don't have the concern for them I do for the truck. Even my old vette is pretty stable and unlikely to leave me stranded. The thing with towing the 5th wheel is that I wake up every day in an RV site with water and electric and usually a sewer. Before I hook up I check the truck because if there is an extra 10 quarts of oil in or if the radiator is gonna leak I want to deal with that without the trailer sitting beside the highway somewhere. Now if your point is that I do more for the truck than other vhicles I do, in fact I do a lot more checking of this truck than I did of my 7.3L doing exactly the same stuff. It just seems the prudent thing to do.

I have a Nissan PU (V6) 190K. Having it since 93, I now know the vehicle and also know that I never have to check the oil between changes, which average about 3-4000 miles. I also have a Buick with 85K miles and the same holds true for this engine (3800). I know and trust these engines. I do not know, nor do I blindly trust the 6.4 to be as loyal and trustworthy as these older engines. I do agree with you folks and WILL be checking the fluid levels on a regular basis and changing the oil at no more than 5000 miles because I do feel I would be remiss in my maintenance now that I do know the habits of this engine. I do still love towing my travel trailer with this truck.

I completely understand your point, and I dont blame you or Senix for doing the weekly checks with the 6.4. My point is that the reason you feel obligated to do those checks is because the engine is not trustworthy. I did the same thing with my 6.4 which I felt like I shouldnt have to on a truck that is less than a year old. It's one thing to "want to" do these checks because it's the way you do business on all vehicles like Senix, but its entirely different to "have to" because you never know what's up with the darn thing.

I didnt do a weekly check with my 10 year old 7.3 so why should I have to do a weekly check with a 1, 2, 3 or 4 year old 6.4?

Again, I make exception for the work/extreme use trucks.

This issue of trust and complexity is what led me to get rid of the 6.4 and go back with the gas engine even though I miss the power and brute strength of the turbo diesel.I refused to spend time worrying in the back of my mind "if it's going to break down" (because I didnt trust the vehicle) while driving long distances after doing everything I know that's right to ensure that my vehicle is in tip-top condition. Yes, it was still under warranty but I didnt want to deal with the hassle nor the waste of time.

I know that is my opinion and some will beg to differ.

Could not have said it better myself. I am simply going to go with the 5K oil change, document it, forget it till the next time, especially as long as the warranty is in effect. I am going to build up a sense of trust between "man and his machine.

It specifically states in the 6.4L Diesel Engine Supplement, page 44: "Because it is normal to add some oil between oil changes, check your engine oil level each time you stop for fuel."

So to those refusing to do so on a regular basis, I would be concerned that when asked how often you checked your oil by a technician or Ford engineer and you tell them once a month or every other week, and your engine miles and hours averages more than 300 miles per week, this could be reasonable cause for denial of warranty claim.

This is a great discussion. The bottom line is that everyone needs to do the level of maintaince they are comfortable with. no doubt, the 6.4L is quirky. Thank you congress via the EPA. But it does pull nice and I'm going to give mine every opportunity to do the job, as I suspect most of the floks on this forum will. Except for mailman who already made a different decision. That's what's great about this country, we have choices. lots of choices. just think, we could be in North Korea and ride a bicycle.

Think how bored you and senix would be checking the air in your tires everyday!!!

Does not mention anything about THE ENGINE MAKING OIL....being the reason for the checking oil levels at each fuel stop...checking EVERY 400-600 miles? really?

We would check our air when the supreme commander told us to check our air.

IMO, regardless of whether you are making or losing oil, the manual that comes with your truck states to check oil every time you get fuel. I was simply pointing out what Ford has instructed owners of the 6.4L to do.

Dont forget about the surcharge on air.

You are absolutely correct, this is Fords' CYA measure to put the burden onto the owner. What is a person to do if the oil level is found to be a quart or so over at the time of a check during a fuel stop out in the middle of our "heartland " and you have only driven 3000 or so miles since the last oil change? Get under and drain off a quart?.. get an oil change somewhere? If it were a quart low, not an issue, throw in a quart, but that will seldom, if ever, be the issue. I'm not trying to be argumentative here, just trying to adapt to babysitting this 6.4 and a little frustrated that this is even needed. However, I do agree that it is needed and I, as well as you folks, will do whatever is necessary to protect my investment at this point and tell myself it is just part of doing business.

I completely understand and agree with you. Honestly, we all know that there is crazy requirements set by Ford to maintain these vehicles that we all know are absolutely obsurd and should not be necessary.

If anyone checked me on the quote of the Diesel Supplement, you would have noticed that it explains the exact procedure for checking your oil...

Place vehicle on level ground and WAIT 20 MINUTES.....


Really? So we have to sit at the pump for 20 minutes to check our oil?! :-huh

And you are absolutely right about the Making oil part, the only thing it says about too much oil is be careful not to over fill because it will cause you to burn more oil.

Is it a good idea to get the compression checked nearing the end of warranty; would ford fix the issue?

Counting down the miles till the tuner comes lol.

Stupid efffing emission effing junk.

Sure!! I would just figure out another accessory to add.

I think it would be funny to make a viral video for all the ignorant people out there to do a cost assesment of what the maintenance costs of a diesel are, and how much extra time they expect you to spend doing it.... Seriously... i shoulda gotten a gasser. My 7.3 was invincible, and woulda gone a lot longer. Now i'm almost scared all of the time.

I wonder how hard it would be to add a level sensor in the oil pan, or elsewhere, that would throw a code or not allow the engine to start if the oil level is to high?

I had starting issues under warranty. Service tech wanted to replace the batteries but they were "not quite bad enough" to trip the test for replacement. Never mins that it the truck would crank slow at sub 10 degrees. I replaced the batteries at my own cost.

Volkswagen once replaced a cylinder head for me AFTER the warranty had expired as a "customer courtesy".

So tired of Ford.

I wonder if GM or Chrysler are any different.

-mike

HAHA doubt it.

let me tell u if u were a member of the teamsters you would of got that lost pay in a heartbeat unions gotta love em:-X10

You need to get in better with Dealer! :-X10

True. Like the techs a lot. But service manager is pretty sketchy.

-mike

[QUOTE=m-chan68;9391304]Well, folks. I'm sure most of you probably don't know me very well, since I rarely post on 6.4L forums. But since this story applies specifically to a 6.4L that's in my bay right now, I thought it appropriate to post here.

Here's the story. One of the service advisors receives a phone call from a customer to arrange having his truck towed to our shop. The complaint goes, "I was driving along and all of a sudden the truck took off as if the gas pedal was held to the floor and a large white cloud of smoke came out the back of the pipe, and flames shot.........


ok man so what i dont understand why you come on here and complain about your job when nobody wants to read about it. why dont you just get on here and help some of these ppl out that need it working on there own vehicle.

i myself am a ford diesel tech, and i do not have a problem of doing the work and paperwork that you call "BS"... in one week i can flag anywhere from 50-65 hours..

i noticed that you said yalls shop was empty then why are you complaining about this truck being inside for one week? do you know that the motor can sit inside with out having to be babysitted by the frame and cab. put the cab down and push it outside out of your way.. this surprises me that you havent figured this out yet.

work is work man, you cant really complain that you have a job, (a decent paying job)... it could always be worse!

Now everyone on here that has read this thinks that our jobs are sooo hard trying to work with ford for warranty claims. ITS NOT! if you know how to do the hands on then doing the paperwork is cake! take your grips someplace else!! so all i can say about your post is :-lamesign

OK then, moving right along:-duel1:-duel1:-duel1:-duel1

If you actually take the time to read through most of my posts, perhaps you'd have noticed that I DO help people out on these forums. As far as nobody wanting to read about it is concerned, speak for yourself since you do not represent EVERYBODY.

50-65 hours in how long, ON WARRANTY (not retail)? If you're flagging those kind hours doing any kind warranty work that involves major engine disassembly or anything that requires prior approval and Hotline contact as such, you CAN'T possibly be doing every single pinpoint test as listed in the PC/ED legitimately. Guys that brag about flagging big hours on warranty work are either ripping off the manufacturer or short-cutting the diagnostic process (which I don't have a problem with as long as it doesn't compromise the quality of the repair in the end).

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I figured that out a long time ago!!! I have actually been wrenching for SOME time. What you either misunderstood or failed to read, is that I was asked by FoMoCo to take by picture after picture after picture .......(of areas that wouldn't have been possible with the cab dropped) before I was able to drop the cab back down to roll the vehicle outside, otherwise I'd have done it a long time ago. Fortunately the vehicle didn't end up being tied up that long shortly after, before FoMoCo finally gave me the green light to proceed with the repair.

Who's complaining about having a job? I believe I already indicated very clearly in one of the posts, that I still enjoy wrenching. It's the BS and the politics involved that often wears me down. Or did you fail to read that too?

Then maybe your dealership has something going with FoMoCo that I'm not aware of, perhaps? If you think that it's not that difficult then perhaps all the WARRANTY work should be shipped to your doorstep. If you want everyone on here to think that our job is EASY, then perhaps our pay should reflect that (read: LESS)?

Opinions are like *********s, EVERYBODY has one!!!

Dammm right you do ! you even ventured over to AZPSG and became a member just to help someone !!

:-X22:-X22

I for one want you to hang around!