Need powerstroke opinions

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Habbibie

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Ok time has come the expedition is going to be replaced sometime this year and I'm going with a crew cab powerstroke f250 or f350 SRW, long bed or short I don't care i don't row 5th wheels or gooseneck just strictly behind using tow hitch. It's gonna be 4x4 due to my snow and mud usage factor.

I will not consider a Dodge Ram under any circumstances. Maybe a Chevy or GMC with an 06-07 LBZ motor otherwise it's ford 05-10 (bulletproofed ONLY) any newer and it's out of my range, I wonder can you drive a diesel going 90 comfortably or no? I understand the maintenance is more and filters have to be changed more often (I daily drive a company owned 2016 2WD F450 for work) and it has proven to be to me more reliable than any gasoline engine I've ever owned. Any advice on what or what not to do is greatly appreciated.

Ps. No SUV's Im at the stage of my life where I actually need the trunk of a pickup for personal and work use.
 

JExpedition07

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Id say stay away from 07-10 like the plague if your going diesel. The 6.4s were no good in these trucks, you'll have to swing newer to get better reliability. Usually trucks with the honeycomb look on the side of the hood had the 6.4. Everyone I've known with the 6.4 has completely hated it. The 6.7 on the other hand won't die no matter what you throw at it. The 6.0 wasn't bad either pre 6.4 I believe. I don't know what the term bulletproofed means.
 

08T1

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I would not be afraid of any of the PSDs. I love the 6.4. Personally I like the 6.0 better. Even the legendary 7.3 has shortfalls.

My previously owned 7.3 has little over 500k miles on it. My inlaw had 700k when he sold it.

I have used a 6.4 for work. Never owned. My brothers friend uses an 09 6.4 for landscape business. Currently pushing 300k miles. The DPF had warranty work done a couple times. I think he might had a turbo issue.

He is mostly stock and takes care of all his equipment.

Do as much research as you can. Then take your time looking at vehicles. Eventually you will find the one.

I personally would not be afraid of a 6.4.

Good luck!

CJ
 

Neilster1

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I just came out of a 6.7 - just didn't drive it enough so I had to let it go. I love my Expy but I miss that truck pretty badly.

`11 and up diesels have SCR systems on them, and they suck (all brands). If you're willing to spend the $1K or so to properly delete the SCR system and you can find a nice `11-`14 with verifiable records, go for it. If you don't want to mess with the delete stick with `15 and up. Turbo was redesigned and many kinks were ironed out. Have a read over at powerstroke.org or the Super Duty forum on FTE.
 

drewactual

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..... a man says "I don't know what bulletproofing means" and then states a strong opinion. this place kills me.

the 6.0 is the weak one in the bunch. the 6.4 addressed all the shortfalls of the 6.0, but suffered the indignity of being the first wave/generation of EPA requirements of exhaust treatment. the designers @ IH made a helluva engine with the 6.4, and the EPA requiring the bolt-on's on the engine is at the root of every fault.

the piazioelectric injectors allow for up to seven distinct injection events per cycle and operate holding back fuel pressures of up to 30kpsi... that's thirty thousand psi. crazy. the sequential turbo's are a thing to behold- one providing pressure down low and another volume up top- one almost transparent in one stage and the other pushing, and transitioning with the magic of variable grade geometry until it's relived the other- allowing torque off the line and holding not far off peak for over a thousand RPM's.

the issue's start and end with emissions. the coolant (ford gold) was intended to be a catch all coolant- but isn't capable of holding up under the temperature of the exhaust gas recirculation coolers, which use the coolant to chill the exhaust gas temperatures- it flashes and chemically alters, collecting in gobs combined with left over sand from casting, and clogs the fluid to fluid (coolant to oil) cooler.... answer: flush the hell out of the system and replace with Cat EC1 (or other CAT approved 'red' long life coolant).... also on the table is to lose the EGR cooler, too. Adding a coolant filter is smart, as well, to catch casting sand and to slow-release nutrients into the coolant over their 50k mile life-cycles (the filters LC).

the ccv, a diesel example of a pcv- spits directly into the turbo's face, which cause a myriad of issues- IH's vent to atmosphere. the oil cokes (o2'less burn, similar chemical reaction) and is evidenced by a hard crusty jet black layer on hard parts... this causes imbalance in the blades which lead to ruptured seals which can cause a runaway diesel situation as the engine starts to run off of engine oil instead of diesel oil... bad... solution: reroute to atmosphere, or a collection can and back to intake... either works.

if you don't do that ^ you also stand to ingest oil into the downpipes, which causes hot spots which burn through the walls of the pipes ultimately- losing boost. not good...

if you don't do that ^ and you survive the downpipe leak, the next thing the ccv causes is valve seals and seats to crack/wear. this causes an internal oil leak if you're not fortunate which speeds up :

catalyst and diesel particulate filter (dpf) clogging. the innards of the DPF is a tightly casted honeycomb with barely visible passages through it- causes ridiculous back-pressure on the engine, which causes excessive heat on valve seats, fights valve events, excessive heat in EGR function, and allows for far greater crankcase pressures, which causes more blow-by for the CCV- see how that viscous cycle works?......... reroute the friggin' CCV why don't ya? make one out of hose and PCV or go buy one from your local IH dealer.

DPF/regeneration cycle... some clown decided it a grand idea to capture particulates in the DPF instead of blowing them out... which isn't a bad idea, but it wasn't as required (no soot/smoke in properly tuned 6.4PSD) when these things can have five to seven distinct injection events per cycle at a silly high pressure- they just aren't NEAR as dirty... but... anyway, working with the notion of the ******'s crowd's fascination of "rolling coal" THIS HAS TO BE STOPPED!!!! THE PLANET!!!"- so... it's captured in the DPF via those tight passages mentioned earlier and.... when it gets full (as evidenced by temperature probes/pyro's) the friggin' thing washes the cylinders with raw diesel on the exhaust stroke, pushing it into the DPF and friggin' IGNITING it.... under the premise of "burning it out"..... seriously... burn it now or later, what's the difference?... this caused a myriad of problems.... :

the regen cycle washing cylinders on the exhaust stroke slips past rings and fills the crankcase with diesel.. diesel burns right nicely under compression, but it doesn't lubricate worth a dang- so.... engines were worn at the rapid rate by having too much oil+diesel in them, overfilled because the addition of diesel and therefor frothing (air lubricates/cools worse than diesel if you can imagine that... duh.. )... caused excessive crank case pressure (causing more blow-by back to ccv)... and the pressure created by the DPF in addition to the excessive temperatures caused during the regen cycle which also heats the EGR- what in the hades were they thinking??? tulip'd valves, burned seats, worn rockers, gouged camshafts, intakes absolutely nasty allowing lessor and lessor clean air in....... solution: remove DPF.


a bulletproof on a 6.0 is a different animal.. it requires head studs (6.0 used less and smaller bolts for head block marriage than the 6.4)... it also suffers from oil coolers... it also suffers from EGR.. but it DIDN'T suffer from the DPF/Regen cycle. on a 6.4, the CCV, the EGR, the DPF and a flush of gold coolant swap to red is all that is demanded for a 'bulletproof'.

sounds like a lot? yes.... but these are diesels, NOT gassers.. these things are made to WORK, not play. they demand clean fuel (the ULSD 15ppm fuel process from LSD 500ppm fuel also removed lubricants when that sulfur went bye-bye, which necessitates lubricity be added back into the fuel in the form of treatment- rec Standydine Lubricity or Performance formula) to replace it. These things are incredibly powerful, but are different from a gasser... you may be able to let your gasser sit for a year, swap batteries put some fresh fuel in it and you're good... your diesel will not forgive you... you may get by with never changing a gassers fuel filter- you better change your diesels every 10k miles at a min. you may get by with 50k mile oil changes on your gasser- your diesel will let you know after 10k miles there is a major problem if you don't change your oil.... they DEMAND- no option DEMAND maintenance.... but if you stay on it? more than twice the life than your average gasser and power like you didn't know possible.



my 6.4 is a helluva machine... with some exhaust work (new pipe) from the downpipe back, which cost $350 and literally half an hour of work, a tuner which cost $900 and ten minutes of work, my truck went from 350hp/650#tq to 500hp and 900+#tq... a few more tweaks for about a grand and a few hours- Im sitting at 617rwhp and 1187rwtq. I don't need it- but it's there if/when i do.. it's 12k# of truck that will move from 0-60 in five seconds flat and a 1/4 mile in shades over 13 seconds @ 107mph. it never has less than 1200# of weight in it (which includes 110gallons of fuel) and has tickles 19mpg on 2400mile trips i put it on several times a year. i'd bag it and test it against any truck with full emissions and expect it to do as good (better if you make the emissioned truck go through a regen cycle). it has 132k miles on it and enjoys an aux transmission filter, a coolant filter, and a 2uc bypass oil filter (extending oil change intervals to 15k miles if i ever took blackstone's advice- i change at 10k for peace of mind). I installed an airdog spin on filter/pump, and change fuel filters there every 10k miles, and the one up top on same interval (but offset by 5k miles).

i can set the cruise at 90mph with a 12k# trailer and 1500# on board and blast tractor trailers, other trucks and most cars off the road on grades- and it hardly breaks a sweat.

the oil analysis (if you want a diesel, get used to analyzing the oil) tells me my engine is healthy. the same for the transmission oil... simple maintenance. it'll make someone happy for another 300k miles before the window starts to close on hard parts.

6.4 is a fine engine... no... it's a FANTASTIC engine (caveat: perform surgery on EGR/DPF/CCV). you now know what you need to know about it.

mine's for sell. I wanna build a 5.4mod and play with this expedition. for tinkerers, or those who enjoy twirling wrenches like me- the diesel is a constant effort to maintain, and i love it....... but this truck is done- I can't do anything else within reason to it (could for power, but it's got enough- it was built with longevity in mind).. my one toy at a time rule prevails- dump SuperDuty=build Expedition.

go over to powerstroke dot org if you want... i'm a mod over there under same handle.... I'll roll out the red carpet for you.
 

poorboy1964

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Forums are a funny I love opinions LOL never owned a 6.4 and never will Love my 6.0 and wish they still offered it both my old diesels are running strong and I'm happy with them just buy the one you get the best deal on and do the service you need if you tow diesel is the only way to go.
 

Adieu

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I wonder can you drive a diesel going 90 comfortably or no?


I've taken a diesel to 129 mph, just put your foot down and go...

Then again, that was my bimmer.

The big issue there was low quality low cetane fuel, needing additives, and the government-mandated cluster know as DEF... if you live in a state without CA-style smog checks or comprehensive vehicle inspections that ride you for suspicious exhaust mods --- GUT THAT SHIT!!!

Gut ~ALL~ of it... dunno about Fords, but the bimmer crowd calls it "ABC delete" (for all the alphabet soup stuff that gets axed --- EGR, SCR, DPF, DEF etc).

The funny part is its said to nearly DOUBLE your MPGs. Which may in fact mean that total emissions per mile improve on most fronts.
 
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drewactual

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@poorboy1964 : I pulled in the fuel point next to a dude with a spotless and stock f350 w/6.0 a few weeks ago. he was the original owner and said the odometer had 20 miles on it when he took possession... it was a touch over 300 when i talked to him.. said he used it exclusively for pulling a horse trailer and ran the competition circuit- never had ANY major trouble... not even a HFCM issue. Point being he worked it like it was intended to be worked, and took meticulous care of it. All of those trucks from the 7.3 to the 6.7 are good, and it seems the problems don't kick in until people start pulling them out of their design envelope. they're meant to be worked- driving around town or unloaded down the highway is not good for them. they will wet stack in a heartbeat- and that is any of them.

@Adieu : The diesel crowd i run with makes the point, and i'm fully subscribed to the notion, that 'diesels are suffering what gassers suffered in the mid-to-late 70's through the mid 80's, except x3'.... all this 'technology' being tested on consumers before it's ironed out is BS of the highest order- IH (under Ford) used the 'washing of the cylinders on the exhaust stroke' as a means of regeneration for what, three whole years? The emissions is THE problem. Maybe they'll iron it out- the 6.7 seems to not have near the issues the poor 6.4 had bolted to it... I mean, they never even gave the high pressure injection w/ ULSD a chance before slapping all those crappy systems on it... As said, I'd bag my 6.4 right next to a stock one and expect similar if not better results than the stock one-especially if during that bag test the stock one goes through a regeneration cycle.
 
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