I agree with everything here. My buddy had a 6.4 with an egr delete and SCT tuner and it would roll coal at idle, and it was a handshaker with the granny gear to boot. Awesome truck, but the 6.4 was still based on the 6.0 and suffered many of the same issues, minus the casting sand in the blocks of the 6.0 that got sorted out. Even with the egr delete reliability was an issue with the guys I knew running them, especially the injectors. Plus, unless you live in a non-emmisions county, it's a major PITA to put all the egr stuff back on and return to stock tune to pass 2 year testing. They for sure can make mad power with minimal investment, but I look for reliability in a truck. I have a race car and a muscle car, I don't need to melt tires in my truck. Not to say I don't have fun with it, my 7.3 is far from stock and makes respectable numbers for an old inefficient 7.3.Tuscany wrote: Wed Dec 05, 2018 9:57 am Actually, the 6.4L Powerstroke was magical, and IMO and many others.., still is the best power making small diesel engine ever made, and I'll explain. I used to be heavy into diesel performance..(long winded)
When Navistar/Ford introduced the 2008 6.4L diesel, the "only" technology emissions equipment available to pass Federal Tier III emission standards were from exclusive use of Exhaust Gas Recirculation, or EGR. What that is in a nutshell was to introduce exhaust back into the intake which reduced the harmful NOx output by cutting out available oxygen to burn. VERY archaic, but that is what they had. The engine was breathing its own feces, destroying oil and rings, eating fuel below 10 MPG, taking out injectors while slowly killing itself. It's the same reason Caterpillar, the most noteworthy semi engine of our time left class 8 trucks in 2010 after struggling with EGR . The engines simply would choke and die from within, usually within 100,000 miles. That engine used to be worth 1.5 million miles before a major overhaul.
Take the 6.4L, delete the EGR and DPF and then upload a custom aftermarket tune. Usually done with a $2,500 investment and available from many tune companies like Spartan, KEM, PPE and others. I used KEM. You could transform that engine and make 600 horses and almost 1,200 ft lbs. of torque, run close to 18-23 MPG, and last over 300K miles easy. The 6.4L had a lift pump that could flow ungodly amounts of fuel, stock compound turbos running building an easy 40#s of boost, and a fuel rail that could deliver gallons straight from Navistar, all with easily managed exhaust temps. Components that now cost thousands of dollars to make a new diesel make power came STOCK on the 6.4L. Sounds crazy, but my truck could turn an 11.98 quarter, and pass anything on the road towing a trailer. Just find a 6.4L burning dirty from the tail pipe, and you will have your hands full at a stop light. There are a lot of deleted survivors still out there. The rest are probably dead from EGR. I kept that truck for 8 years, and it was tough to let go.
Pittsburgh diesel had made a living converting C-15 Caterpillar engines back on the road as Glider kits because once you strip the EGR, you have a reliable monster. So successful and popular, a bone yard C-15 block are becoming scarce and almost priceless.
Today, EGR is still used as a very small supplement to SCR, which uses DEF to treat NOx in the exhaust after it has left the engine. As time goes on, less and less EGR is used, and more sophisticated SCR makes diesels whole again.
The 6.0L Powerstroke? Yeah, total junk and not worth its price in scrap metal. ..
This was my buddy's 6.4, that he sold for a 7.3 quad cab dually: and this is me needlessly beating on my school bus powered Ford, lol: I'm at a place in life where I just want a comfortable reliable truck to haul/hunt with, and the 6.7s make WAY more power than my modded 7.3 probably does, so when the time is right I'll upgrade.
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