6.4 Take Two?

The 6.4 engine seems to be the strongest diesel engine ever offered in a pickup, but the bad news is that it also seems to have the worst emissions systems, and the easiest ability to turn up power with a tuner.

So despite the fact that the actual engine is IMHO the best one out there in years, it comes wrapped with the worst aftertreatment.
If a 6.4 tuner could only add 200 hp like the 6.7 tuner does, I doubt we'd see nearly as many failures and issues.

The only thing I wished the 6.4 had different, is the turbochargers. I think they are too tight, or small, and boost too easily. The programming makes it worse. I disconnected the electrical actuator on my turbo, because I was sick of seeing 20 psi of boost down the highway, which undoubtedly would cause wear and tear in the name of emissions.
They need bigger housings or something, I'm not a turbo guru.
Disconnected, and running a tow tune to keep EGT's safe, I see about 5 psi down flat highway now, and EGT's are fine. But laggy as all heck lol.

96powerstroker said:

Parkland why don't they do anything for you anymore? I'm just asking cause I'm basically the same way.

For me there no Truck about them. Trucks were built to simple, reliable, hard working brutes that the common man could fix.


Now they basically a 4x4 version of a Rolls Royce where ppl are afraid to do anything with them cause if they break its not just a fairly simple fix its in the thousands plus they aren't simple anymore.


What happened to when a truck was a truck. If it Had AC it was a luxury? It was manual everything & like Trigger you could count on it to get you there.

Click to expand...

Pretty much what you said, plug I think more engineering is going into making it run smooth and quiet, than making it perform and last.
All the new ones are super nice, don't get me wrong, but I feel like they are an engineering masterpiece more than a well designed vehicle, if that makes any sense.

I think the common rail system needs to evolve a few more generations before it's really reliable. For EG, an older truck, if an injector fails, or has something wrong, the engine might miss or smoke a bit, new ones just melt down.
You might think it sounds crazy, but all the new common rail trucks, IMHO, should have a harness on both exhaust manifolds, and an EGT sensor for each cylinder, so it can detect if a cylinder is running hot or cold, so you can replace an injector without melting a piston out. I admit that isn't a very sexy solution, but something should have been implemented at least for work trucks, where fuel quality isn't always pristine.

Also, another thing I don't like about the new trucks, is the amount of junk crammed in the engine compartment. Things like EGR coolers could have been mounted under the cab or box, there is TONS of room under there. Also, EGR feed for the engine could have been plumbed AFTER the DPF, so the EGR gas being mixed in the intake is soot free.

Exhaust pipe before the DPF should have been heat wrapped from factory, so the engine doesn't need to get as hot of EGT's to clean it.

The real issue I think is simply that buying a brand new diesel is so expensive, and if anything goes wrong, it's expensive. A lot of people say they want to be able to work on their truck if they need, but the real problem is that not only are they hard to work on yourself, but they are also are hard to work on for garages, and a lot of places don't know how to diagnose problems right either. So that means that if something goes wrong, usually it has to go back to the dealership, and they certainly know how to charge.

Because of that, I think it will be rare to see any of these new diesels getting driven for generations like some of the trucks we see on the road today from years and years ago. For EG, a 6.9, 7.3 idi truck, old cummins 12 valve trucks are all cheap to fix, and yourself or any garage can usually work on them. If you buy a 2015 ford 6.7 today, and it has engine issues in 10 years, chances are the repair cost will be way more than the vehicles value. =scrap pile. Unless I'm wrong, maybe piezo injectors will be 30$ each someday.