What do yo know about an 09 6.4 Ford Diesel?

BigBaron wrote:
Let me put it this way,
A guy I know is a diesel expert. He says, "I don't see Cummins too often, but Fords keep food on my table." He has a 6.3 Ford.
IF you replace the EGR cooler or delete it, and DO NOT put a tuner on it, a 6.0 or 6.4 can be a good motor. "Can be" are the important words.
The high-pressure oil system for the fuel injection is a bugger.
Check out powerstrokenation.com. They have separate forums for each different motor.

Here's a good thread on diesels from Popup Portal. To those with a diesel truck

There is NOTHING wrong with the HEUI system! It has been used by Ford on the PSD since 1995, and is also used by International (DT466, 1996--2007), Caterpillar (C7 ACERT), and even VW.

carringb wrote:

MX-RV wrote:
While I would agree paramedics are hard on vehicles. I would suggest this is from hours or idiling cool (an ambulance should never be cold) full throttle starts and undercooling. Our suspicion is that the vehicles were resting at a higher temp than was speced resulting in the oil being too thin for proper lube and retention by the rings resulting in severe cylinder wash and excessive oil use. All 3 were 25k km in or more and the rest some still in service were driven to 200k or more with constant attention to oil levels etc. that's deff a towing motor

This is the first I have ever heard of this happening. I would also question wether proper oil has been used. Airport shuttles have very similar duty cycles (except airport drivers probably drive them harder.... i.e treat the throttle like an an ON/OFF switch 100% of the time) and most operators don't even check the oil between scheduled changes. I've also idled mine extensively, sometimes for 20 hours straight in 100F+ temps while providing both stationary power and cool resting place for the crews. I do have to add a quart of oil halfway between oil changes which happen somewhere between 8k and 12k miles.

I saw a 2001 E450 shuttle bus with 130,000 miles and 15,000 hours on it. It would usually be started at 5am and shut down around midnight, 5 days a week, and would top 35MPH once a week. It's still in service and I'd be amazed if it didn't have 18,000+ hours on it by now.

MrVan wrote:
I think you can find a better option.

Definitely! Perhaps a neon-pink Yugo with green polka dots, lavender shag carpet interior, and a blown head gasket.

Judgerr wrote:
Thanks everyone. I just spotted the 09 at the dealer and they are asking less than book value. I suspected it was to good to be true.
Thanks again!

All market values are local. Some areas the F-Series trucks with the Navistar engines (6.0 6.4) are bargain priced, some areas no appreciable drop in price despite the engines' checkered history.

Let me put it this way,
A guy I know is a diesel expert. He says, "I don't see Cummins too often, but Fords keep food on my table." He has a 6.3 Ford.
IF you replace the EGR cooler or delete it, and DO NOT put a tuner on it, a 6.0 or 6.4 can be a good motor. "Can be" are the important words.
The high-pressure oil system for the fuel injection is a bugger.
Check out powerstrokenation.com. They have separate forums for each different motor.

Here's a good thread on diesels from Popup Portal. To those with a diesel truck

FishOnOne wrote:

Lessmore wrote:

MX-RV wrote:
35-v10's
All three from my understanding were due to dry oil sumps. As they all ate oil it was only a matter of time before more went. The trend was there and predictable from what I know the ones that blew were taking 3-4q a day up until their early demise.

But yes the fuel economy was poor to say the least. With the psd's we refueled every 2-3 days @~ $150 with the v10's it was daily at about the same. The new bowties are equipped to shut down when batteries are fully chaged and an aux heater installed to heat the cabin's so winter we are refueling every other day @~ $150-170 summer with ac is daily at same.

As for the 6.4 psd if your bent on a diesel (I'd sure love one) there's got to be aftermarket replacement parts designed to fix the faults in the oem parts. But I do year great things about the 6.7

I'm not involved in ambulance service in my area...but I notice out here the ambulance service has gone to Chevy the past 5 years...when for years they used to be Ford E series...diesel.

The ambulance service did get some Sprinter diesels ambulances, along with the Chevies 5 years ago....but since then seem to have gone to Chevy 4500...van cab and chassis...with mounted ambulance body ....completely .

I don't know the details as to why.

Probably because if you want a Van chassis with a diesel Chevy is the only game in town.


In my neck of the woods it's mostly Ford F350 trucks with an occasional RAM 3500 truck.

I should of mentioned (forgot) that most of the Chevy 4500's are gas powered I believe.

Lessmore wrote:

MX-RV wrote:
35-v10's
All three from my understanding were due to dry oil sumps. As they all ate oil it was only a matter of time before more went. The trend was there and predictable from what I know the ones that blew were taking 3-4q a day up until their early demise.

But yes the fuel economy was poor to say the least. With the psd's we refueled every 2-3 days @~ $150 with the v10's it was daily at about the same. The new bowties are equipped to shut down when batteries are fully chaged and an aux heater installed to heat the cabin's so winter we are refueling every other day @~ $150-170 summer with ac is daily at same.

As for the 6.4 psd if your bent on a diesel (I'd sure love one) there's got to be aftermarket replacement parts designed to fix the faults in the oem parts. But I do year great things about the 6.7

I'm not involved in ambulance service in my area...but I notice out here the ambulance service has gone to Chevy the past 5 years...when for years they used to be Ford E series...diesel.

The ambulance service did get some Sprinter diesels ambulances, along with the Chevies 5 years ago....but since then seem to have gone to Chevy 4500...van cab and chassis...with mounted ambulance body ....completely .

I don't know the details as to why.

Probably because if you want a Van chassis with a diesel Chevy is the only game in town.

In my neck of the woods it's mostly Ford F350 trucks with an occasional RAM 3500 truck.

MX-RV wrote:
35-v10's
All three from my understanding were due to dry oil sumps. As they all ate oil it was only a matter of time before more went. The trend was there and predictable from what I know the ones that blew were taking 3-4q a day up until their early demise.

But yes the fuel economy was poor to say the least. With the psd's we refueled every 2-3 days @~ $150 with the v10's it was daily at about the same. The new bowties are equipped to shut down when batteries are fully chaged and an aux heater installed to heat the cabin's so winter we are refueling every other day @~ $150-170 summer with ac is daily at same.

As for the 6.4 psd if your bent on a diesel (I'd sure love one) there's got to be aftermarket replacement parts designed to fix the faults in the oem parts. But I do year great things about the 6.7

I'm not involved in ambulance service in my area...but I notice out here the ambulance service has gone to Chevy the past 5 years...when for years they used to be Ford E series...diesel.

The ambulance service did get some Sprinter diesels ambulances, along with the Chevies 5 years ago....but since then seem to have gone to Chevy 4500...van cab and chassis...with mounted ambulance body ....completely .

I don't know the details as to why.

MX-RV wrote:
While I would agree paramedics are hard on vehicles. I would suggest this is from hours or idiling cool (an ambulance should never be cold) full throttle starts and undercooling. Our suspicion is that the vehicles were resting at a higher temp than was speced resulting in the oil being too thin for proper lube and retention by the rings resulting in severe cylinder wash and excessive oil use. All 3 were 25k km in or more and the rest some still in service were driven to 200k or more with constant attention to oil levels etc. that's deff a towing motor

This is the first I have ever heard of this happening. I would also question wether proper oil has been used. Airport shuttles have very similar duty cycles (except airport drivers probably drive them harder.... i.e treat the throttle like an an ON/OFF switch 100% of the time) and most operators don't even check the oil between scheduled changes. I've also idled mine extensively, sometimes for 20 hours straight in 100F+ temps while providing both stationary power and cool resting place for the crews. I do have to add a quart of oil halfway between oil changes which happen somewhere between 8k and 12k miles.

Lumpty wrote:
I had a '10 6.4 F350 King Ranch that Ford bought back after 18 months and 24,000 miles, the last three months it basically sat because it was either in the shop or we would not trust it when it was out. From 5,000 miles on, it had a total loss of drive problem on 5-4 downshifts, melted pistons, had leaky injectors, and the primary turbo was a problem of some sort too. Over $20,000 in warranty work on a totally stock truck that was used well under capacity, only towing about 7500 lbs.

The '11 6.7 Lariat that Ford put me in as a replacement has been 100% trouble free for 2+ years and 25,000 miles. Much better drivability with the 6.7. the 6.4 was a laggy, doggy POS until it spooled up its 33psi (!) of boost.

I also have a 2v 2011 V10 in an E450 chassis Class C. It has been used super hard (20,000lb GCW frequently) since new, and was using a fair amount of 5w-20 Motorcraft Synthetic blend at first, around a quart per 1,000 miles. Now that it is up to 17,000 miles, for whatever reason the oil consumption has dropped off dramatically, to about a quart every 2,500.

While we like the 6.7 alot, it is likely my last diesel truck.

This. Very sad story with what seems like a happy ending! I can under stand not trusting a 6.0 or 6.4! I have a 01 Ram with 267,000 miles and trust it fully!
I believe that Ford has taken the right step with the 6.7 and seems to have no more issues than the other two.