the engines were designed before emissions were mandated... the emission equipment kill them...
they wash cylinders on the exhaust stroke to push raw diesel into the DPF where it is burned in effort to burn off collected soot- how much sense does that make? These systems aren't urea systems, mind you. The backpressure on the engine is intense- even outside of a regeneration process- it tulips valves, is hard on valvetrains, and it straight up wastes fuel... ever heard not to park on dry leaves? Yeah, you better never do that with these rigs while they are regenerating... The heat that comes from this is intense- like, north of 1k* during regular engine operation (not under heavy load)... the heat is fed back into the engine via the EGR.. the EGR coolers flash the coolant meant to cool them, dropping silicates and clogging oil coolers... they also rupture internally, and flood the cylinders breaking rods, blowing holes through pistons, or however else they are apt to break when hydro-locked... the crank case ventilation pushes excess pressure back into the intake, which is oil misted acidic blow by gasses, and on the 6.4 it is considerable.. It feeds straight into the turbo, which cokes (cajun crust anyone) on the turbo, creating imbalances and is hard on seals... it clogs intercoolers further increasing intake temperatures and reducing function.. it slaps to down pipes and creates hot spots that ultimately burn through... it reacts to boots, allowing them to leak... what is ingested by combustion is passed through to the catalytic converter and DPF, which reacts to the metals there, causing them to fail prematurely... even if you don't delete the DPF and EGR, for the love of all that's holy reroute the CCV through a filter and into the intake, or, vent it to atmosphere, like IH did on their own rigs with this engine.
so.. the deletes can be done in a matter of half an hour.. get a delete pipe and bolt it in, or better yet pull existing exhaust and slap on a 4 or 5" straight pipe... tune the EGR closed, or, either use block plates or totally remove the system. reroute the ccv to atmosphere. boom.. solid rig...
added mods to make it rock solid: flush ford gold and replace with CAT EC-1 ELC, and install a coolant filter to catch the casting sand remaining in the block... install more reliable and functional lift pump with more reliable pump motor, more filter area, greater water removing surface, and easier to change filters. Better air in- bigger better filter.. run only goof fuel, and after adding lubricity to it- ULSD is 'dry', meaning the same process that removes the S removes the lubricants, and your HPFP relies on that fuel not only for it's purpose, but also its cooling and lubricant.
in addition to these items, follow a maintenance schedule, and your 6.4 will last a long long time. the ONE thing that can't be addressed easily is the pistons.. Ford, in effort to address the increased cylinder pressures during regeneration, used a bowled piston- and by using one with a lip... those lips wear, and create hot spots, and split ultimately... it may be @ 500k miles, or it may be at 50k miles.... but it's likely to happen to all 6.4's.. IH didn't do this to their engines, and as a result they don't have this issue... it was another response to emissions... which is the problem with these things... if they could have squeaked through before the mandate, people would know just how bad ******** these things are- but them being the sacrificial lab rat for emissions, well, it killed them.. address those, and see for yourself what a jewel IH engineered.
