1st 5 reliability mods for a 6.4

[V-Ref]

DPF deleted, H&S intake, XRT Pro Race tuner, hope to have some tunes from Matt here pretty quick.

From the little bit I've driven it, these are great trucks....wanna keep this stock for a while.

So I'll be wading through all the 6.4 threads in here learning this truck....but in the interim....what would be your #1, #2 through #5 mods on a truck that I don't want to lift the cab for to make it as reliable, keep egts as cool, and a solid of a truck to hold me over until the power bug bites me for this truck.

BTW..DTC 0528 and 0480 show up...so something up with the fan circuit...if there's a smart guy that reads this and can shorten my chase on that, it's appreciated.

And when the 6.4 power bug bites, I promised Morgan for talking down out of the tree on the 6.4 that his dual fuelers would be 1st on the list

But it's staying stock...staying stock...staying stock...if you say it enough...it'll be true...right?

Thanks in advance.

 

[V-Ref]

BTW-One more shameless plug for Morgan at Midwest for taking the time to talk through cracked piston 6.4s......that conversation didn't help him a red cent to keep the lights on that day. But he probably knows that was a good long term investment :hammer:

 

[powerstroked08]

Well most mods can be done cab on. I did studs, tow power x's, manifolds, up ppipes, waste gate, cac cold side pipe, and ported intake manifold all cab on. So most of what you want to do can be done without lifting the cab. But it's a lot easier to do things cab off. And my 5 mods staying "stock" would be no limits intake, studs, mini maxx(I know you have a xrt but its nice to have some gages to keep an eye on things), heavy duty up pipes(dark Horse, rcd), and traction bars. And number 6 would be a no limits cold side pipe. By the way so you have an exhaust or just the stock setup?

 

[uga33]

My opinion:

1: Tuner
2: Exhaust
3: CAI
4: Airdog or Fass
5: studs

 

[78f100]

I had a blast for a long time with
1. Mini max ( KEM tuning at the time)
2. Delete pipe
3. Intake
4. Traction bars
Later
5. 71mm or larger atmo.

You will know when you need studs...lol but if you take care it can live a long time at that level not studded.

 

[jdgleason]

Reliability mods? Deletes, Trans, studs, springs and pushrods.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[silverpsd_06]

Personally.. Basics (intake, tuner, exhaust) EGR delete, Studs, Wastegate, 72mm atmo

 

[AirFishAutomotive]

By the time you do dpf delete pipe you can get a relatively cheap exhaust and do turbo back
intake-no Iimit would jump on nl band wagon since there design doesn't choke turbo
tuner -seems you have that covered
Egr delete/block off plates

Imo thats all you need to do to make it reliable. I havent personally had any issues with trans and ive bought and sold and kept a few but the more power you make like anything the trans will need beefing up.


I said the same thing you did keep it stock and a few months later it was studded. Fuel system , intake manifold and custom single kit lol.


Nice truck btw digging the black leather

 

[capt dong]

Reliability

1. Tuner
2. Dpf delete- turbo back exhaust
3. Egr delete
4. Coolant filter with a coolant flush
5. All aluminum radiator
6. CCV
7. Airdog
8. Studs

 

[7.3powerstroke00]

It says dpf deleted, h&s intake, and xrt pro already done... Is that correct?
Get a dash daq of some sort to monitor temps, cac pipe and elbow, full egr delete if it does not already have it, up pipes like stated above.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

BTW-One more shameless plug for Morgan at Midwest for taking the time to talk through cracked piston 6.4s......that conversation didn't help him a red cent to keep the lights on that day. But he probably knows that was a good long term investment :hammer:

And???? Do you mind sharing what Morgan said about cracked pistons????

 

[4.0l sahara]

Delete, tune ,coolant filter and a new oil cooler depending on the delta's.

 

[drunk on diesel]

1. Tune
2. Pipe
3. Cold air
4. Don't abuse the power
5. Enjoy

Been doing that on my service truck for 80k miles now. Truck has 184k on it now. HD300 for about 50k miles and Matt's race tune for the rest. Truck weighs 10k with me and the dog

I am not afraid to floor it. I do so a few times a day. But I don't drag race every vehicle I run across from zero to 120.

I see these trucks drop like flies all the time. Head gaskets or pistons usually. Cracked heads here and there.

I can only assume these guys are abusing their trucks.

If you put an atmospheric turbo on it, I guarantee you will spend $10-15k on supporting mods/labor when it's all said and done. EGR delete isn't necessary if you have it turned off, but that's a very unpopular sentiment in the forums, so everybody is going to tell you it's a necessity.

Oh, and **** doing studs cab-on. If I'm doing studs the heads are getting checked and machined, new lifters, oil cooler, etc. are going in. The heads do a pretty good job of staying glued down if you stay tune-only

Just my unpopular .02

 

[Morgan@Midwest Diesel & Auto]

Yeah, basic air flow piping mods, full 4" turbo back exhaust. Deleted, tuned and leave it alone. If you drive the sh*t outta it just like all the other people here who don't understand, you will have 1-trans problems, 2-head gasket problems, 3-piston problems.

Most people don't understand the whole part about "if you drive it hard it will not last". A 300hp tune idk who writes it and what it does will do the three things I mentioned above. If you drive like me or most others. The stock motor will not last if you use that 550 rwhp every time you get in it. If you only use 3-400hp every time and 550 once in a while it will last much longer. But everyone alway tells we "well I drive it easy most of the time" when their mad because their trucks broke. And it go look at the pistons or gaskets and see burn marks in the top from high timing and a lot of heat. Guess what they don't just break without a reason 95% of the time.

Long and short, the best reliability mod is your right foots self discipline.

You can break a stock cummins, duramax or any powerstroke at 550rwhp. The fact that it is so easy to make that power is why you see as many torn up 6.4's as you do. A stock 7.3 at 550hp is a VERY unreliable motor too. But everyone realizes that. We all just have to get it through our heads that stock engines were not designed to handle it. Either do the necessary stuff to make it reliable or turn the tune down. In the end you can only be mad at yourself if your 6.4 making 550hp breaks a trans, blows head gaskets or cracks a piston. It's not like any of this is new ideas.

Sorry for the rant. I do have a lot of people who can't understand that an engine making 2-3 times more hp than they were made to do is not reliable.

Like stated before, while unpopular, this is the truth. If you can't handle it than I suggest you look into buying a gas half ton.

This was not directed at anyone here or the OP. Just me telling my thoughts and experiences.

 

[V-Ref]

Matt's custom tunes are on! I just unlocked the XRT Pro and put Matt's engine/trans file on this morning.

Well most mods can be done cab on. I did studs, tow power x's, manifolds, up ppipes, waste gate, cac cold side pipe, and ported intake manifold all cab on. So most of what you want to do can be done without lifting the cab. But it's a lot easier to do things cab off. And my 5 mods staying "stock" would be no limits intake, studs, mini maxx(I know you have a xrt but its nice to have some gages to keep an eye on things), heavy duty up pipes(dark Horse, rcd), and traction bars. And number 6 would be a no limits cold side pipe. By the way so you have an exhaust or just the stock setup?

I didn't know studs can be done cab on. Stock exhaust, it has a dpf delete pipe. What monitors? CTS, Edge, H&S...I'd like something super clean/factory looking.

By the time you do dpf delete pipe you can get a relatively cheap exhaust and do turbo back
intake-no Iimit would jump on nl band wagon since there design doesn't choke turbo
tuner -seems you have that covered
Egr delete/block off plates

Imo thats all you need to do to make it reliable. I havent personally had any issues with trans and ive bought and sold and kept a few but the more power you make like anything the trans will need beefing up.


I said the same thing you did keep it stock and a few months later it was studded. Fuel system , intake manifold and custom single kit lol.


Nice truck btw digging the black leather

Thanks William. It's by far the "nicest" truck I've owned, the leather is nice. Life in Alaska without seat heaters is like a distant memory to me now :clapping:

Is there a specific PID(s) I can look for to evaluate transmission health? % slip?

And I know myself...so I really really need to keep it "stockish" for now! Just the reliability/efficiency stuff.....for now

It says dpf deleted, h&s intake, and xrt pro already done... Is that correct?
Get a dash daq of some sort to monitor temps, cac pipe and elbow, full egr delete if it does not already have it, up pipes like stated above.

That's right, the previous owner had done these at the 40K mark, along with a level kit.

I'd like as factory/clean looking monitor too....so researching that.

And???? Do you mind sharing what Morgan said about cracked pistons????

Nothing earth shattering, just an affirmation of what I suspected. He pointed out all platforms crack pistons. The 6.4 with it's high egt regen, does have an issue to keep an eye out for. If there's a trend of what cracks 6.4 pistons, there's a pile of exceptions to disprove that trend...as there's plenty of trucks that are running around with no problems whatsoever...but at the same time, there's quite a few tuned only trucks that have cracked pistons. He did say it's good to be lucky I'm hoping to be a lucky one, that get's a pile of parts amassed, and then lifts the cab once for power. Until then..."stockish" for me!

Thank you much for the feedback thusfar.

 

[drunk on diesel]

Most people don't understand the whole part about "if you drive it hard it will not last". A 300hp tune idk who writes it and what it does will do the three things I mentioned above. If you drive like me or most others. The stock motor will not last if you use that 550 rwhp every time you get in it. If you only use 3-400hp every time and 550 once in a while it will last much longer. But everyone alway tells we "well I drive it easy most of the time" when their mad because their trucks broke. And it go look at the pistons or gaskets and see burn marks in the top from high timing and a lot of heat. Guess what they don't just break without a reason 95% of the time.

I hear it all the time... one of the most recent cracked/torched piston jobs (it also flame-cut the cylinder wall and both heads were cracked to death) the guy said "he was just passing somebody really easy at about 75 and it let go". I was talking with him about doing pistons, etc. and he said he really doesn't beat on the truck and drives it easy most of the time. He wanted the truck on the road ASAP, so we swung a new Ford unit in it and had him back on the road in 2 days.

While we were BS'ing in the showroom a couple days later, he was telling me about all these mustangs and other trucks he's raced in his little town. dead stop to 100+ stuff...

I think he's actually learned his lesson $11k later. I'm making him a nearly OEM tune. We'll see

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Nothing earth shattering, just an affirmation of what I suspected. He pointed out all platforms crack pistons. The 6.4 with it's high egt regen, does have an issue to keep an eye out for. If there's a trend of what cracks 6.4 pistons, there's a pile of exceptions to disprove that trend...as there's plenty of trucks that are running around with no problems whatsoever...but at the same time, there's quite a few tuned only trucks that have cracked pistons. He did say it's good to be lucky I'm hoping to be a lucky one, that get's a pile of parts amassed, and then lifts the cab once for power. Until then..."stockish" for me!

That's kind of what I was wondering. And to be honest the cracked pistons are the only thing that scares me about the 6.4. But like our 7.3 you can make power as long as you take it easy with it.

Thanks! You got a nice rig there for sure!!!

 

[Morgan@Midwest Diesel & Auto]

I hear it all the time... one of the most recent cracked/torched piston jobs (it also flame-cut the cylinder wall and both heads were cracked to death) the guy said "he was just passing somebody really easy at about 75 and it let go". I was talking with him about doing pistons, etc. and he said he really doesn't beat on the truck and drives it easy most of the time. He wanted the truck on the road ASAP, so we swung a new Ford unit in it and had him back on the road in 2 days.

While we were BS'ing in the showroom a couple days later, he was telling me about all these mustangs and other trucks he's raced in his little town. dead stop to 100+ stuff...

I think he's actually learned his lesson $11k later. I'm making him a nearly OEM tune. We'll see

Lol, like a broken record...

That's kind of what I was wondering. And to be honest the cracked pistons are the only thing that scares me about the 6.4. But like our 7.3 you can make power as long as you take it easy with it.

Thanks! You got a nice rig there for sure!!!

Yep they all have limits with stock stuff. I truely believe 90% has to do with the owner/owners, how they use/abuse them. The other 5% is environment it's in and 5% luck.