Rescuing a critically sluged 6.4 F-350

I read your post carefully... i hate to ask but did you see the sludge? Ive never seen a diesel with what they are talking about..even with 25K oil changes.

Is there a chance that they saw you coming from out of town??

The cleanest diesel i have seen was an old 240D with 400K miles on it.. the owner added 1 quart of diesel to the oil and ran it for awhile before oil changes.. I did a valve cover gasket and it looked like new.

I would like to see pics of this sludge..
 
Okay, so... CarMax said 12K, and put it in writing. Tempting. I've got a line on a 7.3 under 100k miles that is about a grand over that (13.5 K). Turbo blades are nice and clean... no sand ingestion, etc. So, either they saw the deleted DPF and didn't care which is odd... Or they think they can turn a profit at auction buying it for that. About 3k loss when I crunch the numbers after selling it and buying a new truck plus sales tax, etc...

Or, I follow the directives on here to clean it up. The thing is, I doubt I'd ever do a private sale on it so investing further money in it won't increase what I can sell it to a dealership for and may simply prove wasteful. This part will sound super stupid, but I hate giving up on something I've put effort into. I actually feel bad for the truck. Ridiculous.

The guys that worked on it in Ocala pretty much live and breathe powerstrokes. The lot was all F-250's and 350's of various generations. The shop is in North East Ocala.
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I would dump that thing so fast it would make your head spin. A used car lot has several decent looking 6.7 CC long bed pickups by me, I don't think I would want one if it was FREE!
 
How much is the quote to replace all the pushrods, rockers and bridges? Doing so will get you 100,000 miles. Once sludge is physically removed from the heads and oil pan, any residual sludge won't likely be a problem. Nor do I believe sludge will cause more rapid wear. It just sits there.

Your year truck has a number of other known issues. So it will be good to read up and understand what to expect.
 
Originally Posted by NDServices
Okay, so... CarMax said 12K, and put it in writing. Tempting. I've got a line on a 7.3 under 100k miles that is about a grand over that (13.5 K). Turbo blades are nice and clean... no sand ingestion, etc. So, either they saw the deleted DPF and didn't care which is odd... Or they think they can turn a profit at auction buying it for that. About 3k loss when I crunch the numbers after selling it and buying a new truck plus sales tax, etc...

Or, I follow the directives on here to clean it up. The thing is, I doubt I'd ever do a private sale on it so investing further money in it won't increase what I can sell it to a dealership for and may simply prove wasteful. This part will sound super stupid, but I hate giving up on something I've put effort into. I actually feel bad for the truck. Ridiculous.
Cut and run dude, stop buying old heaps as commercial vehicles, especially if they are PSDs. If you can't/won't wrench at all you should seriously stay with gasoline.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by NDServices
Okay, so... CarMax said 12K, and put it in writing. Tempting. I've got a line on a 7.3 under 100k miles that is about a grand over that (13.5 K). Turbo blades are nice and clean... no sand ingestion, etc. So, either they saw the deleted DPF and didn't care which is odd... Or they think they can turn a profit at auction buying it for that. About 3k loss when I crunch the numbers after selling it and buying a new truck plus sales tax, etc...

Or, I follow the directives on here to clean it up. The thing is, I doubt I'd ever do a private sale on it so investing further money in it won't increase what I can sell it to a dealership for and may simply prove wasteful. This part will sound super stupid, but I hate giving up on something I've put effort into. I actually feel bad for the truck. Ridiculous.
Cut and run dude, stop buying old heaps as commercial vehicles, especially if they are PSDs. If you can't/won't wrench at all you should seriously stay with gasoline.


I tend to agree with this. Diesel is nice for towing, however if one is not towing constantly I think a GM 6.0/6.2 or a Hemi 6.4 powered Ram is a better choice. Definitely a lot cheaper to maintain.

I like F250/F350 trucks, but I wouldn't buy a PSD truck as they are overly expensive to maintain.
 
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From someone that works on powerstroke every day, dump the 6.4 and find your self a rust free late build 6.0 and do the proper upgrades and modifications and it will be reliable.
 
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Originally Posted by donnyj08
I tend to agree with this. Diesel is nice for towing, however if one is not towing constantly I think a GM 6.0/6.2 or a Hemi 6.4 powered Ram is a better choice. Definitely a lot cheaper to maintain.

I like F250/F350 trucks, but I wouldn't buy a PSD truck as they are overly expensive to maintain.
I was going to suggest a GMT800 2500HD 6.0, but I felt that would be against my advice of not buying old heaps. That's what I would buy if I wanted a truck that would work more than be worked on while being reasonably modern.
 
If you decide to keep it (and I understand feeling bad for the truck...) make sure to perform filter changes on an accelerated schedule as well. As seen on here numerous times, gradual cleaning will occur over time, and it's a matter of whether or not critical oil passages are clogged.

Originally Posted by Chris142
I have never seen a diesel with diesel oil used correctly sludge. How long was he going between oil changes?



Originally Posted by Rand
Why is the engine sludging?


These two questions are closely related....and I believe the answer is: OCI once or maybe twice.
 
First of all, thanks for the advice, All. My last 350 was a '94 7.3, and I got it used off an elderly customer of mine who used it to pull a massive camper trailer and was over the fun of that. Paid 11k cash for it in 03 with 60k miles on it. It was still operational at 800k miles this spring but was a bit tired all over. That one I understood better, and performed most maintenance myself. I haul all week, every week, and the 94 never let me down too bad. Certainly never left me stranded. I loved that truck, knew how to care for it, and could tell right away when something was amiss and sort it out.

The start of my relationship with this truck is the similar. Bought it from a snowbird customer who left it in Jacksonville when he and his wife were headed home and it broke down. See above. Most well heeled old folks take great care of their stuff, so that was my bad assumption. He used the 9k I gave him as a down payment on a new Dodge 3500. Good on him! I hear great things about the new Cummins. I turn gears every weekend and some weeknights if I need to. Mostly servicing my stihl tools, some of which are 20 years old. That stated, so much has changed in the modern diesel. The basics are the same, but other than that I have a lot to learn. Maybe too much. We'll see. My daily driver is a 95 4.9 I6 F150 with 400k on it, and it looks and runs like new. Now then, I pay cash for my equipment. I don't borrow because I've seen too many folks go under both in agribusiness and landscaping/trees because they can't ride out a slow season or crop/market ups and downs. So, that's who I is.

My credit is more than fine to get financed on a new truck, but I don't have the cash. So, I will either learn the 6.4 or sell it and get me another 7.3. At this instant I'm inclined to do the former. My old one pulled 20k pounds just fine here in flat, swampy Florida. It's still busy this season, and I don't think I've got time to fool around with the 6.4. Many thanks to the good folks on here.
 
By that I meant the latter. The owner is someone I know a bit. He's been kind enough to let me drive the 02 7.3 (94k mile toy hauler) for a day with a $500 good-faith deposit. I'm headed out now to back her up to my 20 yarder and see how she does. If today goes well, I'll sell the 6.4 to fairer pastures, and buy the 02 7.3 where I can at least comprehend the evolution of the engine much better and not be mystified as I am by the 6.4. Thanks again. I've learned a great deal from this site over the years, and am grateful it's here.
 
From a former 6.4 owner, if I were you I would sell the truck and look for another 7.3. I've owned the 6.4 for 6 years and got tired fixing it, the last straw was the the high pressure fuel pump and injectors. I sold the engine and swapped in a more reliable engine. It's your money, but if you want to save some sell the 6.4 now sooner than later, it's a time bomb.
 
Originally Posted by NDServices
By that I meant the latter. The owner is someone I know a bit. He's been kind enough to let me drive the 02 7.3 (94k mile toy hauler) for a day with a $500 good-faith deposit. I'm headed out now to back her up to my 20 yarder and see how she does. If today goes well, I'll sell the 6.4 to fairer pastures, and buy the 02 7.3 where I can at least comprehend the evolution of the engine much better and not be mystified as I am by the 6.4. Thanks again. I've learned a great deal from this site over the years, and am grateful it's here.


Very nice, your wallet fill thank you.:) The 7.3 is a very reliable engine.:)
 
I hate to be the guy who say's dump the 6.4 as I understand your thinking but certainly the 7.3 is a great diesel. A little long in the tooth but as you said you know them and every problem it could have is well documented by now. I had a 99 that went 300k without a complaint, time killed the body the drive train was still fine. The people I sold it to put a massive amount of money into the body and still use it to tow their boat. So I'll make a note not to buy a F350 at Carmax Orlando or Tampa for the next few months
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Originally Posted by Donald
All the Ford pickup diesel engines prior to the 6.7 had minor to major issue. Go to powerstrokehelp.com and read up.

Typically people spend some major money on these engines and then they are super. Sludge may be the least of your problems.


Um, no, they don't. The 7.3 is one of the most reliable diesel engines to this day.
 
Originally Posted by NDServices
Okay, so... CarMax said 12K, and put it in writing. Tempting. I've got a line on a 7.3 under 100k miles that is about a grand over that (13.5 K). Turbo blades are nice and clean... no sand ingestion, etc. So, either they saw the deleted DPF and didn't care which is odd... Or they think they can turn a profit at auction buying it for that. About 3k loss when I crunch the numbers after selling it and buying a new truck plus sales tax, etc...

Or, I follow the directives on here to clean it up. The thing is, I doubt I'd ever do a private sale on it so investing further money in it won't increase what I can sell it to a dealership for and may simply prove wasteful. This part will sound super stupid, but I hate giving up on something I've put effort into. I actually feel bad for the truck. Ridiculous.

The guys that worked on it in Ocala pretty much live and breathe powerstrokes. The lot was all F-250's and 350's of various generations. The shop is in North East Ocala.
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Why are you still talking about this? LOL....do it and do it now. I don't love a low mileage 7.3 either, but that is WAY better than a 6.4 of any kind, any day.

But I digress. I see you went with a 7.3 and that is a great choice. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over selling the 6.4 to Carmax. It's pretty well known now what the 6.4 is all about, so "most" will know what they are getting themselves into. That engine is a crapshoot with bad odds no matter how well it was maintained.

I have owned 5 7.3s myself, worked on literally hundreds, and was a mechanic for a drilling company that ran nothing but OBS and Superduty 7.3s for their field trucks. It's probably THE best diesel engine out there in light duty trucks. I have owned Cummins 5.9s and Duramaxes. The 7.3 may not be as fast, but wow is it reliable and pretty easy to diagnose and fix when you really know them. Let us know how it goes!
 
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Originally Posted by bbslider001
Originally Posted by Donald
All the Ford pickup diesel engines prior to the 6.7 had minor to major issue. Go to powerstrokehelp.com and read up.

Typically people spend some major money on these engines and then they are super. Sludge may be the least of your problems.


Um, no, they don't. The 7.3 is one of the most reliable diesel engines to this day.

Well he said minor to major issues. 7.3 certainly had a few issues like the CPS, fuel leaks and turbo leaks. Should not have excluded the 6.7 as issue free. Bottom line is everything has issues, just depends on how severe
 
Originally Posted by BeerCan
Originally Posted by bbslider001
Originally Posted by Donald
All the Ford pickup diesel engines prior to the 6.7 had minor to major issue. Go to powerstrokehelp.com and read up.

Typically people spend some major money on these engines and then they are super. Sludge may be the least of your problems.


Um, no, they don't. The 7.3 is one of the most reliable diesel engines to this day.

Well he said minor to major issues. 7.3 certainly had a few issues like the CPS, fuel leaks and turbo leaks. Should not have excluded the 6.7 as issue free. Bottom line is everything has issues, just depends on how severe


Yup, I know what he said. To me, in my mind, "issues" refers to reliability. Yes, sensors can cause problems with the 7.3, but that does not fall under issues or "reliability", but that's just me. The 6.0.....issues.....the 6.4 definitely issues. Either way....
 
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