We all know battling seized up-pipe bolts is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Adding insult to injury, accessing the up-pipes means the cab has to go up in the air. It also leaves a mess of soot all over the firewall and transmission tunnel, and an audible whistle under the cab. This causes a loss of drive pressure, a drop in boost, and poor drivability.
They typically crack at the bellows (or expansion joints). Cracked up-pipes are extremely common on the 6.4L. According to most shops around the country, the fact that the radiator splits at the aluminum-to-plastic seams is directly related to pour quality from the factory. As you can imagine, it didn’t solve the leaking issue. According to Ford, it was to relieve coolant pressure spikes within the radiator. One, in particular, called for the installation of a Venturi Tee. Ford issued several technical service bulletins (TSBs) regarding the leaking radiator issue.
Regardless, throughout the 6.4L production run, Ford was never able to rectify the radiator problem. They say it allows too much flex to occur at the top of the radiator.
Some attribute the crimp failures to the upper radiator support. The issue occurs when the crimps that hold the aluminum core to the plastic end tanks stretch. Pull Quote: “Not only are the 6.4L’s replacement components expensive, but the cab has to be pulled for most major repairs, further driving up the cost of labor.” Going from bad to worse, and eventually covering the ugly, we’ll kick things off with the inconvenient failure nearly every 6.4L faces at some point in its lifetime: a leaking radiator. So what’s the actual verdict? In the following pages, we’ll explore the 6.4L’s most common failure points and let you decide for yourself. But be careful who you say that to… Despite its frequent and well-documented problems, 6.4L owners who haven’t seen this engine’s ugly side tend to swear by it. Appropriately, it’s the rarest to make it to the 200,000-mile mark before facing something catastrophic. From its leaking radiators and up-pipes to the high-pressure fuel pump’s propensity to self-destruct, to cracked pistons, this engine is plagued by failures both big and small. Today, the 6.4L is often referred to as a 150,000-mile proposition, a throwaway engine, or worse: a ticking timebomb. Initial impressions were favorable, but as time has worn on and the miles have racked up, the 6.4L has become notorious for a long list of failures. Back then, Ford fans who had already been dealing with the 6.0L’s reliability issues for nearly five years were hopeful the 6.4L would be the great savior for the Power Stroke name. With its factory compound turbo system, the debut of common-rail injection on the Power Stroke platform, quick-firing piezo injectors, and 350 hp from the factory, the 6.4L definitely had a lot of promise when it debuted in early ’07.
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