New 2010 F250 Owner

MikeSherman · Nov 9, 2012

Yep - pretty excited to join the ranks of a 6.4L Powerstroke owner. I've been searching the internet for the past 6mo to find my perfect combination of miles, colors and features. Well the day came last week when a beautiful silver F250 CCSB FX4 Lariat w/30k miles popped up in Galveston, TX. We agreed on a price over the phone and the wife and I flew to Houston last Saturday morning from WI. We sealed the deal a few hours later and I drove her home all 1200 miles back to Milwaukee. Man that's a loooong drive!!

I attempted to drain the HCFM at the dealership and all I got was a few drops. I was slightly concerned since it meant that there was blockage. As soon as I got home, I popped off the HCFM manifold and there was parifin mixed with brownish sludge about a 1/4 think in the water separator basin. Cleaned it out - and now she drains real nice! I'll bet the last owner never drained it. Since I couldn't sample the diesel at the dealership in TX, I mandated that I remove the engine mounted fuel filter and inspect for rust in the bowl - it was clean, so I was happy.

I am required to pass emissions in my area, but that will not stop me from tuning and deleting. In fact, the boys at PTP already hooked me up with an H&S mini maxx, 5" MBRP DP back exhaust, S&B CAI, PTP EGR delete kit and Sinister coolant filter kit.

I am obviously willing to prep my truck for emission testing every other year by swapping out the exhaust system. I am proposing to keep the coolers in-place but add the EGR exhaust delete plates. This way I just keep the coolant flowing thru them, but the exhaust is blocked. I am also thinking of removing the EGR assy and replacing it with the free flowing aftermarket piece from PTP. This way, for emission testing I only have to swap exhaust, remove EGR cooler block-off plates and re-install EGR assy. I'm guessing that'll be about a 3hr job?

Does this sound reasonable? I'd like to remove the EGR coolers completely, but with emission requirements and warranty, I'd rather keep them installed but disabled. I think its waaay too big a job to completely remove/install the coolers every other year.

The truck is currently at the dealership for a few warranty fixes before my 36K coverage runs out. I can't wait to get her back so I can install my go fast goodies and reliability upgrades.

-Mike

Motostroker · Nov 9, 2012

Congrats man! I have been nothing but happy with my 6.4. Amazing the power you can pump out of them. As far as the egr....I live in South Carolina so we don't have emissions testing. Hopefully some of the 6.4 gurus on here can chime in but I believe bullet proof makes an updated egr assembly? Other then studding the motor in the future (which a lot of people would recommend) drive the truck till the wheels fall off!

08BIGRIG · Nov 9, 2012

I know what that drive is like bud. Lol. We went to Dallas to get a truck last year from Green Bay. Short flight but LONG drive back.

Anyhow... Congrats on the new purchase and now the fun begains. Lots of options out there.

FreddyM · Nov 9, 2012

High tunes will stretch stock head bolts. It's not if, it's when. So plan ahead for that!
Congrats on the new truck! Post some pics!

VanoFord · Nov 10, 2012

COngrats on the new truck! I too am a newly 6.4 owner from a 06 4.6L.... Its amazing how much of a KING a truck can make you feel, right? welcome!

MikeSherman · Nov 10, 2012

Thanks for the welcome and kind words.

I have my aftermarket goodies waiting quietely for my truck to return from the dealership. Since I only had a 1500 miles until the 36k warranty was due, I wanted to fix anything I could. So once I got back from TX, I dropped it off at the dealership for a new front grill, as there were spots where the chrome had wrinkled. You can't drive such a nice truck with a HUGE chrome grill that looks like chit....so I questioned it and they covered it.

The other "big" item was a hole the size of a quarter in the flywheel housing. The dealer failed to mention this before I flew 1300 miles to buy the truck. I don't know how a ford dealership can inspect a trade-in and NOT see this hole!! I saw it immediately when I went to do my underbody inspection!

Anyway....it appears as something loosened up inside like a bolt and was pinched between the converter and the housing while it was spinning and punched a small hole. The damage appears to be from the inside out, so I was fairly confident ford would warranty the transmission.

So my dealer agrees with their visual inspection of the hole, but they are required to remove the trans in order to make the warranty claim and set my mind at ease. It won't be until early next week when they can drop the tranny and begin rebuilding it with a new housing.

Question - tranny only has 33k miles on it. When they rebuild the tranny, they will obviously look for any worn items but if all looks well they will put all the old guts into the new housing. Since I have the tranny out and apart at this time....IS THERE ANYTHING I SHOULD CONSIDER DURING THE TRANNY REBUILD? I plan on running H&S 250-300HP as a daily driver. No 1/4mile passes or pulling. Just a fun powerful DD.

Thanks all for the help and recommendations!

-Mike

Corb@CorbinShipping · Nov 10, 2012

Put an aftermarket 3 disk Torque Converter on there. If the dealership will instal during the rebuild, easiest and cheapest to do it that way. As long as you are not doing major HP and TQ upgrades, like fuel, turbo or NOS, the stock trans will last a long time, depending on how hard you push it. But the single disk TC is a weak link. If you can swing it, look into some billet parts as well. Not really needed, just depends on how much you wanna drop. Input shaft, intermediate shaft, output shaft, low reverse hub, etc. You can spend as much money as your wallet allows! LOL Just depends on how much you want to do. Call JD at Elite for some other Trans recommendations. They seem to be making the 5r110 that is taking the most abuse so far... And Jared at River City Diesel for their TC.