I have to be honest. I HATE working on them because most things are labor intensive. If I owned one I would be absolutely pissed at the cost of repairs and even more pissed dealing with doing it myself if the truck was a daily driver or a vocational vehicle I had to depend on. Perhaps I am jaded because I have had no choice but to deal with trucks that were not well maintained, abused and neglected or f-ed over by piss poor repairs. Just be careful if you proceed. Long blocks are not cheap and quality cores for reman units are seemingly in short supply.

 

[QUOTE="FordDoctor, post: 16503448, member:
Ok thank you. I’ve never had a diesel truck so I don’t know a whole lot other than the basics. I understand that the 6.4 is not the best choice but it seemed like a decent deal. I really just want a diesel jsut to drive to work and to haul stuff every once in a while nothing too big. I have seen that the 2000-2002 7.3 is a great diesel to get but for someone who is on a budget it’s hard to find a decent one under 15,000 that is not all rusted out and not over 300,000. I would like to stay with a F-250 but jsut trying to find a decent deisel truck that will be somewhat reliable for a few years.

 

Hell to the know

see what I did there ? no = know lol

 

You would have $20,000 in a 2008 6.4 with over 200k. Not a great investment.
If you are serious, maybe consider a cummins swap.

 

As your first diesel- no. As your second, third, fourth etc….. only if you
Ike burning money.

 

[QUOTE="TheLinconlGreen, post:
I have also thought of that but I thought it would be more expensive after you have the Cummins conversion kit and the motor but I guess it will pay off in the long run

 

I vote no on your first.

It will be lots of money and time to make it mostly reliable.
if you’re concerned about $15K, then the 6.4L isn’t for you …

in fact $15K for any decent truck in this market is a unicorn.

 

Honestly financially wise decision would be to just get a gasser pickup for no more than you are going to use it for. That being said I could also have gotten a gasser and gotten by just fine and opted for the diesel anyway so I get it lol. I am often towing at max capacity whenever I am hooked up just not very often and not very long hauls.

 

Save your money and buy a 6.7. I have a couple buddies with 6.4s and they run hard.... when they run.

 

Ok thank you all. I have a gas truck now( 2004 f250 5.4 I understand is one of the worst gas truck but still) I would like to move up to a diesel jsut becuase in the future I know I will enjoy it more. That being said would an obs(1994-1997) 7.3 be a good option I understand they are very liable they are just hard to find not all rusted out in my area. Also I’ve heard the 1999-2000 7.3 are great too. Just seeing what the best option would be for the best price and reliability

 

I recently sold a CCLB OBS with a 7.3. Great truck it was an absolute work horse. They do lack in the interior department mine was super noisy with bangs rattles and broken plastics (That can be said for most older work trucks though). My truck had 215k on it when I sold it. Running great no engine problems, but it had gone through 2 transmissions. If you need a solid work truck you can't go wrong with an OBS in my opinion. Just find one that has transmission rebuild work with receipts from a reputable shop.

 

I wouldn't recommend your first diesel truck being one that needs a new engine, especially something expensive. With 200k the axles could be bad same with the transmission and transfercase.word of mouth doesn't mean much unless they have receipts. I would start with something cheap like a 6.9 or 7.3 idi and go from there.

 

I got a 6.4 as my first diesel. It didn't have engine problems, had been a reman under warranty, otherwise stock with 155k miles that I got for 7k.

I think I'm roughly 4k into making it a reliable vehicle. It's down for days at a time, as it's my first diesel, I do my own work, and I work on it in a gravel driveway and not an enclosed shop so everything just takes longer (and I'm limited by daylight hours). If I had other people working on it it'd be twice the cost, and I don't know if I'd trust the workmanship. If I had to do an engine swap right now, I'd drive/tow it out of state as I don't trust my local shops.

A lot of it can be done on your own, but it requires tools and skills. I just used an oxygen cutting torch for the first time today, and had to use it under hood when a bolt rounded where it was the only cutting implement I could get there. I have to weld stuff tomorrow for the same repair project and replace tools I broke.

If you don't have a wide variety of skills and tools, comfort picking them up on the fly, friends that can make up the gaps, or deep pockets to pay others - a 6.4 is not for you.

And I say that as a diesel newbie who got one not knowing what he was getting into, loves it, and wouldn't get rid of it. But they're not for everyone

 

Oh, and from what I find if you need a new engine on a 6.4 it's 15-20k parts and labor depending on locale and which route of engine solution you take. Ask around your area before you buy though

 

Plenty of perfectly good 6.4 trucks people stopped making payments on or just parted out because repairing the blown 6.4 motor was worth far more than the truck

 

Pull the engine, strip the block, bore hone, surface the heads, check for cracks, put in rebuild parts, install lower end.
With head work, long block parts, do ot yourself, bout 6k in parts and upgrades

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