6.4 Powered-Stroke Injector Woes 

Yeah, I definitely pinched pennies too hard on this one

My 09 F250 6.4L is running great. Never been in a shop. I have always been able to fix everything that has gone wrong with it and so far only little minor fixes. Currently have 233K miles and I deleted the EGR/DPF at 110K miles. Still have original injectors. Runs great if you never use any tuning and keep up on regular maintenance.

What happens when you don't use fuel additives?

It's good to know I'm not the only one struggling. Best of luck on that head gasket, sounds like a nightmare

@@Mighty-Quinn your definitely not in this alone. We are small time farmers too in AL. Best of luck to you on getting it running rite!

Sorry regrade that glow plug harness number 3 and 5 harness is popping out not glow plug

The scanner is an Autel MK808, and it came from Amazon. It's not the most advanced scan tool they have, but it will do a lot more than a cheap-o scan tool.

If the glow plug harness keeps popping out of the valve cover, those grommets may be worn to where they won't hold the harness in place. The connectors themselves might be bad too, and they just vibrate out over time. I've never had that problem, so I can't say anything for certain. Just my guess.

After this video, I put a wiring harness on, then another injector, and later I reflashed the tune. At this point I think the loping and misfiring is a valve or lifter issue. It's not the injector, that much I know for certain. I'm also thinking that the PCM might be messed up. The piston rings are most likely worn down as well. I don't think there's a cracked piston on this engine, because the misfiring is super random (hence the valve/lifter theory). Right now the truck is parked while we decide what to do with it.

@@Mighty-Quinn thx for the update. Can I give u my opinion on it.... the ecm is commanding it to over fuel trying to over compensate for the lack of angular velocity of that power cycle on number 3. Its a base engine issue. Time to replace or built it. The cat was funny in the video.

Thanks for the input. It definitely needs a rebuild regardless of what is actually going on. I'm sure you know how the rebuild vs. replace dilemma goes. No matter what we choose to do, it's guaranteed to cost lots of money haha.

@@Mighty-Quinn unfortunately yes lots of money

It would, in a way. It's actually better to do all 8 at once. But these injectors are expensive, and if there's only 1 going bad, it's cheaper and faster to just replace it and move on. Assuming the problem is actually the injector.

Yeah it's definitely getting worn out. Not like these engines were built all that well to begin with. The thing is, if that injector cuts back on how much fuel its putting in, the engine runs great. Plenty of power and everything. I'm not discounting a cracked piston as the cause of the problem, but I just don't think that is the actual problem. There's no oil dilution or excessive oil consumption either, which I think indicates it's something else. Now, I could be wrong of course. But I have wiring to check before I start assuming the worst. A cracked piston would almost make this easier, at least then I'd know the motor is completely FUBAR'd

@@Mighty-Quinn do you know these injectors are of good quality and is there any zero quantity you can do to reset/relearn on those engines/injectors. Im familiar and own and fix alot of Mercedes CDI engines on these you need to write injector code on new injectors to the ecu. Ecu shouldnt have to compensate and increase or decrease fuel on a new injector.

@@thepunisher955 These are the Ford reman injectors, so the quality should be fine. All I can do is reset the high pressure fuel pump adaptive tables (which I have done, and it helps slightly for a short time). The ECM shouldn't have to compensate so much for a new injector, that's true, but it is doing it anyway for #3 cylinder. I think there's a communication fault between #3 injector and the ECM/PCM. When I replaced #7 injector, I didn't have any of these issues with it overcompensating on fuel delivery.

@@Mighty-Quinn its very weird that ecu think its need to adjust the new injectors so much never seen that on new bosch cdi injectors (mercedes) only very small adjustments. start with compression test on cyl #3 please or else move injector on cyl 3 and see if it still compensates so much if you think its a communication problem

The pins in that wire hat is on the firewall. Like you I'm scratching sawdust here.

I don't think it's a cause of blowby, but it certainly isn't helping.

Yeah it's quite a bit of blow-by.

@@Mighty-Quinn you got it working now? I just dropped an engine in mine. Need to put cab back on.

No, it's still pretty messed up. Won't run right no matter what I do. Probably needs some serious work (piston and rings, valves, etc.) at this point. I didn't want to beleive that when I was making these videos, but after all I've done that's the only conclusion I can come to.

@@Mighty-Quinn perhaps yes. The rockers and pivots west out also and can give a cylinder miss. Throw a used engine in it. It’s easy. Look for one you can see running and with minimum blow by. I paid 3500 for my engine delivered.

It’s relatively easy to remove the cab too.

Yes, that would have helped narrow down the exact cause of the problem. Unfortunately it would require several new injector lines, because they are single use only. Once you tighten them down they cannot be reused. Since this video, I've put an entire engine wiring harness on, plus another injector, and it's still not running right. I think it's time to face facts that it most likely is a piston or rings.

@@Mighty-Quinn I have a 7.3 (1999) and I took it for granted that your inj types were swap-able... though I must ask, what do you think would have cracked a piston as other commentors have suggested...(?) (and you might suspect is wrong)

Cracked pistons are just one of the known issues with the 6.4. Generally they break because of the emissions system (which in my case is gone). However, when the Diesel Particulate Filter is installed, the #7 and #8 injectors will push fuel into the cylinder on the exhaust stroke to burn the soot in the DPF to ash (this is what occurs during regen mode). All that extra heat will quickly wear out a piston, and they crack. I don't think the metallurgy on the 6.4 pistons was the best either, especially considering the application and the stresses they were put under. ---- Another thing that can readily crack (or burn a hole into) a piston is an injector that is worn out or stuck open. In that scenario, instead of a fine spray of fuel being injected, you get more of a dribble or stream. That doesn't combust very well, but it does get hot enough to act like an acetylene torch and burn a hole right through the piston. In my case, I think the engine was already screwed up from the previous owners (I recently came to the conclusion that the engine isn't even original to this truck, it's likely from an F450 or F550), and it was always wearing out. I think what finally killed it was us replacing the turbochargers with ones that actually worked, and all that extra pressure finished it off. BUT, that still doesn't explain why it randomly runs fine and then just as randomly does not run fine. Having exhausted all other reasons for what causes this (it's not wiring, fuses, injectors, or bad head gaskets, etc.), I have to assume it is a mechanical failure of the piston, rings, lifter, or valve(s). The only way to know for certain is to pull the motor and open it up. Also: Nice to hear you have a 7.3! Very good engines. I plan to get several in the far future just for the cool factor.