The 6.7 V8 Powerstroke engine was first invented and commercialized by Ford Motors way back in 2011. This was the first engine that the engineers at Ford built exclusively, and it was code-named “The Scorpion”.
However, the engine had a very bad start and exhibited a ton of problems in the first few years. So, what year 6.7 Powerstroke to avoid?
We’d recommend avoiding the Ford 6.7 Powerstroke engines produced from 2011 to 2014. In this article, we’ll go into some in-depth discussions about this engine. So, let’s get started!
6.7 Powerstroke Years To Avoid
Ford wasn’t good enough with their Diesel engines, starting from their SuperDuty diesel trucks that were manufactured from 2003-07. Most of the issues in those vehicles were due to manufacturing faults.
However, when Ford finally released their 6.7 V8 Powerstroke engines in 2011, enthusiasts got their hopes up. Still, they were only let down as these engines, too, accompanied a ton of issues with them. It seemed that Ford wasn’t going anywhere with their Diesel engines.
To everyone’s surprise, they did get better, but only from 2015. This is why experts highly recommend you avoid 6.7 Powerstroke engines manufactured in the 2011-14 period. These engines exhibited issues with severe consequences, and we’ll discuss them in the following section.
Major Issues Exhibited by 6.7 Powerstroke Engines Manufactured in 2011-14
Let’s take a look at the issues commonly experienced by users of 2011-14 Ford 6.7 engines.
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<a href="https://autoglobes.com/what-year-6-7-powerstroke-to-avoid/" title="What Year 6.7 Powerstroke To Avoid? [Complete Guide]"><img src="https://autoglobes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/6.7-Powerstroke-Years-To-Avoid.png" width="100%" style="max-width: 850px;" alt="What Year 6.7 Powerstroke To Avoid? [Complete Guide]"></a><br>Infographic Provided by <a href="https://autoglobes.com/" target="_blank">autoglobes.com</a>Flimsy Exhaust Valve
One of the most common issues with these engines was that the exhaust valve was very flimsy. The reason behind this is Ford used a material that just wasn’t good enough.
So, the exhaust valve of many vehicles broke, leading to more severe consequences. As they broke, the valves fell into the cylinder and broke the glow plugs. This led to mass confusion where people thought the glow plugs were the problem. Upon further investigation, the real problem was found.
This problem is most prominent in the 2011 edition and was fixed to some extent in the later editions.
Coolant Leak
Coolant leakage is something most vehicle owners fear, and this is an issue that persisted in all the models made from 2011-14. The V8 6.7 diesel engine has two radiators. While the secondary radiator is robust enough, the primary one caused the leak.
The radiators got better down the line, and they became leakproof by the time the 2015 model was released. In fact, the radiator quality of the 2014 model was much better than the one in 2011.
EGT Sensor Issue
These Ford engines used to come with four EGT sensors in total. A lot of users experienced problems as the middle two sensors, the 12 and 13 failed often. Later, Ford announced official warranty coverage for this problem.
EGR Clogging
As we’ve discussed earlier, the diesel trucks made by Ford previously exhibited a lot of issues as well. In order to fix some of those issues, they tried to revamp the EGR design. While this design revamp succeeded in fixing those issues, it brought some problems of its own.
One of the most common issues concerning the EGR was EGR cooler clogging. In the new blueprint, the EGR was placed in a much warmer area. This led to a substantial build-up of carbon on the cooler core of the EGR. Eventually, the cooler got clogged, inhibiting the circulation of the exhaust gas.
This further leads to over-heating and decreased efficiency as well as the overall output of the engine. Also, there’s no permanent solution to this, so you’ll be better off avoiding it altogether.
Injection Pump Failure
Most Ford 6.7 V8 engines produced before 2020 exhibit this problem. Before 2020, these engines used to come with the CP4.2 injection pump from Bosch. However, this injection pump isn’t that good, as it fails not only in the 6.7 but also in the 6.6L Duramax engines.
There are multiple things that may exacerbate the condition of these pumps. For starters, using a sulfur diesel can corrode the cam as these don’t lubricate as well. You can also encounter this problem if you don’t maintain the engine regularly.
Over time, the cam decays and passes that debris to the engine along with the fuel. This damages every component the fuel flows into, including the injector and the regulators. As it damages multiple components, fixing this mess can get rather expensive.
Turbocharger Issue
Despite the powerful 390HP 6.7L engine, Ford paired these with small turbos. These turbos couldn’t sustain the power of the engine; thus, they broke down quite fast.
Generally, even 6.0L engines use a turbo of at least 57mm, whereas the 6.7L engine uses a turbo of 52mm only. This is why the turbo didn’t last, even though it was equipped with a ceramic bearing.
This problem can be solved by installing aftermarket third-party turbos. However, these can be quite expensive.
Here’s a small table that quickly summarizes the issues with each engine.
| Year | Issue |
| 2011-12 | Turbocharger issue |
| 2011 | Flimsy exhaust valve |
| 2011-12 | Broken glow plugs |
| 2011-14 | Injection Pump Failure, EGR Clogging, EGR Sensor failure, radiator coolant leakage. |
Are 2011 6.7 Powerstroke A Bad Engine?
The 2011 6.7 Powerstroke engine was the worst diesel engine Ford produced. This came with some problems on its own. For example, the glow plug issue, the flimsy exhaust valve, as well as the turbocharger issue.
The engines did get better over time, and by the launch of the 2014 engine, these were obsolete. So, is the 2014 6.7 Powerstroke a good engine?
Well, not really. These engines were better but still accompanied multiple problems.
Conclusion
Now that you know the issues with the 6.7L engines manufactured in 2011-14, you know what year 6.7 Powerstroke to avoid. While Ford really let us down with their initial 6.7L V8 models, they did manage to fix these issues in the later models.
So, if you want to get a vehicle with the 6.7L V8 engine, we recommend getting one that was manufactured after 2014 at least. Also, as they’ve improved these significantly over the years, we recommend settling for the latest one if your budget allows it!
