Hey guys need some help! I ran from San Diego to San Francisco 2 weeks ago. I was pulling small trailer with maybe 3500lbs total trailer and cargo. I noticed what I thought was a coolant smell coming into cab. I pulled over let the truck cool down popped the degauss cap and saw what looked like diesel in the coolant. There was evidence of small spitting on the bottle. I took it to my dealer today. He called me and said that injectors were leaking at the brass insert in the head and that both heads had to be replaced. $6,600.00 plus.
Truck is an 04 with 83,000 miles and never really worked hard. No heavy loads at all. Does this sound correct? I have searched the forums and cannot find anyone else with this problem. Any help would be appreciated? Man I thought maybe dreaded h.g issue..This is too much!!

 

Fuel in the coolant most likely means that one or both heads are cracked. I'd be sure to check on the inservice date of the truck because it very likely could still be under warranty.

 

Dealer says that I am out of warranty by time over 5 years. Man I am screwed I'm in construction and we are sloow. So money is tight. Could not have happened at a worse time. Thank you for the response!

 

i dought your heads are cracked it sounds like you have a injector cup leaking witch can be done with heads on truck with the proper tooling any good dealer should be able to do this

 

Mick, I hope you are right.. I will check on that asap. Talked to service guy @ Capo Ford.. He said probably contaminated coolant.
100,000 mile coolant,, truck was in for new coolant. I said hey man it was your oem coolant. Service manager said, oh could have been anything, ie..egr valve, oil cooler blah, blah, overheating I said check the diagnostics for overheating he said oh we cannot get a print out of that. I said bullsxxx. Man,, why argue with an idiot. What a frustrating ordeal. But thanks for the come back you guys! I need all the help I can get @ this point. I'm in San Clemente,CA.

 

Sounds like you need to find a different dealer, maybe this one is trying to shaft you. Several members here from Cali, maybe one can help ya out with a good dealer?

 

You might want to take it to Bud at OCDieselShop in Mission Viejo for a second opinion.. He has a great reputation and is right up the road from you.. Go Tritons.. LOL

 

Fuel in coolant only comes from two places, a cracked head or a bad injector cup. Removing all injectors and pressurizing the coolant system, then using a soapy liquid determine whether the cup is bad or the head is cracked. Per Ford you are supposed to pull the head to replace the cup but it can be done in cab.

 

Thank you all for the reponses and your knowledge! Greatly appreciated. Great community here!! I will call OCDiesel tomorrow.

 

You can't go wrong with Bud. He has many years of experience working on these engines, and he'll explain everything to you and keep you in the loop during the entire process.


Good call Will!

 

Unlike the 7.3L Power Stroke engine, a 6.0L injector lower fuel o-ring is above the fuel injector cup in the cylinder head. In order for fuel to leak due to a faulty injector cup BOTH the cup seal and the injector o-ring would have to fail at the same time which is extremely unlikely. Unfortunately the most likely cause is indeed a cracked cylinder head. I have seen three 6.0L PSD's come through my dealer's shop. While rare, this is a known issue.

If your truck were in my bay I would attempt to isolate which cylinder head is leaking by pressurizing the fuel line going to each head separately. A pressure tester teed into one of the degas lines can show a pressure increase. I also have read a suggestion that recommended removing the t-stat and watch for bubbles or liquid flow in the front cover with each fuel line pressurized separately.

Once a cylinder head is isolated as the leaker I would remove the injectors and inspect the seals, cups and injector bores for damage first...just to be sure. Then I would sell you a cylinder head after verifying that your diesel engine warranty has indeed expired.

Good Luck!

 

Keith, albeit not great knews I appreciate your response. Wow, I get the "rare" problem. If this is indeed a cracked cyclinder head. what are the causes and how to prevent in the future? The time of this post is 3:24am ..Its keeping me up this night..I like my truck and need it to work for me...

 

Again thank you to all for your timely responses...Greatly appreciated!!

 

Thanks Steve for the confirmation on Bud @ OCDieselShop..

 

I recall discussions on this concern being related to a certain model year or certain heads made in a particular time frame. I apologize for not being very accurate on this. I don't think this is related to any "cause" that you could have or will be able to avoid. I would guess it is a casting issue involving a weak area or something... think of it like a congenital defect.