Haven't been here for a while. Did a lot of reading back in 2007 when I bought my 2005 6.0 PSD Excursion 4WD.

Was near Flagstaff last night when billows of white steam came out of the tailpipe. So time for a head gasket job.

Need two things:

1) A recommendation for a reputable shop in the Phoenix area, preferably north end. Vehicle is still in Flagstaff, so if there is a top drawer shop in Flagstaff then that is an option.

2) Need recommendations of other work to perform while the engine is out. At a minimum we'll put in studs and do an EGR delete. What else?

I use this vehicle for family trips and towing. It is not a daily driver. It has never been chipped. Has 100K miles. Ran great up to the point that the head gasket blew. Haven't ever wanted for power but now that I'm doing the studs I'm thinking a light duty chip installation might buy me more mileage and power when I need it. Don't want to go radical, this is a practical family ride that hauls family and trailers through the heat and mountains.

Turbocharger was replaced under warranty around 40K miles, FICM and one injector replaced at about 55K miles. Otherwise has been pretty trouble free.

Thanks for your help. Happy 4th to our nation.

 

How do ya know it's a head gasket ?

 

May be an oversimplification on my part but here's what has been going on:

Been smelling a bit of coolant lately, might have been light "puking". Had to add some coolant (about a gallon) a month or so ago.

Previous experiences of mine with steam in the exhaust (on gassers) have always been blown head gaskets. Is there another way the 6.0 can get coolant into the combustion system?

Failure occurred while travelling at normal hwy speeds (maybe 75 mph) and relative level road, 7000 ft elevation. Had been travelling all day through more severe conditions (higher temperatures and grades - started in Durango CO) with no trouble. Worst ambient we saw was maybe 104, ambient around 90F when failure occurred.

Pulled to side of road. On restart engine ran a little rough for 5-10s sec, then ran fine, but still blowing steam from exhaust. Decided to baby it into Flagstaff (about 7 mi out of town), but within a mile engine temp was rising quickly. So shut 'er down and called for a tow. Kids, dogs, etc ferried to town by a friend but that's another story in the adventure.

A look at the dipstick did not reveal gross coolant contamination in the oil. Still could be some in there so I did not run the engine further for fear of lower end damage.

Hopeful I'm not facing a full blown head gasket/stud job.... tell me there's another way for this to have happened.

 

EGR cooler,oil cooler clogged, got anyway to monitor the engine? scan gauge dash boss sct ? Pull the EGR and see if there's coolant in there

 

Thanks. Can't access it right now - vehicle is in Flagstaff but I am in Phoenix. I don't have any scan type tools either.

Trying to figure out where to go next.

So if the EGR cooler leaks into the EGR loop, coolant gets into the intake? That makes sense to me.

How does a plugged oil cooler result in coolant in the combustion path?

 

oil cooler is in sieres with the EGR cooler and if the oil cooler is clogged, the EGR over heats and cracks when coolant hits it and coolant leaks into the intake hopefully it didn't lift the head studs and it will be a cheaper fix

 

OK I get it. Thanks. I sure hope that's it.

Have done some research on local shops -

Strictly Diesel in Deer Park
Reliable Diesel in Mesa
Pro Diesel?
Deer Valley Diesel

Any thoughts on shops in Phoenix?

 

I have no clue as I'm in New Jersey but there are some local chapters there I'm sure. Go to the top of the thread and ck it out good luck

 

Strictly diesel did old cooler and egr cooler on mine. Been 2years and stil running strong.

 

I will PM ya with the name and number of the guy that did mine. Top tech at one of the big dealers, reasonable and will do what ya tell him you want done. he brought mine up to date will all the latest TSBs while doing the egr and oil cooler. Recommend him highly.

 

bulletproof diesel
4245 E. Palm Street | Mesa, Arizona 85215 | Tel 480.247.2331 | Fax 480.268.7564 | Toll Free 888.967.6653 | email: Sales@BulletProofDiesel.com

i'd take it here, but that is just my point of view.
i'm running their oil cooler, egr cooler, etc.

 

egr cooler leaking into intake manifold is first up.
then steam.... and you run the risk of hydrolocking
the engine, which kills the studs and headgaskets.
the egr cooler usually fails when the oil cooler gets
blocked with coolant sludge.

hope ya got AAA premier... that is good for a one shot 200 mile
tow without charge, and that'll get you from flag to feen-x and some.

BPD has a number of solutions for the 6.0 motor.
some folks feel they are excessive $$ as a solution, but
nobody has ever experienced them not working, to
my knowledge.

i dunno about you, but my thoughts if i was sitting
by the side of the road on a holiday trip, would not be
"are they excessive", but would be "are they excessive enough?"

 

Thanks to all. I have the AAA premier and will tow to shop in the AM.

Jim

 

Yeah, if you can get it to BPD - They would be premier, especially since they are renowned for making a Bullet Proof EGR cooler - which will save you a LOT of grief. Make sure that they do all of the timely updates when they are in there:

HPOP STC Fitting
FPR - Blue Spring update
Turbo Oil Feed
Turbo Oil Drain

Also, you will likely need to have your oil cooler replaced. They have a bulletproof one that is no longer coolant to oil cooling, but that's an expensive change.

One piece of advice - get a good gauge setup (Dashboss for iPhone or Torque for Andorid, or Scanguage if you don't want to use a tablet/smartphone) so you can try and keep preventative rather than reactive on things like this.