Hello All,

Last year I drove to Nevada going up steep inclines the 2006 6.0L F-350 was towing a 9,000 pound boat. The temp outside was 109 degrees AC full Blast and the coolant was not changed in 125,000 miles. The degas bottle puked all under the hood and I had the level of coolant at the max mark. It puked one other time after I lowered the coolant to the min level.

This is where I am today. I replaced the coolant cap, Replace the thermostat, New flush with new coolant. I read to keep the coolant any where between 1/2 inch to 1 inch below the min line, I put it at 1/2 inch below. I pulled the EGR Valve and it had moist carbon in there. I ordered a new oil cooler and EGR cooler today went with the one with round holes. I picked up a scanner II and drove the truck into the mountains. The EOT was 211 and the ECT was at 200 at it's highest also 35 outside. I didn't have anything to pull, so I just keep steeping on the gas really hard going up the hills. Around town it was ECT 188 and EOT was 193-195. I do not blow any white smoke nor am I loosing any fluid. Do you think that the puking is head gaskets? Ford keeps saying it is; but i don't know any ideas? Should I just not worry about it until something else happens after replacing oil and egr cooler?

Thanks,

Randall

 

Did it puke coolant again after you lowered the coolant level to 1/2" below the minimum line on the degas bottle? Also you do not want to check the ECT/EOT differential while pulling a load or pulling a hill, the pretty much universally accepted method of checking the ECT/EOT temp spread for us backyard mechanics is to get the engine up to operating temp ( 185-190* ) and run the truck on a flat roadway at 65 MPH for a good distance 20 to 30 minutes and note the temp spread, if it is <15* you are fine. If it is puking coolant with the coolant level 1/2" or so below the minimum line on the degas bottle its likely the head gaskets. Have you tried parking it nose down over night and pulling the EGR valve to see how much moisture is there?

 

Easiest way is to put a gauge on degas bottle and measure pressure. Give it full boost and read the lbs of pressure in coolant line. Any thing over 16lbs and your looking at head problems.

 

It has not puked 1/2 inch below the line at all not even today. I did park it nose down last night in the drive way and it was a little moist this morning when I checked it. I bought the truck used with 119,000 miles and it has been great up to this point. It has not lost any antifreeze at all other than those 2 events. the other event happen when it was 60 degrees out going straight up a hill towing the boat at 75 mph and I saw the temp rise and let off. when it did puke it was very little and the antifreeze was really old. the only thing I had done at that point was replace the cap on the bottle. I guess I just have to hope for the best.

Randall

 

If you get it up to temp 185-190* and drive it like you stole it to get the boost/load up on the engine and it doesn't puke then you are just fine, the other events were due to it being overfilled and perhaps a weak degas bottle cap.

 

Could be something is clogged tat is causing high heat buildup. I would check everything along the lines of the oil cooler and egr cooler related. HPOP is one area I check. Did u have the updated STC fitting? Tat sort of thing.

Or it could be a combination of things. There are also other stuff to consider. Did u do updated standpipes and dummy plugs?

I'm sure others will chime in but right now I'm just poking around some possibilities.

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IMO it could be a damaged head gasket. First do a cooling system pressure test. If no leak is found then a cylinder compression test should be performed. A minute gap between a cylinder and a coolant port may only manifest itself during heavy load conditions.

 

coming from a ford certified diesel tech, head gaskets 100%, sounds like the heads lifter when you did that tow when loaded, replace the head gaskets and make sure you stud your engine, arp head studs that is

 

No way that just pulling a 9k boat even in the mountains lifted the heads. You may indeed have head gasket or head damage and the best way to find out is with a compression test. There could be other causes for the boil-over (puking) and unless you diagnose the cause of the overheating you may pay for the head gasket replacement and still end up overheating. My '05 has 218k miles, pulls a 5th wheel all over the country, including the mountains, egr cooler, oil cooler and turbo replaced but the heads have never been off. The tech may or may not be able to find the breach in the head gasket once he pulls the heads off because the gasket material may tear during disassembly.

Anyway that's my 2 cents.

 

Something else to remember, the boiling point of water at sea level is 212*F, at 10k feet elevation it's 197*F, add to that degraded coolant and loss of pressure like a bad coolant tank cap and you have the conditions required for a boil-over at operating temperatures like you stated. At lower elevations the boiling point goes up and the cooling system doesn't boil-over.

If you want to spend the $5k +/- and bullet proof your engine that's one thing but 6.0 heads, head bolts and head gaskets are not a defect. Unless you overheated the engine or were towing a heavy load with a performance tune or the previous owner abused the engine, there is a good chance that your problem lies within the cooling system and an expensive head gasket replacement is not necessary.

 

True tat. Gotta machine tat head gasket flat and smooth. Lol. Just snuggs adding his 2 cents.

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Just get the coolant level on the minimum line and hammer down as mentioned before if it dont puke I wouldnt worry about it. If idoes puke put a gauge on the coolant line and measure the pressure at wot, anything over 16lbs and you have hg problems more than likely.

 

Take it from someone who went through all this. If its a head gasket, or as in my case stretched bolt, you will hear a tea kettle sound coming from the Degas bottle if your boost goes over 16 lbs. I wouldn't be overly concerned. My truck lost minor amounts of coolant but only if boost went high enough. Coolant level didn't have any effect on the coolant loss under boost.

I think you're just fine.

 

Thats right. If you have hg issues it doesnt matter were the coolant level is. Under boost it will puke. But if the coolant level is high and no hg problem it will puke as well. Then your back to square one. Thats why you need to get the level at minimum mark and under boost see if it pukes. If not then your ok. Oh, I have been through this issue more times you can count.

 

Thanks All,

I am going to do a pressure test on it today and see how much it builds under wide open throttle. When my kit gets here on Tuesday I will go ahead and replace the oil cooler and egr cooler. I will keep an eye on it and see what develops. I will post my results here after the pressure test.

Randall Williams