So, we went camping in Gettysburg, PA this weekend. We tow a 6500#, 28ft travel trailer with my early 2004 6.0l F250 CCSB. The trip up to PA from Charleston, SC went smooth as silk. The trip back is where the story starts for 6.0 owners and the questions begin.
Coming south on I-81 into Blacksburg, VA she was pulling up the hills just fine. About half way up I noticed that she was blowing a mist out behind on the drivers side and started getting nervous. I have a Scan Gauge II and started monitoring temperatures closer. I didn't want to stop on the hills because it didn't seem safe from a traffic or unhooking the trailer if worse case scenario was occurring. I finished the pull to the top and noticed coolant at 260F and the oil at 300F and she was defueling to protect herself as I pulled off I-81 at mile marker 117.9. Upon opening the hood, the problem with the over heating manifested itself with the plastic y pipe from the degas bottle breaking in half. I probably emptied the engine of most of the coolant. I am running T6 oil and had Motorcraft Gold Coolant.
The repair shop found the part and replaced it but used green coolant. I got the truck back, hooked up, and continued another 350 miles to SC. I monitored temperatures and coolant, oil, and transmission temperatures were normal for this truck when towing. This morning after she had cooled down and I started her, she started normal and ran fine with no smoke. I will flush and replace the coolant with a CAT ELC and change the oil (it is due)
Questions: What else would you do to ensure longevity? I was concerned with the water pump, but I think it is good. What do I need to do to ensure the heads are good?
Any recommendations for keeping her healthy after this is appreciated.

 

I think you'll be alright. Changing the fluids is a great idea as the oil took a hard hit temp wise. Make sure the oil pan is perfectly clean and look for foreign objects and fluids.

 

Keep a close eye on your temperasure difference between the EOT and ECT. I'm thinking you might have cooked the coolant in the oil cooler and might need to replace it. Time will tell.

 

The EOT to ECT difference was the same after as before while towing, about 12 to 15F difference at 70 MPH. The oil cooler and the coolant pump were the big concerns after the heads once it was fixed.

 

Many of us buy one of these trucks, hook up the trailer, and go, learning along the way. I suggest going to the towing forum here on FTE and reading up on strategies for towing with a 6.0. You may be suprised to find it can actuially run cooler on the hills at a relatively high rpm compared to some other diesel engines. Most of us feel like we're being easier on it by keeping in a higher gear and lower rpm when really the opposite is true. What I'm getting at is the reason for the overheating in the first place. Towing in the mountains requires a strategy and driving style could have been the cause or contributed to the overheating. Other causes include coolant condition, cooling system condition etc.

Unfortunately, many trucks head gasket issues begin with an overheat event. It's common for the gaskets to leak only under the most extreme conditions at first and leak sooner/easier over time. I would want to know there is no lingering issues to cause trouble on the next trip. A quick, no-cost test is to get the truck fully up to temp, CAREFULLY (slowly, with a thick towel etc.) vent the pressure from the degas cap then re-tighten and drive a few miles and check the pressure again. It may build a little but should be nowhere near as much as the first venting. If it is similar, the cylinder pressure is being pushed into the coolant system through a failed EGR cooler or head gasket. This is a quick test and a good way to a rough idea if there is any issue.

Of course any white splatters around the coolant cap indicates the cap is being over pressured. Hopefully the cap is new after the repairs, once they vent, it is recommended to replace it. Keep a close eye on this for a while, especially after some long highway miles or after towing.

I'd make a mark on the coolant resivoir with a sharpie and keep a careful eye on the coolant level for a while. There may be a little air in the system from the repairs but it should level out after a few temp cycles. Using the mark, check it cold and parked at the same angle. After shutting down, a leaking EGR cooler or headgasket can allow coolant to leak back into the cylinders or intake manifold. Cylinder pressure has went to zero and the coolant system can maintain pressure for Many hours. Even a very small leak will add up to a visible coolant level drop over time if you are watching closely.

If you want more precise info, it's a simple matter of hooking up a pressure gauge anywhere in the system and keeping an eye on it. The cap vents at 16psi so a low pressure gauge is good. You can use an electric gauge in the cab with a sending unit wherever is convenient, or a mechanical gauge under the hood, but I wouldn't bring a hose into the cab for safety reasons. 6-8psi is common under normal driving conditions but you may see higher numbers and still be ok, especially if you're towing. Mostly what you're looking for is high numbers combined with fluctuations in the gauge that follows rpm closely and changes quickly.

I hope I'm not worrying you with this post, it's possible the truck survived this overheating event with no damage, but before loading up the family and heading out again I would want to know for sure everything is ok. Hopefully I've armed you up with some ways to check it out and some other ideas to keep it from happening again.

 

I'll check the pressure using that easy test.
I replaced the EGR cooler last year due to me physically damaging it trying to install the old one during other work.
I let the truck decide gears and usually maintain speed around 2400 to 2600 RPM depending on which gears she chooses.
She didn't overheat initially, just warm, about 220 ECT when the misting stated. I don't think the cap vented, I think the pipe broke and it all went away there. The degas bottle looked the same after as it did before the incident.

 

If you ran it dry of coolant it got hotter than 260 and shortened the life of the head gaskets. If you have studs you might save it by re-torquing the heads, can't do that with tty bolts though.

 

On my 06 there are 2 transmission coolers. One uses air from the fan, the other uses coolant because it's in the bottom of the radiator. I'm pretty sure your truck has a cooler in the radiator too. The tranny fluid probably got pretty hot, I'd get that replaced too.

 

No studs, just the TTY bolts. The Scan Gauge read 180F for tranny temp, I've seen that towing hills when there were no problems.

 

I had a similar incident happen two years ago this past February. OAT was 25F when I started out to work. Noticed on the way that I was not getting any heat. I have a wash gravel driveway so I noticed no coolant leaks. About half way in my 17 mile commute, I noticed the cooling fan roaring. Still running great just no heat and the temp gauge was not where it normally is and it was not pegged to H. Got to work and shut it down. Raised the hood and started looking. No coolant in the degas tank. Looked under the truck and the lower radiator hose was completely off. Reattached hose and let it set to cool down. The last thing you want to do is put cold water in an extremely hot motor. Ask me how I know. I cracked both heads on a Chevy 6.5L TD doing that. $2700 later I was back on the road. Anyway, since it was cold outside I filled the radiator up about 4 hours later. Started right up and all was normal. I have ARP studs but I did not change HGs when I studded it. Had a very minor puking problem and after it overheated, that went away. The HGs finally sealed. What saved me was the cold OAT, 14 quarts of synthetic oil and the fan engaging as it should. Truck has never run better for over two years. I currently run the X4 performance tune and the Atlas 80 FICM tune. Since you are not studded, you may have stretched the TTY bolts. Puking will tell you if there is a problem.

FWIW, I run the green coolant. I don't buy the Ford coolant color crap as I don't buy the Ford tranny fluid crap. I run Prestone green coolant and Royal Purple synthetic ATF. Got 132K on the clock with no tranny or coolant issues.

Ed

 

At 300F oil temp you might have melted some plastic internals. Pull the oil filter and inspect the plastic standpipe. If that melted and got down into the oiling system and rehardened you are in deep! Hopefully not the case!

Which EGR cooler do you have? If the factory square one (I don't know if the early 04's still had the round) there's a good chance you blew the solder joints. Check for that leaking by parking with nose downhill overnight and then pull EGR valve and look for wetness.

If you've got the Bulletproof Diesel EGR no worries, it's fully welded.

Inspect all of your hoses, make sure none are getting soft or bulging from the high temp.

 

Well that is good news about the trans fluid temp, 180 is great. I thought the heat transfer from hot coolant might have heated it up more. Thinking more about it, I guess the coolant would have still been in the radiator with the fan going and only cooling the trans fluid, not being circulated through the block. Glad to hear.

 

Did you hear the roar of the fan as the temp climbed? Should have been making a loud roar past 215 or so. If not that may be the problem.

 

I agree here with Dave. A dry egr due to lack of coolant is why we monitor the oil cooler delta so closely.
I'd ensure there's no damage there. Head gasket issue will show up with the coolant psi issue.

 

I have the round EGR cooler since it is an early '04. I'll check that and look for deformed hoses when I do the coolant change.
Fan roared like it was supposed to.

Thanks you for your assistance and recommendations