I recently had my EGR cooler replaced at the dealership and was later talking to a non-dealer mechanic who works on a lot of 6.0's. He told me he recently spoke to a Ford rep who said the reason the EGR coolers go out so often is b/c the oil coolers get pluged up with sand, which is the real culprit. This is caused by the blocks not being cleaned of sand very well when they were fabricated. So, because the coolant flow is limited it heats up too high and causes the leak. So, he says if you don't change the oil coolers you don't get to the core of the problem. Any thoughts out there on this?

 

makes sense. That's been discussed a lot in the 6.0 forums. That's why Im installing the dieselsite colant filter next month.

 

does ford check this on all the trucks coming in with egr cooler failures?

 

check what? the oil cooler? Some might, some might not. I've read posts of guys having only the egr cooler replaced and posts of both being replaced.

 

yes the sand has been known to be a culprit. not only could it plug the cooler, but the sand is abrasive, and is basically "extrude honing" your egr cooler and everything else in your engine.
the coolant filter is a necessity i believe.

another reason for egr failure has been that the high heat of the exhaust gas has actually melted the solder connections on the egr cooler !!

 

Due to a warped bed plate at around 10k miles Ford replaced the engine (short block) in my truck . So would there be any sand left in a factory rebuilt engine?

 

Im not 100%, but I would assume. Coolant filter is good insurance either way.

 

Most good ford tech's will change the engine oil cooler along with the EGR cooler. Ford even sells them together as a kit so that in itself should say something. A coolant filter is a worthwhile investment in ANY case at ANY mileage as the casting sand can be trapped in lots of nooks and crannies in the block and come out at any time.

 

After further investigation I've been told that Ford may NOT sell these together as a kit and it may be an EBay thing. If I can find the part# for the kit as posted I'll double check and make sure it's correct. Sorry for any inconvenience it might cause.

 

is there a tsb on checking the oil cooler

 

if your rad fluid level gets low this can over heat the egr valve becuse its not getting flow, then it metls, then the truck will bypass it and coolent will be introduced into the motor. this will usally produce a front end vibration when you step on the throtle, and will defenitly caus white smoke to billow out of the pipe. a bad thing. limp it to a garage

 

Check out this thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...questions.html

 

ummmmmmmmmm NO. I think you have your systems a little confused. Perhaps you mean the EGR cooler??

 

I don't know about a TSB, but the oil cooler is considered plugged/failed when the engine oil temperature and engine coolant temperature are 15* different.

 

In the normal sequence of things the EGR cooler is after the oil cooler. When the oil cooler plugs up or gets restricted, it restricts the flow of water to the EGR cooler. The solder seams then start to fail in the EGR cooler. There have been instances of the oil cooler leaking but the 1st scenario above seems to be the norm. You can also get a leak at the EGR cooler hose but this is less detrmental to the system as a whole and can be changed without disassembling the top of the engine.