Just been told today that truck has a P012F error code which requires a new oil cooler. Truck has 89,000 miles. Read a lot of posts where this is a common problem. Question: Should I opt for aftermarket oil cooler and/or go with air cooled approach? What are common issues to watch out for?

 

Not that common of a problem on the 6.4 actually. As long as proper maintance is done on the 6.4 the oil cooler has been pretty good.

Who did the diagnosis?

You might still have some warranty yet depending upon date of ownership. You should verify. It Miles wise you are under 100K so this would be a covered repair.

If I were you and under warranty get it repaired through ford. A complete coolant flush will have to occur and so everything should be good after that.

 

Diagnosed twice by ex 17 year Ford mechanic who has his own shop. Going to go slow on this. Went to local Ford shop and they were not very encouraging on flush as sole solution. Now here's the bad news---warranty expired on time in Jan 2013. It figures.

 

Do the flush and see if it returns. This job can be done cab on...but takes a bit of time. Cab off is quicker.

6.0's had alot of problems with oil coolers but that many of the 6.4.

 

I think that makes sense and I will try flush first. Wrench light comes on after 20 minutes. After turning off and back on, it takes about 8 minutes for the wrench to come on again. I bought truck used in Feb 2013 with 83,000 miles. Don't use for towing or any heavy duty, just a short trip truck with maybe one 300 mile journey a month. Does Ford sell any sort of upgrade oil cooler for the 2008?

 

not that I am aware of.

this sounds like a lack of maintance issue that you will be taking care of. Once you have it done then you will not have to worry about it again.

 

Glad to hear it is maybe is more of a maintenance issue. Was worried there was a serious design issue with the oil cooler. Does not help with the cost to fix though! Many thanks for the feedback.

 

Bullet Proof Diesel sells an external kit to lower temps or to coil oil when stock one is plugged

http://www.bulletproofdiesel.com/product_p/90409000.htm

I had to have my stock cooler replaced last summer. They didn't do cab off. They loosened and jacked up drivers side and worked from top of motor. They didn't have to exact A/C

 

Anyone have feedback on BulletProof Diesel half kit oil cooler for 08 F250?

 

Just a thought but I think before I sprung the money for a new cooler I'd get a 2nd opinion, buddies experience aside.

If the cooler is gone you should be showing quite a temp difference between engine coolant and the oil temp. Maybe you can rent/borrow from one of the box stores something that plugs into the obd port and will give you actual temp readouts.


On that half kit you mentioned, I don't believe that replaces your factory cooler. If I understood the sales propaganda I think it only offers additional cooling and isn't meant to take the place of what's already there. If yours is completely gunked up I don't know that their kit is capable of going it alone. I'd be sure to ask before I dropped that kind of coin.

 

Thanks fior the comments. I sure have more work to do.

 

I have the same problem with my 08. Out of warranty but the lights only comes on when I tow. The external oil cooler from BPD is about 1300 bucks. Don't have to remove the reg. cooler which is nice. It should keep the temps down

 

If your oil cooler is working properly then you will not have the light or fault codes. Strongly suggest you replace that first before adding additional coolers.

Properly working cooler and you can tow heavy cross country in over 100F and be just fine.

Not so sure with just an add on that you would be able to since you still have the problem.

 

I agree with Scott, the solution is to fix the problem rather than a band-aid fix. If it doesn't work you could easily be on the hook for $10K+ for a new engine.

 

X3 on what Senix says.
I could be wrong but these oil cooler failures, are they the same as the 6.0 failures where the coolant side of the cooler plugs and loses its ability to cool the oil properly? If so, then the rest of the system will be compromised with less flow and add more stress/heat to other components which could eventually fail too. I believe that could include egr coolers too. We don't want those to rupture...unless the 6.4 is different? Idk