Ok, so here goes. This is probably too much information, but I just want to lay everything on the table to get an idea of what I am looking at.

A few weeks ago my x was loosing coolant at a pretty constant rate. I thought the worst and planned to have her bullet proofed. I took her to my local diesel tech and he found that it was actually a leaky heater hose (apparently the plastic Y had a little crack). He replaced it, added coolant and sent me on my way. Everything was running great so decided to take it on a 1100 mile round trip out to West Texas. At the recommendation of my tech and everyone on this forum, I also installed the edge cts gauges so that I could begin to monitor everything.

Fast forward to Saturday evening. We (my wife, 10 month old twins, brother in law and sister law) took off around 6pm for the 8 hour trip. For the most part, the drive went great. I now know that my oil cooler is plugged thanks to a pretty steady 30 degree delta the entire time. ECT stayed around 196 EOT around 226. I am going to try and flush/reverse flush the entire system to see if it helps before I jump into having the oil cooler replaced.

While driving through the night I did notice that my headlights and instrument panel seemed to be pulsating for the last few hours of the drive. With the edge I have seen that my FICM levels drop when I start but my battery voltage stays in the 13.5 on up. I have not had a chance to load test my batteries yet, but plan to before I spend the money on a new FICM. What would cause the lights to pulsate? I was thinking about the alternator, but if the battery voltage remained pretty high doesn't that rule it out?

Sunday, we arrived the night before and I went out to move the X and found a small half dollar sized puddle of oil. It appeared to dripping off the bell housing. I did change the oil the day before I left on the trip and did end up spilling a little bit of oil while I was trying to pour it in the filter opening and the x was parked on a pretty steep incline. I checked the level and it was fine so I assume that maybe it is just working its way back from the top of the oil pump/cooler area. However, I did notice some oil or other liquid on top of the oil cooler cover. I have cleaned this area twice now and each time the screws have liquid in them. Any ideas where this could be coming from?

Yesterday, and the source of most of my anguish...We load up and get ready to head back. I noticed that the last few times I started the X the AC would only blow out of the defroster. I would have to turn the AC off and then on again and it would then blow out the vents and the defroster. Not a big deal but it was something I noticed. We leave Alpine and about an hour into driving down I-10 the AC starts blowing warm air. 100 degrees outside, 450 miles to go and my 10month old twins in the back seat - My wife was not happy. I think that maybe the condenser froze up so we turn it off and let it rest for 20 minutes. No luck so we push on and decide to stop for lunch. As we exit I-10 and hit a stop light I notice a burnt electrical maybe rubber smell. I park in some shade, pop the hood and walk inside to eat some lunch. While eating, I get on the forums and find something to check. There is a little grey wire with a rubber cap that plugs into a sensor on the heater hose. Sure enough this little wire is unplugged. I plug it in, start the truck and the AC is one again blowing ice cubes. We hit the road and everything is awesome for about 35 minutes before the AC goes warm again. I pulled over to double check the wire and it is still plugged in but that burnt electrical/rubber smell is stronger. One other thing to note is the the metal lines running into the condenser that are normally cold to the touch were very hot. I would have prefered taking it to my mechanic right then and there, but we were still over 300 miles from home. I basically just decided to shut the entire AC system down and run the rest of the way home with the windows down.

Well... we made it home and for the life of me I no longer smelled the burnt electrical/rubber smell. I am thinking that I lost my compressor and/or clutch but I don't know if there is a way to check on my own. Sitting on a level surface overnight, I have no oil on the ground, but the bell housing is still wet with residue and has me concerned.

I have had the X for a little over 3 months now and absolutely love it. We bought it as a baby hauler and trip taker. I know diesels are more maintenance but honestly I look forward to that. What I don't like are major problems which I feel like I may be having. I know I just wrote a whole book but can any of y'all shed some light on these issues before I take it to the shop and drop my drawers. Also, could that little wire being unplugged be the cause of these issues? Basically, could it have caused my system to work overtime which in turn fried the compressor? I can do some mechanical work but I have to admit that I am intimidated with the thought of even replacing the oil cooler on my own.

My X is a 2004 EB 6.0 with 131,000 miles. Stock as far as I can tell. No plans to go crazy, just want to make it reliable and as efficient as possible.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

That wire is actually a vacuum line, it shuts off the heater valve right there. It is also why you were blowing air out the defroster, instead of where it was selected to go. I would monitor your oil leak, but a drop or 2 here and there would not bother me. You definitely need an oil cooler.

 

Just a thought but have you checked the serpentine belt? If your AC compressor is dragging or starting to seize up, your belt could have been slipping.

Road trip with twin babies? You're adventurous and courageous! (got 3 young kids of my own) I can only imagine how stressful that was with the car acting up.

 

I had checked the belt before we took off on the trip. The belt itself looks fine, but there was always a little bit of a chirp until the X had run for 10 or so minutes.

The boys did great but it was definitely a stressful last few hours.

 

The belt doesn't look glazed over or damaged after the trip? Because you said the AC was coming and going, it makes me wonder if the compressor is dragging on the belt, causing it to slip, or maybe the belt is slipping and therefore the compressor isn't spinning all the time. It might also explain your weird alternator/battery issues.

 

If that vacuum line was mostly off, or fell off completely, it wasn't shutting the valve on the heater core. it would essentially be letting the hot engine coolant into the heater, and the system would then be trying to heat and cool the air. The Heater system utilizes vacumm to control what position the hot or cold air goes (Defroster, floor, vent, etc...) if that line fell off you weren't getting enough vacumm to comletely work the blend door in the HVAC system, thus the reason it defaulted to defrost.
As far as the light's shuttering/dimming, my guess would be a voltage regulator is failing, and or maybe the whole alternator is failing.
That oil cooler need's addressed immediatly, you are pushing your luck with that.
The chirping belt....I got nothing to add really. Check your belt driven accesories, as you have been told.
That orange hose on the back of the EGR cooler need's updated to the blue one.
I am not certain about the electric/rubber burning smell, but suspect it is coming from the alt or ac pump failing (thinking alt personally, but without seeing/smelling it).
The oil there could be from a leaking turbo oilline, or ICP (I think) sensor. I know they replace a sensor that leak's oil back there. Usually the wire pigtail on that sensor goes bad too.
On the 05 and up 6.0, the sensor was moved to the p-side valve cover.
You should see if a mod will move this to the 6.0 diesel section for you.

 

Check, tighten or replace the grounding wire to the frame. The oem alternator is ok for a V10 but not the 6.0, budget for a new/larger alternator. Have your ficm rebuilt by ed, he can add a 40 hp atlas tune to it that might get you 1-2 mpg. Check the serpentine idler pulley, it may be the source of the squealing.

 

I will try to get a picture on here tomorrow, but honestly I feel that the belt is fine. The AC did not really come and go as much as it just went out, I plugged the vacuum line back in, it worked for 30 and then was completely gone.

Is there any possibility that having that vacuum line off caused my system to overwork itself and subsequently fail? On a side note, should there be anything holding that vacuum line on. Right now I can just press it in, but it feels as though it could come out easily.

Is there anywhere on here that would have a link to a breakdown of the voltage regulators so that I can go through and try to test them? If the batteries load test well, having the alternator checked was my next step before messing with the FICM.

I realize that this is probably my biggest issue but I do not have any long trips until the fall which should buy me some time to save up the $$$. In the mean time, I have a 13 mile commute to work and back and plan to only drive the X 2-3 days a week.

This smell is what concerned me the most. As I sat at the first stop light waiting for it to change, all I could think about was the whole damn thing catching fire.

How do I go about asking a mod to move the thread?

 

I hope this isn't that stupid of a question, but where would I find the grounding wire at?

The previous owner that I purchased the X from did say that he had replaced one of the idler pulleys within the last two years. I don't know if that relates to anything but I felt the need to put it out there.

 

I sent a mod a note for You.
I don't see the HVAC system failing cause of it. That vacuum valve does fail occasionally, but I would let a better mechanic than me help with that decision.
Nothing hold's that line on, I though the same about mine, but it stayed on.
Type in the search bar for alt issues, there are countless threads on here.

 

They'll catch it, and it should get moved.

You have some good answers already.

The heater core valve vac line is held on by friction. You could get a little spring clamp for next to nothing to keep it there.

Your batteries are almost toast. Running them dead will take out your FICM, and can possibly cause injector damage.

Putting off the oil cooler is risky. A coolant flush can get spendy if done right. A new oil cooler core and incidentals is a few hundred bucks. That's CHEAP compared to the damage caused by neglecting it.

Are any of your belt pulleys shiny? Did that AC compressor seize? That can take your serp belt out.

Good luck. Your truck needs some attention, but if you have the time, and motivation, the guys here can help you do the work yourself.

 

The spring clamp is a great idea and is definitely something that I will utilize for peace of mind. What gives you the impression that my batteries are almost toast? There is no delay/strain in starting and I have yet to see the running voltage drop below 13.4. Am I missing something obvious?

The FICM and Oil cooler were/are definitely on my to do list. I have already purchased a coolant filter and planned to install that after I do the flush. From what I have ready, it would be most beneficial to do the flush before tackling oil cooler. I would like to think that I could handle replacing the oil cooler in my garage, but trying to focus while constantly getting called inside to help my wife with our boys would send me to the moon.

I do not think the compressor has seized but I do notice a different sound coming from it. When I turn the AC on, I can see the clutch engage. Is there something else that I should be looking for/at to determine it's failure? The thought of loosing my serp belt was on my mind the last 150 miles. Didn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, at night, with my wife and boys.

Thanks again for the all the help and insight. I really wish I would have looked on here before I purchased so that I could have been more aware of what to look for.

 

Moving this puppy over to the 6.0L PSD forum.

Stewart

 

Oil cooler is a pretty easy job, it just looks intimidating at first.

 

I think 06 lariat has covered most of it , pullys will freeze up and cause havic,take a look at your belt make sure theres no stripping (shreading) maybe time to replace anyway ,the blue hose is the upgrade do it as soon as possible,post some values and when was the last coolent thermo change, Are you useing OEM filters? Need to watch that cooler.