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I bought a F-250 with the 6.0 two months ago and sense then have replace the power steering gears and pump, EGR valve and ICP sensor. I've also been having to add coolant every week and a half. I took it into a diesel repair shop and they told me i have a blown head gasket, need an EGR cooler and Oil cooler. They quoted me 4,700 to fix everything. I am at about a wits end with the truck and am seeing if fixing these problems would make the truck last about at least another 175,000 miles. If i can get some opinions on this that would be great. I paid 11,700 for the truck and have another 3,00o into it after the first repairs and wondering if sinking another 4,700 is worth my troubles. .
Take some time and read about 6-liter engines in the 6.0 part of this forum. There is a ton of information there.
I'd recommend a proper diagnosis so that you know exactly what is wrong and what needs to get replaced. I think that your shop wants to replace head gaskets, oil cooler and EGR cooler without knowing *for sure* where the coolant is going. It would be a pain if you just had an external coolant leak that gets discovered after everything else is replaced.
If your truck was never tuned and if the oil cooler to coolant temperature spread is less than 15 degrees, an expensive fix might not be required.
There are many very knowledgeable folk who inhabit the 6.0 forum and they will point you in the right direction.
I rode with them while they ran the diagnosis and had the computer hooked up and was reading the temps and they were not where they normally would be. I also two weeks ago while making a trip to AZ stopped and left it running for 10 min in the parking lot of a gas station and the temp rose to 235. I shut it off and started it back up and proceeded on my way and the water temp stayed at 180-190. The next day i drove about ten miles and the temp rose again to 235 and i checked the coolant and added 2 gallons and the temp has been fine just have to keep and eye on the coolant. I dont have any external coolant leaks a very high coolant pressure. I know the EGR cooler is bad do to loose of coolant and white smoke out my exhaust. Just not a 100% sure if the head gasket is blown but the shop i went to is pretty good and knowledgeable on the 6.0 and they said the signs also indicate blown head gasket. Is it worth making these repairs?
Id take it to another shop to see what they say. I wouldn't go off of just what that one shop is saying and spend 5k right there. White smoke does mean erg or head gasket.
Is it worth it? Its all up to you, if you dont have money for another truck then you got to do it really. I was in your shoes not to long ago when my 04 was racking up the bills due to torq converter and the same issue you are having right now, i was losing coolant too. So after i fix everything, then my tranny started to go so i decided the hell with it. So i went out and bought a 2013 f350 and couldn't be happier but now i have a truck payment. So it all comes down to you. We cant really say is it worth it, but can say you wont get your money back when you turn around and sell it, thats for sure.
I already have ARP head studs installed on my truck i recently bought and discovered i have a blown head gasket. Should i also replace the head studs while replacing the gaskets?
There is a YouTube video that BPD put out showing a "bubble test" that helps indicate whether you have egr cooler failure, head gasket failure, or both. Definitely worth watching when your talking about that much money.