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head gasket leak

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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 06:12 PM
  #1  
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head gasket leak

I was told yesterday i had a head gasket leak. Thing is though i have no loss of power, truck isnt overheating no coolant in my oil, or oil in my coolant. truck drives great , no fluid on the ground. and no smell of burnt antifreeze. the only thing i do have is white smoke comiung from my tail pipe and that is only on cold days or on start up. If i do have a leak there it must be a small one cause the wite smoke only really coming out after truck has been sitting for over 8 hrs. and then stops when truck is heated up. I am howevver also loosing coolant in the bottle . thats y i had it checked. I was told it is spueing out on passanger side gassket next to heater core when 17 psi is applied to it. But like i said i have seen no puddling. If this is a small gasket leak can i try a gasket sealer. Is there one out there that can be used on a 6.0 deisel that wont clog it up. Also if no other option and is gasket and cant use the sealer what is the aveage cost to have the gaskets replaced and when they do it do they replace both and all other gaskets that are taken off during tear down
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 06:17 PM
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That's not a head gasket. If all it took was 17 psi to make is spew, then when your motor was running it would look like a fountain. Your cylinder pressure just cranking over by the starter is between 350 and 400 psi. Someone doesn't know WTF they're looking at. It's more than likely an EGR cooler.

IMHO it sounds like someone is trying to hit you with a really expensive unnecessary repair.
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 06:20 PM
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Agreed. I'd try a different shop-second opinion. Need to pull the EGR valve and check for coolant in the intake manifold.
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 06:20 PM
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$2500 to $3000 at the dealer most likely. They charged me $2500. While you're in there, do the ARP head stud upgrade. You can buy the studs for $450-500. They have to replace the studs anyway and the Ford OEM ones are the weak link. You also need to make sure you don't have a clogged oil cooler or EGR cooler.

You might find a mechanic that is looking for work on the side who can do your head gaskets for $1000-1500 as long as you supply the parts.
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 06:43 PM
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ok i was going to get the second opinon tomorrow . but i was feeling the same as yall think that is wasnt a gasket leak.
ALso if it is the egr cooler would you suggest to replace oil cooler and egr cooler or delete reson i ask is i have the 06 and they say the CIS light comes on and the delete causes issues with the fan
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 07:45 PM
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I put the egr delete on my 06,yes the cis light will come on,but you can get a tuner to turn it off.you wont have any problems with your fan if you keep the egr plugged in.
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 08:15 PM
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this is getting intresting
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 08:30 PM
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You dont want to out ANY kind of stop leak in it for any reason. Sounds to be egr cooler to me as well. Yes you would want to change the oil cooler regardless if you do a egr delete or replace the egr cooler. If you do the delete all you have to do is keep your egr in place and plugged in and you wont throw codes and have any problems.
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 08:56 PM
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bobcat are you saying you beilieve it could be both head gasket leak and egr cooler or just the egr cooler
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 08:56 PM
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Depends how cold it is where you are. I get white exhaust when it is below 20F and goes away when the ECT gets above 150F without any coolant loss. I would look at the little hose between the EGR cooler and the oil cooler cover and see if the leak is running down and around on the head gasket instead of the gasket its self leaking.
 
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Old Jan 20, 2014 | 09:20 PM
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78 ford man i will check that thanks. I just went out on my break and it is 40 degrees out side and starrted cold with no smoke comming out and none as it warmed up but definitly have lost coolant sense this morning. But had smoke this morning .
 
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Old Jan 21, 2014 | 06:58 AM
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Is the top of the Degas Bottle white? Any " Puking " coming out of the Cap? Here's where a psi gauge on the EC system is handy
 
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Old Jan 22, 2014 | 04:22 PM
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ok every body they are saying now after the pressure test they discovered a leak in the egr cooler and wanted to repalce the egr cooler alonee but i told them to do the delete. But i have one question. Will doing this eger delete lower the tempature on my oil. It is reading 207 on EOT right after i changed my oil. Is that high or normal. will the delete change that temp on the oil. And also the shop said that it was definitly the cooler but said they couldnt garentee the heads wouldnt be messed up soon. Does that mean they are not really sure if the gasket has failed.
 
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Old Jan 22, 2014 | 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by skinny29286
ok every body they are saying now after the pressure test they discovered a leak in the egr cooler and wanted to repalce the egr cooler alonee but i told them to do the delete. But i have one question. Will doing this eger delete lower the tempature on my oil. It is reading 207 on EOT right after i changed my oil. Is that high or normal. will the delete change that temp on the oil. And also the shop said that it was definitly the cooler but said they couldnt garentee the heads wouldnt be messed up soon. Does that mean they are not really sure if the gasket has failed.
I dont know what king of shop you are dealing with but they should know if the hg are good. Now in saying that it sounds as if your egr cooler is blown and if not fixed asap it could lead to hg failure. So you need to get that fixed either with a egr cooler or delete it completely. When they do that they must change the oil cooler as well. Thats the reason your egr cooler failed, clogged oil cooler. In doing that it will bring your oil temps closer to your coolant temp.
 
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Old Jan 22, 2014 | 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by skinny29286
ok every body they are saying now after the pressure test they discovered a leak in the egr cooler and wanted to repalce the egr cooler alonee but i told them to do the delete. But i have one question. Will doing this eger delete lower the tempature on my oil. It is reading 207 on EOT right after i changed my oil. Is that high or normal. will the delete change that temp on the oil. And also the shop said that it was definitly the cooler but said they couldnt garentee the heads wouldnt be messed up soon. Does that mean they are not really sure if the gasket has failed.
You need to know the difference in the coolant and oil temps after the engine gets "heat soaked" (sustained operating temps) on a 65mph flat ground run. If the temp difference is more than 15* you probably need an oil cooler.

AFA the shop goes they are trying to get you to spend unnecessary money IMHO. There's no way to know when headgaskets are going to fail IF they ever do.
 
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