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If your cooler is leaking now, or you think it is leaking, I'd suggest replacing it and not try any welding. That's not to say it can't be done.
As for how you do it, depends on personal preference and where you live. If you have to pass inspections every 2 years, something like a sneaky delete could work. If not then there's a lot of kits out there to choose from.
Keep in mind that when you no longer have exhaust flow into the intake, you will get a CEL and need to have a tuner to keep that from coming up. I hear SCT works good for that.
I suspect it may be leaking. The previous owner had the egr valve unplugged and I left it that way for the last 30,000 miles as I didn't investigate that it was just unpluged and I thought he had cut the wires. I have had some white smoke from the tail pipe on start up (not everytime) and a few times blew some coolant on long towing trips (only going up hill when it got hot).
Was not sure on the long term with delete kits. Some say you need the cooler to support the up pipe and prevent future exhaust leaks.
Sounds like you are leaning more towards a modified cooler
If you are going to do that, you could order a newer style cooler (tubes instead of fins) and have the exhaust inlet and outlet welded up
Or you could get that new cooler and modify your y-pipe. Cut the scoop out and have a machine shop make a plug, have that tig welded in your y-pipe where it connects to the egr cooler and you're good to go. I've heard of even drilling a hole in the plug to allow some exhaust through to prevent a CEL, not sure about that though
The first way is the most reliable but can't be returned to stock
The second way you can swap your y-pipe without too much hassle if you had to return to stock. In theory coolant could get in your intake if one of the tubes inside gave way, but without the egts going through there it's unlikely.
We have put on a number of kits this year, they are the best in my opinion. And our customers don't mind spending the extra money to have the best. The up-pipe replacement is wide open and fits perfectly and the manifold that replaces the ERG is top notch in the 6.0 world ... To our customers it is like APR Studs to stock head bolts ... Look around and do the research ... there are plenty of options for the 6.0, but the IRP kit is the best ... Once again my opinion...
We are putting one on this week, like most weeks... I will be more than happy to post up some pictures so you can see how it all fits together.
i just did my egr delet last weekend on my 6.0 used a xpd kit and the uppipe was fit nice i have no leaks but i wouldnt use the coolant line that came with it it doesnt fit right i just got a pice of heater hose for it now and it sealed up
Would it be worth my time completing any other work while I am in doing the egr cooler? Keep in mind I do not have any issues that I know of with the truck. It runs like a champ .
A lot of egr cooler failures are linked to the oil cooler being plugged. Need to check the ect/eot spread to see where you're at, more than 15f at highway cruising speed on flat land indicates oil cooler issues.
Last year I did my egr cooler, oil cooler was ok, flushed the coolant system and installed a coolant filter. I'd recommend doing something similar, it's not a ton more work to do the oil cooler while you're in there if it needs to be done. I was Lucky that my oil cooler was ok. But you have to be careful, you can dirty the ipr screen and cause a real headache if it gets dirty in the oil valley while doing the oil cooler.
Also may as well clean out your intake while you have it off, also clean the map sensor and iat sensors since they will be dirty. Depending on the kit you get, you may need to get the o rings for the turbo oil drain tube, turbo bolts, intake gaskets.
Check out some of the videos on YouTube and the writeups online, not too difficult just time consuming
I should be good with the oil cooler I sit about 186ect and 192eot on a 45 min drive @65.
I've been watching several videos that have been posted on how to do the break down and shouldn't be above my skill level. I just have to determine which of the kits to go with now. I was also thinking of doing a blue spring since it will be in the open to work on. I have to assume that things such as this were not done by the precious owner. Other than him unplugging the egr valve.