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I have a 2004 CB SB 6.0l F250. I have a coolant leak on the front of the engine that I am having trouble pinpointing the exact location of. It is near / above where the passenger side heater piping leaves the front of the block above the water pump. I can't tell if that is leaking or if there is something above or inboard of that connection on the truck. I am using a pressure tester to make it leak and it leaks at low pressure, about 5 psig.
Does anyone know what could be leaking and possibly how to repair the leak? I have no desire to put in any stop leak crap.
Sounds like it could be the rubber seal between the top of the front cover and the intake manifold. It's a fat o-ring a little smaller than a soda can in diameter. The standard way to get to it is to pull the turbo and intake, although some say they can loosen/remove the intake bolts and tip the manifold up enough to change the seal.
That sounds a bit trickier than I was hoping for. I was hoping that it may be front cylinder gasket and be a little easier to replace. Plan on tearing into the top of the motor tomorrow to see if I can find the actual leak area.
Lol, you're the first person to say they "hoped" it was a headgasket! Those are a common problem on these engines but they don't leak coolant to the outside, instead, combustion chamber pressure gets into the cooling system and it spews coolant out of the overflow. Changing the head gaskets is a pretty big job also. Tight access, heads are very heavy, and prep to put it back together is expensive and time consuming.
Is there coolant in the valley of the engine (under the intake)? There is a small rubber hose about halfway back on the passenger side that's a common leaker but it usually runs down the back of the engine and drips around the starter area.
Not the head gaskets, but the water pump gasket on the front. There is a little in the valley, making me think it was the oil cooler. Now it looks to be higher on the engine, Alldata calls it the cylinder front cover assembly. It appears to be coming from above the top idler pulley.
These are a bit harder to look for problems than the small block Chevys that I have had before.
Ahh, gotcha.. There are seals behind the front cover.
The big o-ring I mentiond is on the very top of the cover and marked as IN.
There not as common of a problem as the big doughnut under the intake but they can leak. Can you tell exactly where the coolant is leaking from when the system is under pressure?
Here is a link to many pictures of the engine, including coolant system routing:
I put it under 14 psig of pressure to try and find the leak. I traced it to around the idler pulley. I plan to pull the intake hose and alternator tomorrow to see if I can find the actual source of the leak. That picture of the front cover is making me hope it is something simple like a loose bolt. Looking at the .pdf, I see what o ring you are talking about. Is that sold separately or as part of the kit? I'll definitely try the loose bolts method over the intake manifold removal method.
We were having trouble finding it but this the only number I have. It's an International p/n 1836551C1. Maybe someone else can post up the Ford#, we had it just a few months ago.
The blue material the other seals are made of seems like pretty good stuff. The big o-ring looks like it's just black rubber. It's a common casualty if the engine gets fuel in the cooling system (leaking injector cups or whatever). Sometimes they'll have big cracks or even be crumbling and half gone.
The oil cooler was replaced about 5000 miles ago due to a rupture. I would assume that the o ring was also replaced, so it was probably pinched during the reinstallation.
Thanks for the p/n, I should be able to use the International p/n to find it.
Hopefully it wasn't a Dorman brand cooler. They had issues with the seal for the bottom of the oil cooler cover. After a very few thousand miles, they would crumble and leak. Also, much of the crumbled seal material would end up in the high pressure oil system and be a headache to get all of it out. I understand Dorman did compensate some buyers and addressed the problem, but there could be a few of those units out there on the shelf still.
Looks like it is the top o ring leaking. Now it is time to attempt the repair. I figure about 12 to 14 hours for a first time attempt using Alldata as the manual.
Mat end up looking up some youtube videos for tips and tricks.
It's not too bad. Getting the back turbo mount bolt out(and back in), and lining up the exhaust pipes back up on re-installing the turbo is the biggest complaints. Intake gaskets are reusable and should be good since they were recently apart. If your handy, you may try lifting the intake enough to change the o-ring without removing the turbo, that procedure isn't likely in the manual though.
Couldn't find the o ring on its own. I am now the proud owner of a Felpro intake gasket set. Going to try and fix it Friday at the hobby shop on base since they frown upon tearing vehicles apart in the driveway.
Nice thing about the auto hobby shop is they have most every tool you can think of. Just very picky about cleaning up when your finished. Might be nice to be inside too! Good luck with it.
Got a chance to fix the coolant leak today. The big donut o ring was more of a c ring when I pulled the intake off. What a pain in the *** that job was. Took me 10 hours start to finish with assistance for 7 hours.
Thanks for the advice. I couldn't find just the o ring and bought the Felpro intake gasket kit for $27.
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