First off let me go ahead and say I screwed up. My fault. Don't need to be said again. Was on a trip pulling a camper. Check engine temp light came on. I had jest checked it that morning and all wear good. I pulled over and steam was coming from under the cap. Turning on the heat to full blast didn't do anything. Sat there for awhile. Temp Finally went down and we kept going. Rose up again bottom of red. Like I said in the middle of nowhere so I attempted to keep going and watching gauge. Truck just shut off and ended up having to get a tow. Truck and camper. We were 40 miles from neArest town. Imagine the tow bill for a truck and 41ft 5th wheel. Check reservoir no fluid. White smoke was coming from around the engine. Not a lot but enough to notice it. Could be burn off?? Just hoping. Got it towed. Waited till next morning. Decided to Crank truck to see how bad it is. We are In a whole
Other state now. Small town. Apparently I have a cooling system Problem for sure. Is there anyway to assess or ballpark the damage to engine by what I posted? Did I get lucky? The truck did crank and ran smoothly with me giving it has but idling it would run smoothly and then a little rough as if it wasn't getting much gas then run smooth again. The first crank low oil pressure light came on. Subsequent cranks no problems were showing. Any ideas what I could be looking at? I mean if it's running the damage couldn't be THAT bad could it? Any help. Yes if I had known I would pay a tow bill anyway I would have stopped it awhile
Back. That's why hindsight is 20/20.

 

not trying to scare you, but it sounds like head gaskets or EGR cooler could be in your future. The best case scenario could be as simple as a bad degas bottle cap.

It definitely wasn't smart to let it overheat, but I can understand the situation. The fact that it still runs is a good sign it didn't get too bad, hopefully.

To see how bad the overheat was, pull your oil filter and see if the plastic standpipe that the filter slides over has melted any.
Next, after refilling the coolant, try a head gasket test. What you do is hook up a pressure guage to the top hose that goes to your begas bottle (the little resevior) and see how fast your pressure rises under load. If it goes up fast under load, you could have a somewhat painful repair on your hands. If it isn't able to build much pressure, you need a new degas bottle cap (commonly known as the coolant cap) and the whole fix is just the coolant + a $12 cap. I Hope this is your culprit.
Another possible culprit could be a bad EGR cooler, which is almost always the direct result of a bad oil cooler. This repair isn't quite as painful as head gaskets, but still isn't fun. The easiest way to diagnose EGR cooler is to get the coolant level where it should be and then park the truck with the front facing downhill. After leaving it parked overnight facing downhill, pull the EGR valve and see if there's coolant that has leaked into it.
If the problem is the EGR cooler, replace BOTH the EGR cooler AND the oil cooler. The ford oil cooler is the best option currently, as they have updated them to not clog as easily. STAY AWAY FROM THE DORMAN OIL COOLER. big problems with those. As far as the EGR cooler, many like to put an EGR delete in there, but if you want to stay emissions legal, get a bulletproof EGR cooler. They have a much more robust design and I have yet to hear about one failing.
If the problem is head gaskets, try to find a reputable diesel repair shop and try to avoid the ford dealership. Ford mechanics usually don't get the heads resurfaced, which is often crucial for avoiding repeat repairs. Also, have whoever fixes it use head studs, instead of either replacing, or worse, reusing the stock head bolts. Most around here, including myself, use ARP head studs with good results. If you get the heads resurfaced and use ARP studs, you won't have any more head gasket failure risks in your future.

here's a video showing the head gasket test:

Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.

 

Thanks Brandonrr you post was informative and descriptive. Like the way you gave me ways to test it. It also reminded me of a few other things. The EGR has been deleted. I remember that. My mechanic back home did all that. I've had the HPOP and oil cooler and all those other things that were bad about the 6.0
Replaced. I checked the oil by way of dipstick and it doesn't look milky. I just tested it around the park it ran fine got it in highway and ran fine. The only issue I'm seeing now is during idle.. It'll run smooth and then rough as if running out of gas then smooth again. its sporadic. But if you keep foot on pedal and give small gas it's smooth again. Granted it's still going to mechanic when we get back. Just any other ideas of what we looking at besides the cooling system check? Does engine sound like it's ok?
Around the park here and then drove it up to the

 

Something you also need to consider if the clutch fan never came on that may have caused the overheat as well. If it got that hot the clutch fan would have sounded like a jet engine on take off or landing.

Obstruction of air flow thru the radiator and water flow thru the radiator are also a possibility.

 

bring plenty of water and coolant if your going to try to bring it back without any repairs, the T stat normally sticks open when it craps out, so that might not be your problem. could be a number of things. but hopefully your head gaskets are ok see if you cant grab a new cap for the degas bottle before you head out. with some luck it could solve all of your problems..

 

I would pull the oil filter and make sure the oil filter stand pipe is ok as they have been known to melt in extreme situations.

 

I had the same type of problem with my rig in damn near the exact same scenario couple years back. Unfortunately it was a full cab off experience for me and very costly. never really felt comfortable with the rig again, it from the day I drove it off lot with 5 miles would give me grief for one reason or another, 10 years later I still deal with it.
today as matter of fact was heading up over the pass watching my temps, have been noticing an occasional temp spike at odd, random load and non load, running and or idling times. today we were ripping right along at my typical 186* + and it shot up to 254* and shut down.. totally shut down. Retained all my fluids, no blow off or boil over. let it sit. 1/2 hr later external temps at 57* my truck was temp down to 180's. called the wknd trip off, ran it back home and on way home it ran cooler than normal at 180*. as typical... baffled with this truck
Not to steal your thunder Traisc... feel your pain.
I am hoping mine is possibly a temp control sending unit??

 

We'll do you have a coolant leak

 

Ok. Just an update for your thoughts and estimate. Of course it's a holiday weekend so no one was open. Drove truck around loop where I was and it drove pretty smoothe. A surge every now and then and at idle it sounded like it was hard to get gas sometimes. That was on day 1. Here we are on Day 3, cranks fine idles a hair, just a hair, and its occasional, louder than it used to. Couldn't get to oil filter, but because it was driving smooth we drove it home and left camper at the tv park. Temp stayed normal. Drove pretty smooth all the way home. 2.5 hours. Interstate running 60-75mph. Stopped one time checked water wS good. Stopped second about 20 mins from home and had to add water. But never ran hot and never surged. Idle sounded pretty smooth. Got home pulled oil filter. Below is what I found. Now I started reading different posts concerning melted oil stands about the engine is toast since it melted because the stuff has gotten everywhere. Which is hard for me to believe seeing as I just drove it about 3 hrs and it didn't sound bad. Will be at mechanic tomorrow. Just want to calm my nerves tonight. The oil filter chamber was devoid of oil. I mean that pic is exactly like I found it. I saw a few foamy bubbles not a lot in the water reservoir. No water in oil it appeared. Aside from the occasional surge which never happened on the way home, appeared it work itself out, and the occasional rough idle which I never heard all day today. 2 month old rv camper so whatever is wrong with truck will have to get fixed. Just wondering if i got lucky or could the damage be so minor that it would still run good but cost the price of severe damage.. Thanks guys.

 

This is what is supposed to be in there.


If it was, and looking at the remains appears to have been, it melted and is now down inside the engine clogging passages up as it went. Glad you made it home safe, unfortunately your engine didn't do as well.

 

Stand pipe is gone, so is the oil drain valve in the bottom, only thing left is the spring. Melted stuff goes somewhere..... ouch. Do you have a gauge to read live data, like how hot it really got? IIRC, takes 350 degrees to melt that piece.

 

Understand that melting stuff has to go somewhere. But couldn't the melted stuff just melt and form a conglomerate right there and never go any further. Here's why. This would have happened 3 days ago. If that stuff had gone in the engine, would it still be running like normal 3 days later.. Especially on a 3hr trip home. That's what is keeping my hopes up. It drove like nothing was wrong.

 

prospects aren't looking too good after seeing that oil filter standpipe, or lack thereof...
At this point, finding a used engine with some kind of warranty doesn't look like a bad option to consider. The other option would be rolling the dice and having this engine gone through and hope it is worth repairing. Best case scenario, the melted plastic stopped at the screens or somewhere non-critical, or even just barely melted and stopped right under the filter assembly and the loss of coolant is simply a leak somewhere. Worst case scenario, the passageways are at least partially plugged and the engine is a timebomb, on top of having failed head gaskets and/or bad EGR cooler.

You could roll the dice on having that engine taken apart and hope for the best, but chances are the repairs would cost more than the engine is worth, especially after it has seen that kind of heat.
If I were in your situation, I would save the money of tearing down that engine and go straight to looking at some used engines, preferably with some kind of warranty.

I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news...but that melted standpipe is bad news.

 

The "melted stuff" is just confirmation you over tempted the engine to the extreme. It will not live. You made it home, count your lucky stars and prepare to either tear it down and fix or swap it out. I would be willing to bet your head bolt are not much more than finger tight right now.

 

OK,on the other side of the coin ,how much of the stand pipe is left in the filter? You may have just lucked out and be able to salvage the engine. It most likely will need head gaskets in thee future but if you are not wrenching it yourself,find a REALLY good 6.0 mechanic,no fly by nite shop. I say this because if it ran good for that long it didn't suck the plastic into the motor it would have died on the side of the road