2006 F350 diesel CCLB dually with 110k miles on the clock, purchased last year with 105k so haven't driven it very much. Everything is stock, previous owner even put a new EGR cooler on about 10-15k miles ago as preventative maintenance. Truck starts and runs great, no evidence of HG issues (yet).

When I bought it I noticed the coolant was green so I got a case of ZEREX extended life Cat ELC-1 rated coolant to drain and flush the coolant system. In the process of flushing and idling a lot in my driveway, I noticed what I had thought was a slow drip of oil is really about 1 drip per second after about 5-10 minutes at idle (drip stops with engine off). Had originally planned on fixing the oil leak while bullet proofing next year (head studs, etc) after I get my garage built and install a 2 post lift, but since the leak is worse than I thought, I need to fix it sooner.

I pulled the passenger side inner fender, de-greased and pressure washed the engine and the oil is definitely coming from somewhere in the valley and dropping down the back of the engine. It's hard to see much in the valley but things seem to be dry until I get back to the HPOP. I can't see where it's leaking out, but I can see oil at the base of the cover.

I know some will say just do the bullet proofing now and be done, but I would really rather wait until next year when I have a nice dry place plus a lift to do all the work (besides, bulletproofing is a large portion of my lift buying sales pitch to the wife ). The heaviest trailer I have now is less than 5k lbs...waiting to get a toy hauler till after doing head studs.

For this project I'll be working by myself in my driveway.

So that's the background, on to a couple questions:
-Where/how do HPOPs leak externally?
-At 110k miles, should I go ahead and replace the HPOP? If replace, go with OEM or aftermarket? Is there a way to tell visually if my HPOP has been replaced already? I only drive the truck on weekends so it would probably be another 8-10 years before I hit 200k miles.
-What other updates should I do now but still get it all done in a weekend? Keep in mind I'll be doing studs and HGs next year so whatever doesn't get done now will happen then.

Thanks in advance!

 

the 2006 HPOP is a good unit, probably a cracked cover, bad gasket or o-ring. Sure it isn't a turbo seal leaking, they pour some oil while running and look like its coming from that area.

 

I agree. The '06 HPOP wouldn't be suspect for a leak. Low HPO pressure would be the reason to replace it but that's not very common, it's a pretty solid piece. The oil pump cover has a seal that can sometime be a problem. The cover bolts to the top of the Engine block and extends out over the rear engine cover. A judicious ammount of silicone is required at the parting line where the rear cover meets the block and could be the source of your leak.

A couple of considerations, one is you will be pulling the turbo to get to the cover and I think the leak has a higher probability of being the drain tube for the turbo, youl'll be able to tell pretty easily with the turbo off. If so you could replace it (there is a new -larger drain tube your truck may or may not already have) and be done. Secondly, If it's dry there and the pump cover is leaking it would be a great time to replace the failure prone STC fitting on the pump with the newer one piece branch tube connector while the cover is off, unless you know you allready have one.

A couple of the bolts on the oil pump cover are a challenge with the intake manifold in place but easily doable as a weekend job or even quicker depending on your skills.

 

This would be my first dig into my 6.0, but have worked on previous vehicles, farm tractors, jet skis, snowmobiles, bikes, quads, etc. Have been watching some youtube tear-down videos from diesel tech ron and a few others so thankfully that gives me some ideas where to start and some of the tricks getting into stuff.

My leak very well could be the turbo. Does the fact that it takes at least 5 minutes after engine start before the leak is visible on the back side of the engine make more sense to be the turbo drain vs the HPOP? I'm hoping to get some time one night this week to look at it again before tearing into it this weekend.

STC update and turbo drain sound like good candidates if they aren't already done.

Thanks for the feedback!

On a side note, does autoenginuity do a cylinder contribution test? I saw mention in other posts that it does, but all I can find is individual cylinder deactivation in the version I have (purchased last fall).

 

An HPO leak based on pressure would be pouring the oil out... at least I'd think so. My bets on the turbo.

 

I stopped at the dealer this morning asking about the updated turbo drain and the parts guys acted like they never heard of such a thing. Walked to service and the guy there printed out the warranty history on my truck...2 full pages . I knew it was a Ford buy back according to the carfax/car history report, but still one of those things you should get before buying I guess .

Build date is Aug 2005 and purchased in Nov 2005, at 15k miles in Jan 2007 there's an entry that reads:
"VERIFIED CONCERN, VEH WILL NOT START, IDS SELF TESTS, CODE P2291, RAN OASIS, FOLLOWED TSB 06 17 6, DIAG, FOUND BRANCH TUBE LEAKING, REMOVED TRANS, REPLACED BRANCH TUBE, ALSO REPLACED HI PRESS PUMP AND IPR DUE TO SCREEN ON IPR BROKEN OFF, INSTALLED NEW FITTINGS, STC BRKT, PUMP, IPR, STAND PIPES, VALVE CVR SEAL, #6,7,8 INJ ORINGS, ASSEMBLED, ENG STARTS AND RUNS GOOD."

I'm assuming the bolded words mean the STC fitting has been updated already. We'll see what I find this weekend tearing it apart!

 

Sounds like it got a bracket installed over a new STC (and the branch tube itself). There was a period of time when that was the fix. Later, a one piece branch tube connector (no snap parts) replaced it as the final fix. I'm not sure how well the reinforcement bracket helped but in the end they did redesign the fitting.

 

Good to know, that makes sense. If the HPOP cover is leaking I guess I'll do the update now, but if it's the turbo I'll wait till next year on the new fitting. Probably will only have one day this weekend, Sunday it's supposed to rain.

 

Today I got my open-air garage set up and the turbo removed and there was definitely a pool of oil in the valley, however can't really tell where it came from. The turbo supply and drain lines (a couple dents on the turbo side face but o-rings seemed fine) appear to be the old style, so will probably update both of them. I ended up de-greasing and pressure washing the valley and putting the turbo back on to see if I could better identify the leak. This time I was getting a fair amount of oil on the turbo pedestal and some oil marks around the big V clamp on the exhaust section of the turbo. I guess my turbo needs re-sealed, shaft feels fine with no slop or evidence of wear.

 

I see you have the updated blue egr coolant hose already. That's good, the old orange ones leak often.

 

I see what you were talking about on the oil stain on the turbo but interestingly the down pipe looks dry inside (no oil there). Not sure what to make of that if you didn't spray any lube on the clamp. You may want to torque check the oil cooler cover bolts where they go into the block and the oil pump cover as well. If they are very loose it can cause leaks. Some of the sensors on the cover can leak also. It appears the leak was far enough foreward to soak the wire harness under the turbo.

I don't know if it happened getting it apart but the alignment bracket on the turbo drain tube is tweaked pretty badly. If it was like that when you pulled it apart that may be contributing to the leak.

 

Good eye Rusty. The drain tube bracket was a little tweaked when I pulled it out the first time, however I did bend it worse putting the turbo back in so this pic might have been after the second turbo removal.

Matt, the previous owner had a new EGR installed a couple thousand miles before I bought the truck. I'm debating deleting it but will probably leave it until I do HGs next year.

Plan for now is to order a turbo rebuild kit, updated turbo oil drain and supply lines with all the gaskets/o-rings. Probably will do the CAC boots too since they're pretty soft. De-grease everything really good including the oil cooler cover since I focused on the rear of the valley last time. Put it back together and see if it still leaks.

Yesterday after I re-installed the turbo and ran it, the oil ran down the front of the engine since I had left the air out of the tires so I could reach things better. The leak rate was the same (about one drip per second), and the HPOP cover seems pretty clean now so I'm reasonably confident the turbo is my issue like you guys suggested in the first place. It'll probably be a week or two before I'll get time to work on it again but will post back my findings. Thanks!

 

I'm currently having an oil leak issue too, and maybe even an HPOP one. Just looking through your posts I saw that your turbo looks exactly like mine when I pulled mine off recently. It has the same amount of surface rust. My 6.0 is an '04. I'm not sure how prone they are to 'sticking', but my techs always advised me to wait until they go out completely before replacing. Well to get to my HPOP I took it off and decided to split her open to check it out. I found that the unison ring and those vein teeth like things that open and close as the unison ring turns to control flow were all rusted together and did not move freely. I can only imagine how that has affected my performance over the years. It took a few hours, but I got all the pieces polished up enough where the unison ring turns freely now. Just wanted to give you an idea of something else worth considering doing.

 

ENGINE OIL PRESSURE SWITCH.

 

Latest update:
While the turbo was off I cleaned the adjustable vanes and unison ring, it was pretty clean to start with, the previous owner said he had it done along with the new EGR cooler. Installed a turbo rebuild kit from Turbo Lab of America which includes new bearings and sealing rings but nothing for the exhaust side oil seal which did have some crusty oil caked around it...it kinda looks like you'd have to machine the exhaust housing to put a new seal in there since nothing looks removable.

De-greased and pressure washed the engine valley again. Installed the updated turbo oil drain and turbo supply lines when the turbo went back in. New CAC boots and Sinister Diesel coolant filter. Once I ran the engine, about 4-5 minutes later I had oil dripping down the front of the engine onto the ground as well as an exhaust leak at the up pipe clamp, I guess I'll have to loosen the up pipes individually to get things lined up better. It was about 150% humidity Saturday and Sunday so I didn't have the motivation or time to remove things again.

I don't think it's coming from the oil pressure sensor (assuming it's one of the sensors near where the turbo oil supply bolts in), and the turbo is dry this time so the oil I saw on the turbo pedestal last time must have came out of the drain when I was re-installing the turbo. I doubt the turbo was really leaking after having it apart.

Hopefully since I pressure washed the valley again while it was apart it will be easier to tell where the oil is coming from now. Before, the entire valley was completely soaked in oil.

The reason the oil is going out the front now is the nose is downhill in my driveway and I let air out of the front tires so I can reach the back of the engine better. I'm sure if I was on the level the oil would drip down the bell housing like it had been previously. I'm reasonably confident there is no oil back where I initially thought it was coming from...the HPOP or turbo. I guess that leaves the oil cooler area to check next.