I agree Bill. I believe I would do the VC-9 flush myself and see what difference it made (one requirement is to get the coolant up to a specific temperature for the chemicals to work fully). Thanks for the post.

 

have to make a trip to N.C next week about 1200 round trip. any opinions on will the truck be ok running it the way it is until i make a decision on the repair, or is there a chance if further damage and being broke down on the road, Thank you

 

Here is how I read it. Your truck is in pretty good hands by the sounds of things, even more so that you're dealing with a service advisor who even so happens to own a 6.0L diesel also very familiar with their issues.


Back when these trucks with these engines in them were well within their warranty period, I had seen my modest share coming in with cooling system contamination, along with the resulting ensuing damage to all the rubber hoses with coolant passing through them. This was around the time when just about every warranty claim being put through pertaining to these engines were put under the microscope by the warranty guys at FoMoCo due to the high costs. However, when any one of these came in with a catastrophic cooling system contamination to the point where it was literally sludge coming out of the lower rad hose, approval for a complete engine assembly replacement was very quickly granted, ALONG WITH EVERY COMPONENT COOLANT PASSES THROUGH (radiator, heater core, ALL rubber hoses and coolant degas bottle). Read into that whichever way you will.


Fast forward to NOW. These trucks now vary in age from 13 model years old at the oldest, to nine model years old at the newest, but more importantly, well outside of factory warranty. If I were to have one such truck darken my doorstep, MY methodology would be to price out the labour to remove the engine, radiator and heater core(s) along with mandating the replacement of every rubber hose coolant passes through, then price out the cost of subletting the engine to be hot-tanked (along with whatever amount of engine disassembly would be required for such a cleaning), as well to have the radiator and heater cores flushed out by a rad shop. THEN, I would price out those parts NEW (so as to give the option to REPLACE). I personally believe, side by side, replacement is not going to be too far north of having the components cleaned out.


For clarity, it seems an engine replacement in this particular instance has nothing to do with the usual reason pertaining to the engine losing compression, being worn out or sustaining any type of catastrophic failure that would ordinarily be the reason. That said, it is understandably a bitter pill to swallow in order to have this quote before your very eyes to glare at. Yes, it is a steep price to pay, but one that also comes with a very good warranty to go along with it.


One last point. Since we are working on an Excursion, does this vehicle happen to have rear heat and A/C? If so, there is also the rear cooling system to take into consideration as well, if the decision is to move forward with what the present dealer suggests.


I will admit, I have NEVER seen that type of contamination on one of these engines before in all the years I've been wrenching on them......


EDIT:
It seems like we've already attempted to flush the cooling system numerous times without success, along with KNOWING the oil cooler is in need of replacement. How much money have we already spent? How much more money are we going to spend before we put this issue to bed permanently?

 

No way, that cooler is clogged. And if it's been that way your running HIGH oil temps and are risking a oil cooler blow out. Fix it now or it will cost REALLY big bucks later.

 

Wow Mike - thanks for taking the time to post up your thoughts and detailed advice!

 

I hope my underlying point to all that jiberish was understood.

 

WOW! Thank you so much M-chan68, bismic, and Per4mance for your time and patience in trying to follow me and my emotions loving this truck so much as I have owned it from day 1. Shame on my me for be lazy and going to a place close by as opposed to having the dealer a few miles away to service it. With that said my decision is clear to have Ford install complete engine part 6006 minus the Turbo as they mine is in excellent condition, besides the complete engine they show in some extras like while the old engine is out go through and repaint areas that need it and detail so she has a bed that looks as new as possible. Yes i t is expensive 16K out the door, 1 I plan on keeping it as you can't replace an Excursion with anything out there on the market, I love it, and finally if i did decide to sell it, in the condition that it is in with a new motor under Factory warranty, the value of it would be very high for what i see on the market. So once again Thank you... Wish me luck next week in Rockingham, Jordan Pro Fuel Nitro Harley nearest to you photo