Hi, my name is Doug, and I own a Ford. Yes, I have an addiction.
If I should have put this in the Excursion section and not here, if someone will do that for me I would appreciate it and I will try not to make more mistakes in the future.
Now that I have that out of the way... I have been reading everything I can get my hands on here at FTE regarding the 6.0. I bought a brand new Excursion in 2001 with a 7.3 -- problem free for 199,000 miles. My CPA says in 2011, "You need a new vehicle for the tax write off." My heart sank but I obeyed. Sold my beloved Excursion and bought a new 2011 F-150. No problem, just not my Excursion. A few weeks ago -- mid September -- on my birthday, my wife surprised me by saying, "I saw this real nice looking Excursion for sale across the street from the church." We went to look at it -- 103,000 6.0 Limited -- pretty nice shape. Had King Ranch 20" wheels (lug centered spacers) and Goodyear Kevlar tires -- probably had 5 or 6,000 miles on them. Sold the 2011 pickup and we bought the Ex. I started doing baseline maintenance -- oil and filter change, dumped the transmission fluid and replaced with 8 quarts (more or less), changed the external trans filter, changed both fuel filters, took off the 20" wheels and tires and just put back the basic factory wheels and tires. In order for the 20" setup to work on the front, he had a "2 inch leveling kit" installed -- actually just a "stack" of 4 small "leaves" under the main stack on each side. When I went back to stock I removed them (installed new factory Ubolts and nuts).
Currently I have new Bilstein shocks (singles) for all 4 corners, a new Bilstein steering dampener (is that the right term?) shock thingy, new front sway bar bushings, a new sinister coolant filter kit, and new sway bar end links for the factory rear sway bar (factory is 7.3 inches center to center or something like that and the ones he had on it are almost 10 inches center to center). They hang down pretty low. I do no 4 wheeling as a rule except every couple of years I will go out on the beach for a couple of hours but they just look odd down that low. I have no idea why he did that or how it will be once I put the others on. I cannot find anywhere -- neither from my local dealer or aftermarket a set of rear sway bar bushings for my Excursion (it appears to be 25 mm -- but I have not put calipers on it to be precise). Any help there would be greatly appreciated.
The truck has a mild to moderate case of the "Ford wander" (not yet "white knuckle" driving) and I am ready to pull the trigger on a set of V-codes for the front and B-codes for the rear (to be modified before I install them). I figure with the spring change, sway bar bushings, and Bilstein's, the steering should improve greatly. The ball joints and tie rod ends were checked by the dealership before I bought it and they said "they are fine." If there is any slop left, I likely will try to adjust the steering box as described many places on this site.
I don't have the previous owner's records so I have little to go on. My biggest concern is the EGR Cooler condition and Oil Cooler condition. Here is where I have read so much and watched so many you-tube videos that I believe I may actually know less than I did before I started to explore the topic.
Let me tell you what I see and you veterans can ask or tell me whatever to narrow down the possibilities to something more manageable. I can tell you, to go into the engine with only 104,000 miles on it and after only owning it about 7 weeks is not going to make the Mrs. real happy.
*There is no water in the oil.
*There is no oil in the water EXCEPT the bottom of the "degass" bottle (I think it is called) had/has some gunk in it. Black greasy, not oily gunk. I have removed the bottle and soaked purple cleaner/degreaser in it, Dawn dishwashing soap, Cascade, Simple Green -- probably something else I am forgetting and while cleaner, it is not clean. Likely I will just order a new one.
Coolant is disappearing from the coolant system. There is no evidence of leaks and there is no "radiator coolant smell" at anytime. There is no smoke -- white, grey, or black (except a lot of black if you mash on it -- tuner, I am sure is doing that). There is at times some dried white droplets outside on the degass bottle and the immediate surrounding area.
Today I started the flush and refill process. This is when I started to get nervous.
When I drained the radiator there was about a gallon in the bucket when I finished -- I thought there would be more. I did not pull the block plugs yet. I put some Simple Green in it and filled the bottle back up with hose water. I drove it about 6 miles until it warmed up (80 degrees here today). I was surprised to find that the level in the bottle hadn't changed much. I gave it a few minutes to cool down some and cracked the degass cap with a heavy towel over the cap. I did not remove the cap but just cracked it a little. I was shocked at how much pressure there was. I felt the top radiator hose and it was warm but obviously empty -- when I squeezed it you could hear air getting pushed into the degass bottle but the level of fluid wasn't changing. A few minutes later I was able to safely remove the cap -- I decided to top it off with distilled water. When I started the truck water immediately began getting forced out of the bottle -- almost like it was getting pushed out with significant force -- not a geyser but really pushed. I have seen You tube videos of people running their trucks with a hose in the bottle and did not see water coming back out like I did with my truck.
I recapped it and went home. I drained the radiator again -- seemed like quite a bit more this time in the radiator. While it was draining, I removed the air breather, etc. and took out the thermostat. Seemed nice and clean -- I did see a little "grit" or black specks on it. I put the housing on it, put in a pint or so of Simple Green and filled it back up with hose water. I drove a total of about 10 miles -- a quick trip into Bojangles and then 2 stops to try to get a thermostat. $22.00 for a thermostat -- they only come with the housing at Advance and Autozone! Insane! I'll look on line tonight.
When I got home my temp was reading 168 degrees (ECT and EOT). Isn't that high for no thermostat? What I saw when I raised the hood frightened me.
The degass bottle was "frothing" -- almost like the head on a beer being poured by someone who doesn't know how. It was a lot of froth. I didn't have my phone or camera but I am telling you, it was a lot.
So there you have it. I am lost as to which way to go or what to do next. The truck has run faithfully at 190 degrees (except once when I was going over a mountain in Virginia right after I got it -- I looked down at it was at 220 -- I adjusted my foot quickly and it stayed there until I got over it).
My thoughts and questions:
No white smoke makes me think the heads and gaskets might be OK.
The frothing, droplets, loss of water, etc. make me think the EGR cooler and oil coolers may be plugging or plugged. I just recently found how to get the ECT and EOT to read at the same time on my MiniMax tuner -- they generally run 12-14 degrees different but my highway trips are generally only 10-12 miles and in somewhat difficult traffic -- so max of about 70 mph.
* The loss of coolant with no rational explanation makes my head hurt.

What should I look for to help me decide how to proceed? It seems like a rational approach from here would be to go with Restore and Restore+ flush and bite the bullet and replace the EGR cooler and oil cooler with Bulletproof pieces (or other brands?), put on the new sinister coolant filter, and fill it with the new ELC Cat1 antifreeze I am riding around -- then call it done? I am considering getting a stud kit -- I have found several articles where guys have changed the studs in-frame; by changing one at a time -- one bolt out, one stud in. I do not think I need to pull the heads, have them milled, O ringed, etc -- or should I?
My driving style is generally pretty conservative -- I like to get good fuel mileage. I am not opposed to some "spirited" driving at times to get a quick thrill but my truck doesn't see over 85 mph and that is rare. I do pull a boat sometimes fairly heavy at 10,000 pounds but even at that, I haven't pulled it in 4 years (my brother in law does).
I know I have been wordy but I have tried to be thorough. Please give me your thoughts, questions, and ideas.
It is great to stop lurking.