Well, I have been watching my coolant level for a little while now, and I filled up the coolant bottle to the "new max" level on Friday, Jan. 15th.

Last night I opened the degas cap just to see how pressurized it was by feel, and it seemed to have quite a bit of "blow off" when I unscrewed it, but not like the cap was going to pop off when I unscrewed it, just hissed.

I went to open the hood this morning after I had parked it, from driving to work a couple of hours earlier, and I noticed that there was a little white ring around the base of the cap, and about 6 "rain drop" sized white spots on the bottle area.

I also noticed it has about 1 inch less of coolant from when I filled it last in the bottle.

A little history:

When I removed the FICM about 3 weeks ago, I took out the degas bottle and emptied it, and I also lost the coolant in the two supplying tubes in the process.

Then on Jan. 15th I reinstalled the new FICM and filled up the coolant level like I stated at the beginning of this post.

History over.

So, when I went out today and found the white stuff, I cleaned it up, and I will be seeing what happens after the drive home. I am also thinking of doing the latex glove test on the degas bottle.

Any thoughts from ya'll would be great.

Thanks - Preston

 

Try a new degas bottle cap, and then plumb a pressure gauge in the return line off the degas bottle and let us know what you see

 

Try testing your cap, if your cap is junk it will allow your coolant to boil and you could be seeing a loss there.

 

So, instead of testing the cap, I just decided to get the Stant cap. $6.80 part (tax included), since the original OEM cap was still on the bottle. I figured, why not.

Here's the weird thing:
This morning I check my fluid level and it's about an 1 inch from the "new max" line, then I install this Stant cap, drive back to work, check my bottle one last time before heading in to work and the fluid is back to where was when I filled it on Jan. 15th. And the truck was at full operating temp.

 

my level goes up and down a 1/4" or so all the time. One day it's up, next it's down... I'd be watching for a trend, if downward always, then I'd start looking at reasons why.

 

Check it cold, always. Don't worry about warm level. It does some weird stuff if you try to keep track of it cold/warm/hot etc. New cap was a good place to start. Shouldn't be seeing any white stains outside of the cap seal.

 

Well, I looked under the hood when I got home, and didn't see any white stuff.

I wonder if it was from me continually checking the cap by unscrewing it and such.

 

Probably.....as for the coolant level in the degas, it will fluctuate with temp. and just the location the truck is sitting as far as level of the surface will fool with your head too.

This site is invaluable for help with the 6.0l when you DO develop a problem..that being said I find that as far as the condition of my 6.0 goes if I stay off the internet mine seems to work the best, a little stimulation is a good thing at times, but the drama on some of the internet sites is a bit much and really serves no good purpose. By that I mean once you know your engines characteristics, and get a good monitor, it serves no good purpose to keep coming to these sites and reading the same horror stories over and over. There really are a lot of these engines going up and down the road daily turning diesel into smog and the owners are oblivious to the problems some people have. They're the happy ones you never get to know. That's my 'thought for the day' have a good weekend!

 

I just wanted to take a moment to have a completion to this thread.

The issue turned out to be:

The factory clamp at the hose connection on the bottom of the degas tank was not making a complete seal, and was letting the coolant drip from that location. I did inspect the degas tank to look for cracks in the bottom but found none. If it continues to leak a that point I will be replacing the tank soon.

Thanks - Preston

 

Let me ask a really stupid question-how many clicks do you tighten the cap? I'm hoping that I'm just not tightening it enough, but I'm having symptoms of HG's as well.

 

By you stating "clicks" suggests you still have the original degas cap.

I believe the clicking on the original cap just means it wont let you tighten any further. 1 click or 50 clicks don't matter.

Get rid of it and go with a Stant 10238 (16psi) cap. The Ford caps don't last, and after I installed the 10238 Stant, I now have pressure constantly in the system. My original wouldn't keep pressure.

Also, they are usually at a NAPA for $5-$8 depending on where you live.

 

The updated cap will give you one solid click that takes some force, but don't be scared. that way it seats. Glad you got your leak figured Silver, and it wasn't what you were worried about.