Bought my truck last week, and everytime I get out of it I get a faint whiff of coolant. Just a quick glance under the truck to check for leaking coolant is all I did. Today I popped the hood and started looking and right in the bottom of the degas bottle is a steady drip. Local parts store has the dorman brand but after a little research I have found that they are prone to failure. Is it really best to stick with motorcraft on the degas bottle?

 

I’ve had a Dorman degas bottle in my truck for almost 2 years and 85k miles, no issues whatsoever.

 

I know that some folks think the OEM bottle is junk, but my degas bottle never failed. It got a little cloudy, so I replaced it this year - 13 years old. I went w/ OEM again mainly because I am just not a Dorman fan. After their oil cooler caused so many issues, I just didn't want to support them. To me the key in making them last is to keep the temperatures down!

 

The Dorman bottles for the Lincoln LS fail like crazy.

 

I got the Dorman. If I put the OEM next to it you'd never tell them apart. Even the cap was identical when I got it a few years ago.
My original had a stress crack in the bottom that never showed a real drip but if you wiped it it would wet your finger. It can happen to any of them.

 

Plastic is one of the hardest materials to evaluate the quality in. As plastic ages, they pretty much all get brittle and degrade in appearance (translucent materials become cloudy). Two materials can look identical, but have great differences in some very important characteristics and properties. My former employment was with a company that sold plastic to the automotive industry (among others). It was expensive material. Quality was normally top tier, but when it wasn't (all production lines can drift in quality as instrumentation and machinery age and wear), it was sold to the aftermarket if possible. Thermal stability was one parameter that was important. Heat, oxygen exposure, and UV light can cause degradation. There is no doubt that the lower quality material was being sold to companies that made aftermarket automotive parts. Physical appearance was not a way to distinguish between top quality and second tier quality (although when pigments were added to the material for coloring purposes, appearance was tightly controlled). The quality of the product had to be determined through analysis and measurements. I don't know what material is used in making the Dorman product. That isn't "material" in my choice, I am prejudiced against them in general. IMO success is determined in years on this type of product. I expect AT LEAST 10 years of life in stability and appearance. Usually the OEM product delivers this. As in all things, there are exceptions.

For the benefit of the 6.0L community, aftermarket products have to be tried so we can have cheaper alternatives. I just hope a large percentage of the people using aftermarket products post up their results (ie report when/if it fails AND report every 2 or 3 several years how it is doing). Doesn't matter if it is degas bottles, radiators, or hpops!

 

Looks like mines an SKP from rockauto, doing ok after 6 months or so. The original was starting to stretch the joint between the clear and black plastics so I reckoned it was better to swap out and keep it as a backup before the Big Bang.

 

I didnt want to wait to order one so I went with the dorman from orielys, it has a lifetime warranty, what's weird is advance sells the same dorman degas bottle and theirs only have a 1 year warranty, pretty much the same price.

 

I have had a Dorman on since Mar. 2017, no problems, over 25k miles.

 

Unlike the Lincoln LS, it may be Dorman is buying the bottle from the OE source. I know there are some products they private label from the OE source.

Good to know guys.

 

That would be good but my point above is that even the OE source may not be selling them the top tier quality. Then again they might, who knows.

 

I agree with that Mark, especially when the product is in full assembly line production. But once the product is no longer needed in assembly, things change - Assembly Line/Service/Aftermarket. Your chances of getting a higher end part go way up. Dorman knows this too, as does Standard. For a few percentages of the cost they can up the game, or just leave the contract as is knowing product quality in the pipeline goes up.

The China thing does screw this all up as those guys copy anything for pennies on the dollar. But if I remember correctly the OE tank was blown in the USA, not even Mexico. Maybe I wrong or it's changed.

 

I was cleaning mine when I did the coolant flush and dropped the damn thing. Wouldn't you know it landed on one of the nipples and broke it off. This was a Saturday so as opposed to trying to patch it and wait for the dealership to open Monday I called the local Oriely's. To my amazement they had one on the shelf. So I went witha Dorman.

 

IMO the temperatures you posted in your fan clutch thread are sufficient to accelerate embrittlement (220 +). That temperature also raises the pressure.

 

That's why I am searching for answers to get my temps down. At this point seems to me it can only be radiator, fan clutch, water pump, or combination. I installed a new T-stat with the coolant flush a few weeks back.