Engine had not been started or cranked for almost 2 days when I drained a little off. Ambient temp is about 60 in the garage. I took a sample in for my coworker to smell as I can't smell anything. He said it had an off smell, maybe slightly burnt or slightly diesel like, but he wasn't gonna say for certain that's what he could smell. I plan on comparing it to some fresh oil if i get the chance tonight.

As far as the low coolant level goes, it's definitely an issue. My degas bottle is completely empty again. The last 2 times it's taken about 3/4 of a gallon to fill to the new sticker minimum level. So ive added roughly 1.5 gallons since mid-august probably. Even though I can't see any signs of a leak from the degas bottle, I think I am going to pull it and pressure or vacuum test it to make sure the bottle itself isn't damaged. From earlier, I do know I have a leak somewhere in the coolant system, as it won't hold a vacuum.

I will update later with more findings.

 

You can also send an oil sample into Blackstone Laboratory for analysis. The results will tell you exactly what’s going on. A lot of us send in samples on a regular basis to keep an eye on things.

 

Wanted to update this thread again. I had another smell test done by dad and he said it smelled like normal oil, no diesel in it.

I managed to fill the degas bottle up with water and within about 15 minutes I had a small leak again. I was able to trace it back to the degas bottle. It was cracked up back behind where the large hose on the bottom connects. I got a new one and a new cap for it as well. I got that installed over the weekend and filled it to the "min level". It was down about a quarter inch today, so I filled it to the min level again this afternoon. I checked the oil and it doesn't appear to have gotten any higher, so thats a plus. I got a new pressure tester/vacuum filler over the weekend as well and did a vacuum test on the new assembly just a bit ago. Unfortunately with the compressor I have access to currently I could only get about 10 inches of vacuum. However, after pulling it down to 10" I left it for about a half hour and at most it lost 0.5" of vacuum. So that seems very positive.

Since I have the air filter out for replacing the degas bottle I plan on going a little farther and cleaning the driver side battery ground connection at the frame, as the previous battery test showed the driver side healthier than the passenger side. According to other threads this indicates that the passenger side is likely taking more of the starter load.

Once I get the ground cleaned I plan on putting everything back together and doing some driving and testing.

Thanks again for all the help.

Baatzy

 

 

Thanks for the video. I believe it had seen that in one of the other threads. Unfortunately I did not have time to get the additional frame to block cable made for the driver side, however I did get the connection cleaned up.

I drove the truck a bunch on Friday and confirmed I have oil cooler issues. Got deltas of up to 21 at one time. I plan on doing a flush and then probably changing oil coolers. I am considering going with an IPR external oil cooler setup. The full flow coolant filter and external mount seem like a better idea than the factory setup, although mine appeared to make it almost 19 years. Any thoughts on IPR vs stock vs another option?

Also, while driving i noticed my coolant pressure got up to 14 psi. I am thinking this might be because of coolant flow issues due to the plugging oil cooler. However since I will be in far enough to do the oil cooler I am thinking of using the IPR gen 3 EGR delete as well.

Do these seem like reasonable next steps?

Thanks and Merry Christmas,

Baatzy

 

The only ways a closed coolant system pressure can increase is 1) due to thermal expansion of the coolant and head space air volume, or 2) introduction of another fluid or gas at a higher pressure.

Did you vent the degas bottle after the system got up to full operating temperature for at least 10 minutes? If you build pressure after venting, then you have a source...likely a head gasket. 14psi may just be the max pressure that your particular cap is venting at. They are supposed to vent at 16psi.

 

I ran the IRP gen3 delete with their coolant filter for a while; maybe a year or so. The delete leaked at the oil cooler connection, despite several attempts at re-installation. Lance said it was user error. Whatever. You can look-up videos of coolant coming through pores in the aluminum delete manifold. Unless something has changed for the better, I wouldn't waste the money or time.

As for the filter, unless you replace the seals every other time you take it apart, it will leak also.

This IPR stuff was my first ... and worst investment in my first 6.0L

 

Based on everything I’ve read on this website I’d stay away from IPR stuff. Though people say to stay away from Sinister Diesel and I’ve had good luck with what I’ve bought from them…mostly lol…and great customer service. Soooo who knows. 🤷‍♂️

 

I did not vent the pressure, maybe I will give that a try and see if anything changes. However with the high delta i will be going in anyways so am tempted to remove the egr problem anyhow.

I was looking at a couple older threads for recommendations and IPR seemed preferred back then, apparently quality has changed somewhat. Maybe just replace the factory oil cooler with factory and put in an upgraded EGR and let it be.

Baatzy

 

Yeah, you definitely need to vent it for that pressure test to mean anything.

The general consensus seems to be:
-Only go with the BPD EGR cooler if you need to keep it in place.
-Only go with the spendy BPD external oil cooler or OEM Motorcraft 'Made in USA' standard oil cooler. For the latter, they are harder to find now...but BPD has a bunch of new old stock. When it comes to 6.0L oil coolers, all roads lead to BPD. They know this and have priced things accordingly.

 

A company would not stay in business long if EVERYTHING that they sold was bad. IMO it is all about the "odds". I want my 6.0L to have the best odds (when the financial hit is not too significant). For this reason I have vendors that I do business with, and some that I don't. I highly value reliability.

 

I'd agree, reliability is high on my list as well. My truck doesn't get used very often as it doesn't fit the family, but when it does it is usually on a trailer that is loaded heavy.

Any thoughts on relocating the oil cooler? To me this seems like a good idea as it allows much easier access to replace the cooler. I just don't know if it's worth the extra cost. I don't know that I want to put an external cooler on like most of the BPD kits.

Also, thoughts on egr delete vs retaining it? specifically is there a go-to delete kit out there? I don't have an inspection requirement so don't need to have it. If there arent any highly reputable delete options out there though I'd just as soon put in a BPD cooler and not worry.

Looking at getting a crew cab semi to replace this thing in all honesty. Wanting it to be in good shape if I'm gonna get rid of it though.

Thanks again,

Baatzy

 

I deleted EGR and am happy I did. There are a ton of “J tube” style egr deletes out there. Mine is Sinister Diesel, the final angle of the tube isn’t perfect but it works.

With any of the kits occasionally (like, a few years or so) you’ll have to replace the short coolant hose to the oil cooler, the coolant o-ring in the intake, and the egr port block o-ring. But that’s easy to do.

i replaced my original oil cooler at around 85k miles with one from Sinister Diesel (I bought a bunch of stuff at one time from them when I first bought the truck lol) and it lasted until 350k miles…the temp differences were still good but something failed and let oil into the coolant. Fortunately I caught it before much got into the cooling system. Just put in an “updated” Ford version last winter.

I just remember lots of people having coolant leak issues with the IPR stuff, but that was years ago. Hopefully they’ve fixed those issues.

 

Hartwig is happy with his IPR radiator, and I think he has the coolant filter too, but he's the only one I've read in a long time that has ventured into that pond.

 

Do you have a part # or a size for the coolant o-ring in the intake?