Early 2003 f350. Crank no start verified engine producing less than 100 psi during cranking. Removed engine and upon disassembly found melted plastic in the central passage of the oil cooler housing. It appears to be about 20-30 grams of some nylon with a spring in the center of the mass. The origin of the plastic is unknown to me as the oil filter riser, drain valve and oil bypass valve in the housing are all intact with no melting. As well the oil reservoir screen was ruptured with 2 panels missing. Possibly related to the foreign plastic in the housing. After inspecting the block passage from the reservoir to the pump inlet the mesh is not present. I believe the high pressure pump ingested the mesh. But could the pump pass the fragments out to the high pressure standpipes and oil rails?

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Anything making it through the pump has the potential to make it to the injectors. Check the screen on the IPR valve.

If you are not the only owner of the truck, its possible that earlier it had hot oil that melted the filter standpipe and valves within. The prior owner may have fixed whats in the oil filter canister, but did not clean further.

 

The plastic softens around 300 degrees and melts around 350. Oil flow path diagram attached.

The reservoir for the suction of the high pressure oil pump (oil cooler reservoir) is downstream of the oil filter. Anything that makes it past the screen in that reservoir will feed the HPOP. Also, the IPR is a dump valve, so as oil flows through the IPR, it returns to the engine. That means the solids (and any screen the material from the oil cooler reservoir) will make it to the oil pan. Whatever makes it through the LPOP pickup tube screen can be distributed throughout the engine.



IPR drain on back of HPOP (05+, sorry I don't have a pic of the '03 - late '04):

 

Thanks for the Help in diagnosing the plastic. The idea of it originating from a previous filter standpipe seems the most plausible. Unfortunately the plastic melted into the output holes that feed the main oil passages for the block and caused what I believe is oil starvation. The camshaft lobes and lifters are scored with the rod bearings having dropped most of the material. A few Machine shops said it's cheaper to buy a new short block then fix all the bearings and heat damage. I have heard that the early engines had problems, but is this level of damage something that happens on the early models more often?

 

It can happen in any engine that overheats to the extent that yours did. That isn't confined to early models. That is why it is SO CRITICAL to monitor about 10 engine parameters while driving (ECT, EOT, ICP, IPR, FICM MPOwer, FICM LPower, FICM VPower, and add on a fuel pressure sensor and gauge).

The early models will have higher rates of issues because it took time for the community (us) to fully get an understanding of the issues, the mechanism causing them, and the severity of damage that was possible from them.

The original Gold coolant just couldn't take the excess heat (especially when head gaskets leaked) ..... couldn't take mixing with low pH combustion gas either. Oil coolers were designed such that they would plug up easily (goal was a lot of surface area in the cooler which essentially requires small passageways), so keeping the coolant in the correct temperature range, and having a coolant filter were very helpful things that were learned in the early days. I am still running an OEM oil cooler at 250k miles and all is well, but I switched to Rotella Ultra ELC (one of several good choices), installed a coolant filter, and watch temperatures like a hawk.

 

Mark said it pretty well. The biggest issue with the early 6.0 L engines was Ford itself. First, they provided no training to the Ford service personnel, so the engines were at the dealership and being sold with no clear idea of how to fix them, leading to many mistakes. Secondarily, Ford decided to use a coolant from other vehicle platforms to reduce inventory and costs. And a subset of this was that, to meet the JD Power criteria for best-in-class, they extended the coolant life to 100,000 miles. This, and their initial procedure for replacing the oil coolers, were among the dumbest moves I’ve ever seen. You replaced the cooler, then used a flushing agent to remove all the debris from the cooling system, but it clogged the new cooler you just installed in the engine.

The other issue with the early engines is the HPOP. While axial pumps are used quite successfully in construction and agriculture, and are extensively used in aircraft, this design was a little lacking. IMO, the design should have a lifespan of about 150 to 200,000 miles. Part of the problem was the back plate's wear. If you carefully look at the HPOP for the 2003 to 2004 design level, you can see several iterations, one of which is what one rebuilder calls the International HPOP because it includes a hardened back plate. That’s what I have in my engine right now. It still doesn’t address the potential for the inner cylinder to come loose and spin, causing the timing ports to be at a timing.

This does bring up an interesting point, though. Did For or International make a conscious decision on the quality of the HPOP for the Powerstroke version? But again, IMO, the biggest issue with the HPOP is its rebuilding. Ford was using a company that was one of the worst I’ve seen for rebuilding engines, and I’m sure that carried over to the HPOP. Other aftermarket suppliers also used poor-quality rebuilders. So there’s nothing worse to develop a poor reputation than having a repaired part be bad either right out of the box or in short order. And then having the mechanics that worked on the engine, have to eat the labor to replace it. Fortunately, it appears there are two sources to get good replacements, although I have my own favorite.

 

That really looks like the spring from the top of the oil filter stem, but how did it get there? Seems insane that it would have melted down through the filter, through the hole, and into the filter base plate.

Long block time, I wouldn't trust the original heads if it got the oil hot enough to melt plastic like that.

 

Thanks for the help with this issue. It's interesting how Ford chose to handle the oil cooler and its associated housing. Unfortunately the oil analysis returned with a high presence of iron and bearing material. The filter had large amounts of some type of bronze metal. As was correctly guessed the oil was scorched and was missing most of the protective package. The operator of the truck does not wish to further pursue repairs and has already made the decision to scrap the truck. I have been instructed to pull a rod bearing and cap and then cease all further work on the engine. This definitely surprised me with how critical the oil cooler and its housing were to the truck. Thanks to all the people that responded with very helpful ideas and information. When I am able to get the pictures of the bearings I will update the post.

 

Ford did not design the engine; it was designed by International. Same with the previous 7.3 and the later 6.4L

 

#5 L #6 R. The plastic stopped almost all oil flow.

 

We REALLY appreciate you documenting all of this. A real shame to see though!