well i tow heavy loads and im going in for spewing coolant everytime i tow. I knew i would tow a 12-14k lb trailer so i opted for gauges and exaust to be safe. My truck only spews when the trailer is hooked on. and suprising to me mostly on flat roads. Southern Az-Northern Az-Southern Cal.. Running 65-70 mph, with 12-15 psi boost and 1000* on the pyro. Check gauges came on this last trip 3 times because temp gauge went into the red. all came down within 3 seconds to normal. with spikes that went high and cooled very quickly. It goes to the dealership for the 3 time for coolant puking and they have pressure tested and said everything was fine with no leaks. I am taking in tsb in hand for them to do a better pressure test job and diagnosing. Stock tuned. I have had fitting on hpop replaced for excessive crank, and had 2 egr valves and 1 turbo. Towing my trailer to the lake i hit 40 psi on my aftermarket boost gauge. turbo was replaced directly after that tow.

 

So what was this truck and the other lifted trucks intended purpose? Just a hint, it wasn't towing.

If you are going to tow, especially heavy, a lift kit is the worst thing you can put on a tow vehicle. Lift kits were designed for off road use to increase ground clearance and to allow for bigger tires (which are especially useful in mud bogs). Lift kits were not designed to maximize towing performance.

FMC did not manufacture a lifted truck. The truck was designed to haul the load stated by FMC in stock trim. Anything outside of stock trim and you are on your own.

As far as the dealer selling lifted trucks, it real simple. Car dealers are in the business of selling cars and making the most profit possible. FMC sells vehicles to car dealers, FMC doesn't care if the dealer keeps the vehicles or sells them to a third party. So if the dealer adds a lift kit and big tires at the dealership then marks up the mods 300 percent and you walk in and buy it the dealer makes a Great profit (no differenct than the dealer selling you overpriced undercoating, bed liners, lifetime wax and window vin etching). If the truck is not reliable in its altered form, it is not the dealers problem or FMC's, as the manual and warranty provided by FMC (not your local Dealer) clearly states, any modifications to the stock platform will alter the design characteristics of the vehicle, which could lead to premature component failure and as such are not covered by the FMC warranty.

If the local dealer agrees to warranty the dealer installed mods then so be it. Just understand that only the selling dealer who installed the mods is going to warranty the vehicle. Other dealerships are not going to warranty aftermarket parts.

Hope this helps

 

Did you have the pcm recalibrated after you installed your 5" lift and 35" tires?

Did you re-gear your truck to get the engine back into the proper RPM range?

Have you driven onto a scale after your truck is fully loaded with people, gear, fuel and trailer to see what your GCW, GVW and GAW really is?

 

Took it into have this done. dealer wouldnt do it as they said it was a waist of time. As well as the gears because tires are only 1.5 inches bigger than stock. Truck weighs 8260 on cat scales and trailer is cvarient depending on loads inside but mostly near 12k. When they do the newest reflash i am going to talk to tech and see if he will do the recalibration anyways.

 

EPDP99,

First off you need to find a better dealer that is more acommidating and has a good "Qualified" & certified diesel tech. Key word here is "Qualified"

Basically you changed from the factory 275/70R18 tires to 285/75R18 tires. The diameter increased by 1.67 inches and the circumference increased by 5.26 inches. This is an effective change of 4.8%. This results in an effective gear ratio of 3.55 instead of your stock 3.73. and a 5% RPM drop is 100 RPM at 2000.

Calculator link
www.dakota-truck.net/TIRECALC/tirecalc

The revolutions per mile that the PCM now recieves to calculate many perameters within the engine are now inaccurate. This will change fueling ratios amoung other things.

275/70R18 ~ 626 revs/mile
285/75R18 ~ 591 revs/mile

You are towing heavy, you are some were in the neighbor hood of 21-22K GCW which is just about max load for this truck. But now you are doing it with a gear ratio of 3.55. This is going the wrong direction when you are towing heavy. Engine has to work harder outside of its power band to pull the load due to increased tire size.

You need to have your PCM recalibrated for the new tire size so that it gets correct input data. Also you need to re-gear your truck to 4.10 to get your engine back into the correct power band so that the engine is not working so hard to pull your load.

Now this may not be your only cause of your coolant problem, but it is definitely a contributing factor to your truck not running right.

Hope this helps

 

Wow, excellent post Blackhat. I did not realize some of the correlation of some of the things you mentioned. Glad I went with stock tires Tuesday. I think the 3.73 gear should be an option and the 4.10 standard, just for the fact of what these trucks are really put through.

One other piece of advise on the head gaskets, according to the resident techs that lurk here, more than a few head gaskets have been changed due to an inter cooler leaking.

One more escaped this thread as well, make sure you have the level in the surge tank to the proper level, Ford lowered it awhile back. It has been out for a while so it is less talked about now, much like the 13.5 qts of engine oil vs. the original 15 qts. that produced drivability issues via excessive foaming.

 

oh mine is plenty low!!! but yes i did get that recall and the sticker put on the degas bottle.

 

Ryan,

I agree with that 100% now if we could just convince FMC of that

 

well im back shopping for gears i think ill go with a set of 4.30's so i will be near a 4.10 effective ratio. Do you need a new carrier for the front axle when doing the gear change or do i only need gears?

 

Well said, MrXlh.

 

i was told that fords head gasket problem was in 05 the most because they were using aluminum heads and thinner gaskets... in 06 they used cast heads and thicker gaskets... i blew my last truck up (04 f-350 ccb short bed) by blowing the head gaskets and egr cooler gaskets... it warped both heads and took out a couple pistons but was still under warrenty.. i had the banks tuner and everything on that truck and the guy that comes to the ford dealer to tell you if there going to fix it or not doesnt even work for ford.. just contracted... what caused the problem was a ford malfunction between the pcm and the clutch cooling fans... they wouldn't go on... the only way they can void the warranty on your vehical is if the tuner or aftermarket product "causes" the problem... and with all that said i got a new ford out of it...

06 ford f350 ccb long bed
banks big hoss bundle
20" wheels
towing 40' 5th wheel toyhauler
banks installer!!

 

You may want to do your homework on the engines that you are installing engine mods on. The 6.0 PSD does not use Aluminum heads.

Yes i doubt that pulling a 40' Toyhauler (GVW 12-15K) and running a tuner has anything to do with causing Head gaskests and EGR coolers to fail, let alone melting pistons.

I claiming BS on your post. This is only your third post, you claim to be a "Banks Installer" and you don't even know how the engine is put together in 6.0

 

The rocker carrier is made of aluminum, not the head... And I think blackhat has summed up everything else regarding that post...

 

Oh cut him some slack Blackhat, he had a Ford (an actual truck) confused with a doucheamax.

 

EPDP99, My 05 does almost the exact same thing when towing heavy. I have a leveling kit insalled, no rear lift, and it exhibits the same symtoms with the stock tires and wheels or with the 315's. Unfortunately, neither dealer that has tried to find the problem can duplicate it, since they don't have a trailer heavy enough to cause the problem. Both service departments admit that the head's are probably the problem, but both told me to just run it 'til it blows then they'll put a motor in it. My "03, with the same lift and same size tires (same gearing) will pull the 13.5K boat and trailer all day at 70 and never hiccup. I've been talking to the local Ford Truck "speed shop" about moding the engine with their solution. They mill the heads and block, and install very thin "O" rings into the heads. Of course they replace the head bolts with better ones. The only thing that has stopped me from having the work done is that I traded for a bigger boat, and I can't trailer it. Everything else I tow weighs less than 10K and never seems to cause a problem. I really think that we are pushing the towing limits of the vehicles and that is contributing to the problem.