Just a quick question to those of you who have experienced coolant puking with the 6.0.

As far as I know there are a limited number of problems which result in coolant expelling from the degas bottle; they are:

1) Head gasket leak
2) EGR cooler leak
3) Flash boiling coolant in EGR cooler
4) Faulty pressure cap
5) Coolant system overfull

If I've missed any please let me know.

My question is this: If the head gaskets or EGR cooler are leaking is there usually evidence of contamination in the coolant? If so what is usually visible?

I am currently experiencing coolant puking issues; they started out being quite intermittent and have been getting progressively worse, at this point if I drive VERY conservatively I am still seeing evidence of coolant puking even with the coolant level set at the absolute minimum when cold.

I am however not seeing any sign of contamination in my coolant and my pressure cap tested OK.

I am currently running Matt's street/economy SCT tune in the truck (the puking issue still occurs when set in stock config as well); I've rerouted the CCV system and have deleted the cat and muffler. Currently have 181000 km on the truck; coolant system was drained and flushed at 150000 km; old coolant was clean as well.

If anyone has any thoughts on this I sure would like to hear them.

Thanks

Jason

 

You appear to have listed all the common types of possibilies for puking 6L's. I have a similar issue and have a thread going https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...nt-puking.html.

Contrary to your symptoms I have exhaust looking crap shown in my coolant after 10,000km of being flushed and the degas bottle is now going dirty yellow to brown. Mine appears to be more a head gasket issue. I have 110,000km today.

With your symptoms of having clean coolant I do not have any advise of the cause but others may tune in and advise. Puking issues have been discussed to death so just search the forum but keep in mind each case is unique.

If your truck still has warranty keep bringing it to ford until they fix it. With your higher truck miles I am assuming your out of warranty. So I offer this, in my opinion all the added emission control equipment (EGR valve, EGR Cooler, throttle body for some and etc.) all appear to be the most common 6L problems and actually hurt performance, fuel economy and durability of the 6L. Therefore overtime and definatly by the time warranty is completed I will disable and/or rip all this emission control crap out of my truck and upgrade the head bolts to ARP. You may want to consider the same. In my opinion this should help reduce the number of potential problems to keep fixing and should increase the durabililty and performance of the 6L and maybe get similar legendary respect the 7.3 PSD has. Trick will be making it legal or tricking the strict emision states and provinces.

Good luck.

2003 6L PSD F350 Crew Cab 4x4 Short Box

 

04Xcursion,

You have listed all the causes. It is not uncommon to have puking and clean looking coolant, with a bad head gasket or EGR cooler. With pressure testing them it will be hard to pinpoint. In your case it is either the EGR cooler or the headgaskets. Here is the TSB that outlines the test procedures.
http://www.ford-trucks.com/tsb/fullt...php?tsb=06-3-8

After you pin point it and fix it, use the SCT to turn off the EGR valve in the closed position and then get an EGR delete exhaust up-pipe from Matt at LIPD. This will prevent exhaust gasses from entering the intake system and EGR cooler, which will stop any future leaks of the EGR cooler. If you have to do head gaskets by all means install ARP studs.

Good luck.

 

I'll add my 2 cents. Get a new degas bottle cap. Make sure when the truck is cold you only have 1/4" of coolant iin the very front of the bottle. Try that first, its very cheap. It has not been to uncommon for the cap to get warped (they don't make them out of steel anymore) and leak worse over time. Degas bottles have been issues themselves as well. If its under warranty, take it to a reputable (even if it's another state, trust me you'll thanks us later) dealership and let them change parts at will. Odds are it will only go in once and come back fixed if you find the right tech.

 

Thanks guys; as the truck is well out of warranty I'm going to try Ryan's suggestion today and give the new cap a try. With any luck that's all it will be.

I know that the hose for the EGR cooler leaks in cold temperatures (below 10 deg F or so) so I've been waiting for Matt to finish up with his complete EGR delete kit which will totally eliminate the cooler which I've got to replace anyways.

If indeed this turns out to be a head gasket issue what is the likelihood that my heads are warped or out of flatness spec? Any downtime with the truck is time sensitive because it's my work truck. When it's in the shop I don't work. So I'm just trying to get a sense for what I have to expect in terms of downtime. If it's going to be a long drawn out process with many many hours of labor/parts I may seriously consider an engine swap based on the time involved (the whole not working thing adds a lot to the dollar per hour labor rate).


Jason

 

my problem was a cracked cylinder causing puking under a load

 

They also changed the cold coolant level on the Degas Bottle in the 03 and 04 models. Once they took a little coolant out and put a sticker on the bottle where it should be, mine stopped puking out of the bottle. You may want to ask your dealer about this too.

 

Well; I just thought I'd provide a quick update as to what's been going on.

I replaced my cap as per Ryan's suggestion; and I was really hoping that the $6.14 fix would take. Sadly it has not; even with a minimal amount of coolant in the bottle I'm still seeing coolant discharge from the degas bottle.

Now for the fun part; I'm currently working with Matt and Jeremy at LIPD to do an engine build. I'm at a point where I want to do some mods anyways and I still need the truck to be reliable; so here's the goal: 500+HP with a service life of 500+ kmiles We're still talking but it sounds like a realistic goal right now. I'll keep you posted.

Jason

 

well, i now have an 08 and it also pukes coolant at 21 miles. Must be a Ford thing.

 

04Xcursion: If you are dealing with LIPD and are aiming for 500 RWHP they will take care of you and solve your trucks problems. Likely it should include tranny upgrades adn etc.

I seem to have the same goals as you for getting maximum engine life and durability but without aiming for the 500 RWHP as in my opinion lower power levels should create less heat, pressure and stress on the motor and drivetrain which should yield better chances of longer engine life.

Good luck and keep us posted as I am interested to see what your mods are and how you like it.

 

Well the 500 HP is a max number; I'll likely get Matt to develop a few tunes for me that will use the engine as efficiently as possibly. I'll also put al the long life features I can into the engine (coolant filitration; bypass oil, etc etc). I just figured that if I build an engine to take 500+HP it should last as long as I need it to with the way that I drive it. Basically the concept of the engine build is "don't skimp out" I want to build everything as bulletproof as possible (within reason and budget).

So far Matt and Jeremy have been awesome; I cannot speak more highly of them. Their advice has been sound and they are great to work with.

I'll certainly be taking the truck down to NC for them to install and tune the engine.

As for tranny upgrades, NADP is right in my backyard so when the current tranny looks like it's on it's last legs I'll order one of their heavy hauler trannies, rumored to be good for up to 700 HP.

Jason

 

04X: You and I appear to be thinking the same wavelength on the upgrades and aiming for the bullet proof as possible aproach to our vehicles until death do us part. Keep us posted.