Been away from here for quite a while mostly due to frustration with this POS. My truck has never run more than 4 weeks without some form of limping. I just hit 92000. However it is 5 years old. I am on my third transmission ALL AT MY COST (that might be solved now but FORD never warranted that!) God knows how many injectors? Egr coolers etc. Just before Jan1 got it back from the shop (ford dealership) Had ARP studs, new headgaskets, first coast diesel egr valve and cooler delete manifold and up pipe ALL AT MY COST. See oil in my degas bottle within 2 F***ing weeks! THIS WILL BE MY LAST FORD! I hope Washington doesnt help them at all! Though I know they will. Now spiking temps indicated and CEL comes on until the gauge goes down. Though nothing else suggests overheating (hoses are still flexible, no leaking at degas or coolant smell, though heater wouldnt heat?). When the truck runs it sems great but always short lived. Dont give me any excuses how it is the fuel, oil, filters etc. Those are just excuses. This truck and alot of 6.0's have been nothing but headaches. Wish there was a cure. Elite seems to be offerring a cooler upgrade (supposedly) though Matt/Spartan doesnt think it is the way to go, it looks like the only the alternative! I dont want to spend any more money with people who do the same things while expecting different results. Yes I have chipped and modded my truck and am willing to pay to play. I understand hp cost money but this is poor engineering. Simple things not working not from hot rodding.

 

If you have had multiple egr cooler failures, do you think its possible the oil cooler is plugged with casting sand? Have you installed a coolant bypass filter? You can pick up a coolant bypass kit from dieselsite.com for $119 and add the ball shutoff valves for a few dollars more. Has your oil cooler ever been replaced? Have you had the heads checked for flatness?

 

Good questions JM.

 

Have you always taken it to the same place to have the work done? That could also be part of the problem

 

I have used 3 different dealers and 2 have been very professional though problems still persist. The latest repair was out of pocket and the oil cooler was not suspect at the time though should have replaced or modified. I dont have a coolant filter and no egr cooler either. I am thinking of a fitting to route oil to an external water cooled heat exchanger, where if failure occurs it is easily repaired. Seems like a heat exchanger from a marine application will be fine. Mount it to the frame rail and plumb it into the cooling system. Also run remote filters there possibly/hopefully. But get the cooler out of inaccesible areas. The heads were flat and she was running like a banshee on an SCT xtreme street with propane tune under hard acceleration when it popped. Not suspecting head or gasket problems just yet. My suspicion is that the oil cooler screen is/was clogged and created backpressure in the oil cooler and it popped. Flush meticulously and replace or modify! I saw where Matt didnt like the idea, however I think with a water to oil heat exchanger, temps should be in the correct range. We will see since there is no option and I might need to see what the race tune feels like. Might just have to buy a different vehicle for reliability.