Hi all,
first of course, the best wishes for 2010 and happy driving!
I, a proud owner of a 2004 F250 Harley Davidson (6.0 liter turbo diesel), is lost trying to find a problem. Even after searching for days and trying the solutions brought by he people in this forum. Let me discribe what has happenend. I bought this car in 2005 with 12.500 kilometers on the clock. Car had a double exhaust and a open airfilter. I have bought and been driven it with a tunersetting from SCT in the streetperformence module. i am not driving it like a maniac, no burning rubber for me and I am not trying to be the first at the traffic light. Truck is towing regularly a mobile home, ski-boat ore a mobile climbing wall. Al loads are not exceeding 1900 kilograms. The clock stands now at 68550 kilometers. During last service I noticed my car had puked coolant, And I lost a lot of coolant as well. Off course I thought it was the cap so I ordered a new one. replaced it and refilled the bottle. I had read on this forum about the new level so also kept it to the minimum to leave room for expantion. (Btw job was done in the garage I am not that handy ) During a trip from while towing a load from the Netherlands to Spain I had to refill 4 liter of coolant. both ways so I lost aboput 8 liters on that trip. Truck has not run hot ore gave a warning. The only thing I could noticed was by checkint the level in the expantion bottle.

Back in the Netherlands I brought the truxk to the garage and they checked the coolant. After refilling it, there were bubbles in the expantion bottle. So we thought head gasket. After test driving for a few kilometers we cjecked again and.... no bubbles anymore. So I tried it driving a longer period.

After the truck had stand in rest for 2 days it started right away, but when you hit the gas a little it was like it was running on 6 ore 7 cilinders. In idle it was running good. There was no white or black smoke from the exchaust and after about one minute or so the truck was running good again. At the end of the day, again no problems at all. fired up instantly and running smooth. But I went back to the garage because I was still losing coolant. So after reading the treads we ordered a new EGR cooler and replaced it. (truck had been away for almost 3 weeks. Those parts are coming from the US so I have to be patient).

After the replacement of the EGR cooler, there was still coolant leaking somewhere inside the engine. Nothing was showing on the hoses ore outside the block. This repair had cost me 1700 euro's so far. But we were back with the headgasket again. Garage holder told me this was a whole lot of work and a expancive one. because the entire block has to be lifted. I had to count on a repair that was about 7000 euro's, and then the things that would come forward whith disambling the engine. Compression tests were hard, almost not to do, so he told me.
As an alternative he advised me to put some special fluid into the coolant bottel that is supposed to stop leaks. it was a palliative, but I dicided to choose for it. (not swimming in money so I had no choice basicly )

The stuff worked, the leaking had stopped, but every morning, specialy after a cold night, when starting up the truck, it starts intantly but the first 30 seconds or so when you give a little gas the engine seems to run rough, there is some vibration and it looks like there is one cilinder who has a hard time. After that point it runs smooth the whole day. Starts at the first cranck, no vibration, no missing cilinder. There is no smoke at all, not when starting, not when driving. When it is a headgasket problem there must be a lot of white smoke coming out of the exchaust?

So can anyone help me out with a solution. Having the headgasket done is to expensive here in Holland. a specialy because we do not know for sure the headgasket it the problem. (No warranty by Ford off course because the truck was exported out of the country). Is there another metode to find out it is the head gasket indeed, ore could it be somethng else as well? The gargeholder by the way is specialised in repairing USA trucks.

Well a loooooooooooong story, hope there are people who finished it to the end a have some good ideas to help me out.

 

please respond with possible solutions, like how to find out if the head gasket is indeed leaking without disassembling the engine. ore could it be a cilinder that is failing ore the EGR valve??
so please help or tips needed....

 

You might also post this in the 6.0 diesel forum on this site. Those folks would have experiene specific to that engine.

 

Wow zo'n truck rijden in NL lijkt mij niet goedkoop en niet bepaald makkelijk te parkeren LOL. Can the dealer where you took the truck run a diagnostic with a computer ? My truck which is a 6.0 as well runs rough for a minute or two depending on the weather but after that it runs fine.

 

haagsportief, welcome to FTE!

Be patient, you will receive better responses in the 6.0 Forum. Hopefully, a Moderator will move this thread for you.

 

the egr coolers usually fail because of a restricted oil cooler causing the egr cooler to overheat and burn out. hopefully you changed both at the same time. however it would still take significant time to burn out the second one, not just 50-100 km. if it immediately began using coolant after the cooler change i would guess headgaskets. if you park the truck front end downhill when hot and leave for some time if the egr cooler is leaking again the egr valve should be wet, if it is dry start planning on headgaskets and studs

 

For 7000+++euros (11000$) you can surely get a good used 6.0L including transport & duties from US and swap it.
I've seen one 04 lately for 1600 Can. with a higher milage but still.
Also 06 with 25K for 3900 Can. just yesterday.
That guy is taking advantage of you cause he's ""The gargeholder by the way is specialised in repairing USA trucks"" BS.
Do some more search and you'll get knowledge how to go about it.
This site is full of great info.
And as for the bubbles in the expansion tank;
""Pressure testing will find a leaking egr cooler but not a headgasket. When a headgasket leaks compression from the cylinders leaks pass the gasket and into the cooling system causing cooling system pressure to increase and push coolant out of the degas bottle.""
But what do i know.

 

Grijs kenteken, parkeren valt mij redelijk mee The garage did allready several tests, solution, with thanks to the forums, was the EGR cooler. But the problem was still there. They told me the only other hing was the headgasket. But the strange part it I don't have a bad fuel consumption and not once is it giving white smoke. How come yours is running rough ? Mine still does the same. after that it also runs great.

 

Thank you for the comment, if the moderator not I will try to post it there as well. I can use any help in this one to determine the cause.

 

Thanks for your comment, I am not sure they did. They didn't tell me and it wasn't on the bill. So I am afraid they change the EGR cooler but not the oil cooler. Strange think was that the old EGR cooler, after it was removed, with a pressure test was not leaking. they pressed it while heated to 6 bars I believe and it was not leaking. Never the less they advised to replace the cooler for a new one. I will try the test with the parking and see what comes out. (unfortunatly we have not that many hills in Holand )

 

bubbles in the coolant--coolant loss thru expansion tank--no smoke from exhaust--heads-or head gaskets--excessive white smoke from exhaust--coolers egr-n-oil---sorry,,sound like heads/head gaskets to me--

 

Thank you for your response, hmmmm those prices are very interesting. In Holland my truck was sold for 50.000 Euro's ex 19% taxes (one year old and 12500 kM on the clock ) I am not feeling the garageholder is trying to take advantage, I believe the amount of work is huge and they charge per hour of work (think they charche 75 - 80 Euro a hour in Holland) He is willing to think with me and to keep the costs within limits. The major problem is, I think, that we do not have special Ford truck mechanics here in Holland with all the proper tools knowledge and equipment. This case is a nice example, In my opinion when I was living in the states and went to a proper garage and forddealer they were able to tell me the problem instantly.

The pressure test in the degass bottle was btw perfect. There was no pressure lost. They left the pressure on for a whole night and there was nos lost. However I noticed today, after running the engine warm, there was a little pressure and a small amount of coolant coming out of the cap from the degassbottle. (the cap is allready chanched for a new one with is capabel of 16 psi) So what to do next

 

Make sure you keep the old EGR cooler. You can sell it and make some of your $$ back.

 

Thank you for the comment, I don't like the news but at least it gives me a confirmation of what I was afraid of. Just one strange thing, the bubbles was only once after a refill, couldn't that be air in the valves? After a short drive we checked again and there were no more bubbles, also the pressure test in the expantion bottle was good. If it is leaking shouldn't the bubbles be there constantly?

 

hmm, to late. I left it at the garage. The invoice for a new EGR cooler in Holland was 750 Euro, how much do you pay for a new one?
I was so happy with my "build for though" but it seems some engineparts are not so solid as Ford let you think. Still I'm not giving up driving such a wonderfull truck.