instead of an EGR delete (I do want to remain legal) it was recommended to me by the mechanic to have an oilcooler replacement as preventative measure. The truck (6.0 Powerstroke 2005) has now 90000 miles and there is no sign of anything wrong with it. I was told that most failures of sticking occur around that milage. They actually even recommend to do this every 30000 miles. There has been no such replacement till now on this truck.
The cost would be around 700 for work and 500 for parts (cooler and gasket kits..) if the EGR valve would have to be replaced as well on inspection there would be additional 130 for it.
As it is quite costly, should I have it done? What is your opinion about this?

 

I probably would not do something like that until necessary. But if you absolutely had to have your truck every day and wanted to schedule that work during downtime, it might make some sense. I do believe it is inevitable that the EGR cooler will fail eventually. I also would never have them do the oil cooler without also doing the EGR cooler, no matter what it looked like. That would really be wasting money. Or delete it.

 

if you are have a leaking egr cooler, or a temprature issue eot and ect out of 15* of each other then yes i would. if you have no issue currently i would install a coolant filter and change it a few times and drive the truck. my opinion if your going to replace a egr, or a oil cooler do headstuds. if you do headstuds address the oil cooler and egr cooler.

 

How is it possible to know when it is necessary? I was told that it would fail without any indication and it could damage the motor which would cost a lot more. As I want to go on a longer trip I do not want to have it fail while far away. The truck made 90000 miles so nothing is wrong with it. As I have learned looking through the posts here the EGR cooler is the source of the problem and this needs to be replaced first. It is not clear to me why they recommend to replace the oilcooler. The part cost of EGR cooler would have to be added to it I suppose. Or should only the EGR cooler be replaced without the oilcooler to keep the cost down a bit?

 

It is all standard on this truck, so I do not have any temperature gauges other than the engine coolant temperature gauge on the standard instrument cluster. Egr cooler does not leak. I use the truck to carry a truck camper with a total weight of 2400 pounds, no towing. I think the truck is not operated at its limits with that. Why should it overheat and fail immediately?

 

the oil cooler is similar to a radiator but uses the engine coolant to regulate the oil temps. there is no way to back flush the oil cooler and it is very common to get plugged up from debris from the coolant. commonly known the factory (international) did not get all of the casting sand out of the coolant system this is why they (international) recalled all of the 06+ 365vt engines and installed a coolant filter on the company dime to prevent oil cooler failures. what happens is the oil cooler starts to plug up the coolant spikes at the egr due to lack of flow and ruptures. another issue is as the coolant gets blocked it increases temps and causes metal fatigue where the oil cooler ruptures and contaminates the coolant system. with a decent set of gauges that can monitor the coolant temp and the oil temp you will be able to tell if you are begining to have a issue before it takes out either cooler the spec is 15*. as long as you are at or below 15* at operating temps your fine but if your are over then you have a issue. another way to tell is like what happened on my truck where i knoticed my engine fan clutch engauging when it shouldnt. mines was a 26* differential.

 

your truck is capible of exceeding prudent limits climbing a hill with a load. it is possible to get over 1200* egts going up a steep hill with a stock tune. ive seen it do it on my gauges with a empty 16' horse trailer that weighs about 4k. the only factory gauges on these truck that is close to accurate is maybe the spedo, tach and boost. the tranny and coolant temps will only tell you when it is far to late. my isspro tranny temp gauge will read anywhere from 0-130* with out moving the factory gauge fom the very bottom. when it is in the "normal" area it can be anywhere from 100-195*. i say 195 because that i the highest ive ever seen on my truck.
bottom line is if you are not having a issue then i wouldnt replace the oil cooler. if you are having a issue i would do the 6.0 fixes the first time.

 

If you don't have a problem with the truck right now, I would just spend the money on two quality gauges to monitor oil temp and coolant temp. Then you would know if the oil cooler is getting plugged up.

 

You could get an Edge Insight monitor. (Run $275-299 on the web) Plugs into your OBDII port under your dash.

You can set it up to show EngineCoolantTemp, EngineOILTemp, TransmissionTemp, Boost, and with the optional $80 EGT probe, your ExhaustGasTemps. All this on one screen, from your factory installed sensors. Then you can watch for the temp spread of ECT and EOT, which would forewarn you of problems. It also reads most trouble codes, that may arise.

Good luck

 

I have also installed the newest FLASH VXCF9 where it says

Cooling loss protection - Revised engine protection strategy when an engine
over-temperature condition is present. Vehicles
updated with this service calibration will display
higher temperature gauge readings when high
engine oil temperature (EOT) conditions or high engine coolant temperature (ECT) are
encountered and may disable EGR operation to
prevent possible EGR cooler damage.

and also:
Oil cooler efficiency monitor - DTC P012F stored. These enhancements provide and wrench warning lamp illuminated when the oil coolers efficiency drops below a specified threshold for a given speed and vehicle load

Would this be sufficient to know when the oilcooler and or EGR cooler is about to fail?

 

yes and no. that will just give a check engine light. you would be better off in the long run to actually be able to monitor the vital on your truck. for me spending 300 bucks to watch the vitals was a no brainer.

 

Yes, you are right. Thank you for this recommendation. So I would just have to connect it to this ODBII port for the essential measurement of eot and ect out of 15*. I am not a mechanic, how does this ODBII port look like?

 

I am installing one of those inline filter systems to ensure the line gets filtered good and hope eliminating the possibility of killing the EGR.

 

Is it possible to see the installed flash with the Edge Insight monitor? I had the in to get the latest flash VXCF9 and I would like to check.

 

Your OBDII port is on the underside of your dash, to the right of the steering column.

Good luck