Massive breakdown on vacation
 

So my father in law and I both have 05 6.0's mine is set up with gauges his isin't. His broke down 3 hours into the trip in Dover Del. blew white smoke, lost 2 plus gallons of water, and had no power. He filled it with water let it cool down and tryed to start it up only to hydro lock the engine. Towed to Winner ford in dover and after 1 day of looking at it they say he needs a new engine. Bull--it on them, it sounds like egr cooler went but he couldn't have hurt that much trying to start the engine locked could he? Only code it pulled was a 0238. What do you guys think.

It could have bent rods, push rods, punched a hole in a piston and or damaged a crank. All or none of the mentioned items. Hydrolock is bad ju-ju for these engines. I would however get a 2nd op. on a diagnosis like this unless I was comfortable with the shop.

I'd get another opinion too.

If there isn't visual evidence of catastrophic failure I'd say that it needed to at least have the glowplugs removed and see if it's not a coolant hydrolock from an EGR cooler failure. New engine is kind of extreme for this "common" problem.

I have seen dozens of 6.0's hydrolocked with coolant and fuel, and I don't recall ever having one even bend a rod. The bottom end is pretty stout in these things.

If it were mine, it would get a BPD egr cooler, Ford oil cooler, coolant flush and an oil and filter change. And if funds allowed, new STC fitting, standpipe and dummy plugs.

I definitely wouldn't spend money on that stuff till I knew for sure the correct diagnosis.

Well let's see...white smoke, 2 gallons of coolant gone and hydrolocked engine. What does that sound like to you?:-huh

It sounds like to me that they ended up at a Ford dealer who probably doesn't have an experienced diesel tech. Which unfortunately is becoming all too common these days.

I would venture to guess it was a egr cooler let go, and didn't need a new engine till they had it for the day. It might need one now

Not arguing that fact, just saying till the engine is apart and damage assessed I would not prematurely spend the money on those parts. They are not cheap. I've been bit before jumping to conclusions. However if it ever does happen to you feel free to spend your money as you see fit. :-drink

Did it melt the oil filter stand pipe?

their were no leaks anywhere under the truck, even from the weep holes in the exhaust system, found out today they dont have a diesel certified tech. on staff so it's gettin towed home to my dealer.

Remove the oil filter cap and filter and see if the spiral plastic pipe that goes through the center of the filter element is still there. If it's gone, it melted and is plugging up oil passages through out the engine...it's toast. If it's still there there may be hope for repair.

Bingo, hope they didn't cause more damage than originally caused. Hopefully it's going to someone that can distinguish the dif. from the original damage and any secondary caused damage.

This is my fear. I hope they didn't just keep cranking it ,or try to with all that coolant in the cylinder

Guess you gave Dad in Law the Gauges Talk LOL

only tryed to crank it one time and the belts only moved about 3/4 of an inch, and yes now he knows why I have them. When I gett back to the truck I'll check the oil filter out.