the problem with running without a thermostat is that after a few cycles through the system, you're not disipating as much heat through the radiator. If you're going through the effort to remove it, replace it. At a minimum, you know that there is a new one in there.

 

I'd find a new tech. That is the exact opposite of how diesels work. Gas cars yes, diesels NO. A diesel can run as lean as 500:1 at idle. Their RPMS are controlled by fuel. Fuel is what makes them hot. Air is what makes them cool down. Think about an intercooler. It makes the air more dense, thus adding MORE air to the engine, thus lowering EGT's. The only piston failures you usually see in a diesel (despite the cracking of duramax pistons for some reason....) is from them melting from the heat, from too much fuel!


Thermostats serve more function than what meets the eye. The thermostat will open to allow more coolant which in turn cools the motor better, however, the thermostat is also there to restrict flow. If you took it out, the flow of the coolant would be too high and would go through the radiator so fast it would never soak into the aluminum of the radiator. It needs to be controlled so it has time to dissipate heat. Without you will overheat even faster.

I've never held a 6.0 thermostat in my hand, but I've tested numerous other kinds of thermostats in my life. Take it out of the truck and put it in boiling water and see if it opens. If it doesn't open then it's bad. Again I've never tested a 6.0 one, so I'm not sure if they're a simple mechanical design like I'm used to or if they're possibly electronically controlled?

 

OK Thanks for the advise and education. I will ask the same question to him and make sure that is what he told me. Like i said before i have more knowledge about gas than Diesel. I have checked thermostats the same way and that had accrued to me. Haven't had time to get it out today not sure about tomorrow but by Sat night for sure. I have to get the gas engine thoughts out of my head. I will not run it without one. I am really afraid i will damage this engine if i can't get this stopped then i will be in court trying to get the guy that rebuilt it to fix it or pay to have it fixed. Will post after i check it.

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Took thermostat out and checked it via boiling water. It was working properly ! Just noticed a small coolant leak , looks like from under the water pump. Not bad but a leak is never a good thing. Leaves about a 14 inch circle on concrete over night. I have been parking it over a big piece of carpet in front of the garage so i had not noticed it before. Getting about 5 drops a minute. It gives me hope that the water pump is defective. I guess Dale Jarrett Ford will find out for sure.

 

A leak is not good however, it could be a small problem or a big problem. It could mean that your cooling system has been exposed to high pressure. This would happen in the begining stages of a weak and failing head gasket. Fix your leak first, then hook up a pressure gauge to your system by tapping into the overfill bottle. Do whatever it is you need to do to get the temp up and watch the gauge, if your psi starts to shoot up its cause you're getting pressure from a cylinder somewhere. Also, without doing any of these things watch your exhaust as you put a load on it, white smoke indicates burning coolant. I know what its like to not have money to throw at these things, oh how I know that. So this is personally what I would do.. Fix your leak, before you put water and antifreeze in, flush your system. Go to powerstrokehelp.com for what it exactly intels. Also I know there are a lot of videos on that page but WATCH THEM ALL. You can get a very good understanding of whats going on with your motor now and how to keep this from ever happening again. Goodluck

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You have an egr delete and a rebuilt motor, honestly this sounds like a small problem. If you do it yourself it's cheap. It could be as easy as fixing the leak, if not then you might need a new oil/ coolant exchanger. It's a pain to get to but you don't need to be a deisel tech to do it. It's in the motor valley underneath your intake manifold. exhaust, intake, turbo and manifold comes off for this. Just be sure to look up the torque values and get new gaskets if you decide to do it yourself.

 

thanks guys. The shop had put a aftermarket water pump on it. Looking at it beside the Ford water pump you could hardly tell a difference but there was one. Always remember my lesson here. I went through three months of pulling over and letting it cool (and for a 6.0 that takes a while) i ran cool water through it , i flushed it , i crawled up hills to keep the heat down and a ford water pump completely fixed the problem. These things run right on the knifes edge and it don't take much to push one over the edge. I can get very aggressive with it pulling a hill in 95 = degree weather and it fan hardly comes on now. It almost stayed on before!!! Glad this is over with.

 

Just to add some random info... I recently had a pretty major leak spring up right there where the water pump is. I believe it to be the spring clamp on the big hose going into the front cover coming from the radiator. I crimped it with pliers to remove it and it never sprung back, so it was weak. I put a hose clamp on instead and the leak went away... just food for thought.