I have a 2006, F350, 4X4, with 105000 miles on it. The issue that I am having is in the coolant system. In 2009, I put on the Banks Six Guns and 4" exhaust. I have had no issues with this, but trying to give all about the truck. When I bought the truck I also had an aftermarket alarm (Viper) with remote start. No issues there either. What is going on is that when the truck is started, if it starts, it will stutter, shake, and at times blow black followed by white smoke out the exhaust. Once the truck warms up a bit, it stops. In 2010 I had to have the EGR Cooler replaced as it went out. I have been noticing that if I baby the truck it will not leak, but if I have to USE the truck, to pass, pull, etc, the overflow blows fluid out of the cap. I thought that my cap was going bad so I just replaced it but it is still doing the same thing. I dont know if this has anything to do with the heater as well. If the truck is under power, the heater blows hot, if you let off of the gas and go to idle, it will blow cold. I have checked the coolant and it is a bit low. Topped off the fluid and have to check it every so often each week due to the blowing off at the over flow cap. Any suggestions as to what I might need to do, or should I take it in to the mechanic and let them run diagnostic? Thank you for any suggestions or possible results.

 

mines doing the same thing. my mechanic ran every test on the motor and is baffled. my head gasket is good studs are good oil cooler and egr are all good. i will be following this post since i'm in same boat. except mine only seems to do it on the high way after i've been on the high way for a long time. i can push the truck all i want everywhere else and it doesn't leak. i ran into a friend of mine tonight and he had the same problem he did a head gasket arp studs oil cooler and it still did it. til the motor gernaded from somthing else not because of this.

 

Mine does the same thing, I'm baffled by it as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Have you guys replaced your oil coolers? EGR coolers don't just go bad, they fail because the oil cooler is plugged and won't let enough coolant through to the Egr cooler and it steams in there and that is where the excess presure is coming from, eventually the egr cooler will fail again if the oil cooler wasn't replaced and the cooling system flushed and coolant filter installed.

 

My oil cooler checked out with my mechanic like i said i ran into a friend last night and he had the same problem with his 6.0 and replaced everything and it still did it.

Gauge does your coolant tank have to a sticker on it for coolant levels? I have been told even the sticker is wrong and it needs to be about a 1/4 inch below the min line on the sticker.

 

If you have any way to check your eot (engine oil temp) and your ect (engine coolant temp) if your eot is up around I think it's like 215* your oil cooler is starting to clog

 

Probably a bad EGR cooler or headgaskets... You can't hook a scanner up and read "bad headgaskets"... There are a couple ways to diagnose this though.

What exactly did your mechanic do to figure out if your EGR cooler or your oil cooler is bad? Oil cooler, you need to monitor EOT vs ECT (oil temp vs coolant temp) and if the spread is getting to 15* difference or more, the oil cooler is probably clogged. How does he know the headgaskets are good? Did he pressurize the coolant system and check for leaks? Did he hook a pressure gauge up to the coolant system and drive it to see what the pressure is reading? Your symptoms mimic mine down to ever last detail the first time I blew headgaskets. It would only puke coolant after an hour drive on the highway when the motor was good and heatsoaked. As for your buddy's truck... that tells me nothing. We don't know who did the job, or how it was done. More often than not I read about headstuds and gaskets being done and NOT being done correctly. Not accusing your buddy of this, but it's all too common. It's also possible he had issues going on with the heater core, thus the lack of heat. More often than not, the lack of heat is from bad headgaskets/low coolant. With the headgakets shot, the cylinder pressure is constantly aerating the coolant, thus no heat. I have this issue right now, but I know my headgaskets are bad... just waiting for warmer weather to tear it down. Have all the parts sitting on my kitchen table waiting to go.

It's not that baffling. If you have no heat and coolant keeps disappearing, it's either the EGR cooler or headgaskets. If an oil cooler ruptures you'd have coolant and oil mixing, so if you don't have that, it's probably one of the other two options (cooler or gaskets).

Bob's on the right track here guys, listen to this.

Again, I want to know how the oil cooler checked out, did he measure the temp spread? The oil cooler doesn't have to be bad for headgaksets to go. My temps never reach a spread of more than 7 or 8* right now, but I KNOW my headgaskets are shot. My EGR is fully deleted, I've put a couple new coolant caps on, and I still push coolant out ever so slightly. I knew this would happen, gotta pay to play man.

Here's a good vid to help "diagnose" bad gaskets or a bad cooler... it's not 100% accurate but is a good cheap way to narrow it down for sure.

 

Mdub707 is right on the money, you gotta monitor your EOT & ECT spread - no more than a 15 deg F spread. In rare cases when engine is cold in a colder climate I have observed coolant leaking right at the head gasket, rare though. Good Luck

 

My mechanic had the truck on the highway for almost a hour with no problems. He also had it on a pressure test for over a hour with no leaks and no varying in pressure in the coolant system. Gonna ask what he did to check the oil cooler tonight. But other than friday night i havent lost a drop of coolant the level has been staying the same (marked it on the tank) and my heat has been hotter then hell. So i dunno.

 

I am still baffled as to the issue. How can i check my eot or even my oil cooler. i am not the most mechanically incline, however i can work on them if i know what i have to do or have clear instructions. please inform so that i can try and get something done so it dosent end up costing me even more than it should from a shop. thanks.