‘06 F250 6.0 PSD cooling issue

1911gobang

1911gobang

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Welp, I’m in Marylandistan, and my F250 is having cooling issues. Temp jumped up, “check engine temp” on dash screen, and lost power.
When I started to loosen the cap on the empty reservoir, it was steaming. As the pressure relieved, coolant began to bubble up into the reservoir tank.
I’m no mechanic by any measure, but the daggone thing acting like there’s air pockets in the cooling system. While driving, if I let off the throttle and let the boost get below 20psi, the temp gauge started going down a little, then dropped pretty substantially back into “normal” range.

WTAFO???

Any PSDgurus in here?
 
Note-
Crown Ford just put a new radiator in it, but surely to heavens a bona fide Ford mechanic oughta be able to burp the system!!! Right?
 
Still have EGR cooler?

Any knowledge of service to the oil cooler?

Any idea what your oil vs coolant temps are?

If your getting gas build up in the cooling system you could be lifting the heads, especially if your hauling somewhat heavy and pushing boost. Knew a guy years ago that had one that would occasionally puke even after fire rings were installed but he hauled 15k every day.

Wheres your coolant level currently? IIRC it should be around 1/2-3/4” lower than the full line. The resivor should NOT be empty. If your losing coolant, could be EGR cooler or head gaskets. I’ve never had to burp mine after coolant changes/flushes.

I’m curious to hear if you get steam from the exhaust after she cools off.
 
Crack the cap, overfill the reservoir to the top and drive it with the cap loose until you see the thermostat open and close a couple times on the temp gauge. Then tighten the cap.

Is it studded or have stock head bolts? You might have a problem that bleeding the air won’t fix.
 
Where at in Maryland, I got a friend near the airport that may be able to help.
 
If it ends up being the egr cooler, pm me if you’re gonna replace it instead of delete it. I think I have one off a wrecked truck that was basically brand new.
 
More info….
EGR delete has been done.

Trailer/cargo weight is 7k ish, so not too awful heavy.

Definitely blowing steam out of the degassing bottle.

Oil temp hasn’t fluctuated a bit….

Transmission temp hasn’t either…

Pretty sure head studs have been done. Guy I bought it from did the full bulletproof work on it.

My gas truck mechanic said 6.0 are notorious for head gasket issues
 
You can see the studs if you look down on the driver side head below the valve cover. If it’s studded you’ll see the studs with a (iirc) 12pt nut. If not, it’ll be bolts.

If it’s puking and egr cooler has been deleted I’m leaning toward the heads lifting/blown gaskets. Any steam/white smoke on startup from exhaust?

ETA- coolant temp vs oil temp difference shows whether the oil cooler is clogged, which normally leads to the EGR cooler blowing.
 
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fan running? water pump/thermostat ever been done?

you need to know the real temps and not rely on the idiot gauges for these trucks, having said that, if its hot enough that the truck is shutting down then its hot enough to potentially cause damage.
 
Alan, I’ve had several 6.0 F350’s. Some of them require that the coolant be refilled with a vacuum pump, otherwise air pockets can remain In the system. The reason why is that parts of the heater are above the degas bottle filler.

If I were you I’d Find a mechanic that can refil using the vacuum system.
 
blue wire mod will be a quick easy way to get it cooled off



use one of the pass through wires to easily go from under the hood into the cab
 
also, if you think there is air in the coolant system, turn the heat on high and let it idle for a bit to burp it out. ive never done anything other than that when refilling the system and never had any issues.
 
Fluid in degasser bottle….

Head studs have NOT been done….

Not even a hint of white smoke on startup this morning….
 
1911gobang said:
Fluid in degasser bottle….

Head studs have NOT been done….

Not even a hint of white smoke on startup this morning….
Click to expand...

did you add some? after servicing the coolant system (radiator replacement, coolant flush, whatever), part of that is monitoring degas bottle level as its likely to drop as the system burps. DO NOT OVERFILL, 1/2" below the low/min line where you want to be as the low line is the new max fill line.
 
Diablos said:
did you add some? after servicing the coolant system (radiator replacement, coolant flush, whatever), part of that is monitoring degas bottle level as its likely to drop as the system burps. DO NOT OVERFILL, 1/2" below the low/min line where you want to be as the low line is the new max fill line.
Click to expand...
It was about 3/4” below cold line this morning
 
1911gobang said:
It was about 3/4” below cold line this morning
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Probably too late now, but when you're letting it warm up in the morning (15 min or so on high idle), leave the degas botyke cap off and turn heater on high.

Fan should have been screaming when it was that hot, hear anything? Could be failed fan clutch or torn fan clutch wires.
 
Diablos said:
Probably too late now, but when you're letting it warm up in the morning (15 min or so on high idle), leave the degas botyke cap off and turn heater on high.

Fan should have been screaming when it was that hot, hear anything? Could be failed fan clutch or torn fan clutch wires.
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Oh yeah….fan clutch works fine. She was roaring good several times last night
 
1911gobang said:
Oh yeah….fan clutch works fine. She was roaring good several times last night
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then before i went any further i'd get a monitor like an edge cts2/3 so i knew what the actual engine temps were. you may be dealing with a plugged up oil cooler, but without knowing ect/eot deltas its difficult/impossible to diagnose.
 
If still equiped with factory oil cooler you should not see more than 15* difference between oil and coolant temps.
 
Update….
Keeping RPM/speed/boost down seems to be working this morning.
Driving 65/70 and easing off going uphill

Gauge staying in good range, fan hasn’t engaged at all and we’ve been on interstate for about 35-40 minutes in mountain foothills near PA state line.

Heat also hot at idle.

Maybe it was just low in coolant? No residue anywhere under hood except by degasser cap
 
1911gobang said:
Update….
Keeping RPM/speed/boost down seems to be working this morning.
Driving 65/70 and easing off going uphill

Gauge staying in good range, fan hasn’t engaged at all and we’ve been on interstate for about 35-40 minutes in mountain foothills near PA state line.

Heat also hot at idle.

Maybe it was just low in coolant? No residue anywhere under hood except by degasser cap
Click to expand...

if you're burying your foot trying to keep speed up going up hills, you will see temps climb significantly. went im towing up grades i let it downshift to keep exhaust gas tempts down and keep speeds at 65ish and the truck stays happy.
 
1911gobang said:
Update….
Keeping RPM/speed/boost down seems to be working this morning.
Driving 65/70 and easing off going uphill

Gauge staying in good range, fan hasn’t engaged at all and we’ve been on interstate for about 35-40 minutes in mountain foothills near PA state line.

Heat also hot at idle.

Maybe it was just low in coolant? No residue anywhere under hood except by degasser cap
Click to expand...
If there is residue by the cap. It could be puking coolant.

I'd get it to a shop sooner rather than later.

That could be the difference between a fix and replacement engine.
 
LeeMajors said:
If there is residue by the cap. It could be puking coolant.

I'd get it to a shop sooner rather than later.

That could be the difference between a fix and replacement engine.
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I’m gonna baby it until next Wednesday when I’ll be home. All I can do right now…
 
LeeMajors said:
If there is residue by the cap. It could be puking coolant.

I'd get it to a shop sooner rather than later.

That could be the difference between a fix and replacement engine.
Click to expand...

A shop should be able to test for exhaust/combustion gasses in the coolant.

If it’s overheating and puking under higher boost, that’s a red flag for me. You could try to buy a new cap, in the past they have been know to fail/weaken over time.
 
hp468 said:
A shop should be able to test for exhaust/combustion gasses in the coolant.

If it’s overheating and puking under higher boost, that’s a red flag for me. You could try to buy a new cap, in the past they have been know to fail/weaken over time.
Click to expand...
Sandy Beard said the same thing….
 
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