Hey guys. So my buddy and his family just took a trip from Visalia, CA to Pismo Beach, CA and lost almost a gallon of coolant throughout the trip. He said that he can't see a puddle of water at all on the ground under the truck so he doesn't know if it is possibly leaking inside the motor somewhere. Have any of you had any problems with coolant leaking from your trucks and if not what do you suggest to diagnose the problem? Thanks.
Headgaskets will be my first thought. Pretty common. Check for White substance under and around the cap on the degas bottle (mounted on the firewall). Also, he may see some milky buildup in the degas bottle. Usually you see some temp spikes with blown headgaskets as well, but not always. Another option is egr cooler. Those can leak as well. Any water in the oil?
He told me that there was no sign of coolant in the oil. Just to verify, how can you tell if there is coolant in the oil?... Just for my own knowledge
Immediately after running the engine pull the dipstick...If the oil on the stick is milky looking you have coolant in the oil...If the oil level is also significantly higher, you have a lot of coolant in the oil...Ben
Its most likely the E.G.R tube thats leaking and burning of the water.Common with the 6.0 powerjoke.Is there any steam coming out of the exhaust while driving?
Coolant Loss in Power Stroke I know that this is a late post, but it is a common symptom worth discussion and education. What typically happens on this 6.0 and even the new 6.4L Powerstroke engines is this: there is an EGR cooler that fails. This EGR cooler takes hot exhaust gasses and attempts to cool those gasses by running them through coolant-chilled tubes within a heat exchanger. This heat exchanger (the EGR cooler) often fails, and allows coolant to leak out the tailpipe. When this occurs, it comes out as "white smoke", more commonly known as steam. The problem with this is that the coolant loss will "sneak" up on an owner and leave them stranded or force them to overspend. In the first case, people say "I don't see any coolant in the parking lot....?!!?" and then shrug off the 1 gallon + missing from their overflow bottle. What they don't realize is that they have an "internal" coolant leak and they are flirting with overheating. in the second case, the tendancy is to jump to "Blown Head Gaskets". This is common and easy to jump to this conclusion. You see, the common symptom on most cars and trucks with a BHG (blown head gasket) is white smoke/steam coming from the tailpipe. While this CAN be the case, it typically is not if you watch your coolant, watch your tailpipe and DON"T overheat the engine. The Ford EGR coolers are "sensitive" (to put it nicely) and should be replaced, not bypassed. Other upgrades will also be required too to get the most out of your 6.0L. You can google "bullet proof egr cooler" and find some good product help to this a problem of the past or prevent it in the future.
