I have a mystery for you Ford technician/ detectives out there. The pictures below are from my 2005 Ford F-350 6.0L Diesel Super Duty truck, running BONE STOCK.
Although I'm a retired ASE tech, I know very little about diesel topics and other than keeping the maintenance schedule current, I haven't laid a wrench on this engine myself.
A little history...My truck has had EGR Cooling problems like many. They've replaced the EGR cooler 2 times previously, and this time the EGR DTC's were present again. (they haven't replaced it, because it's still apart)
But THIS time, the engine felt like it was missing, then the coolant steam came out the back, and the engine started rattling on drivers side cyl bank, sounding like loud rocker noise, but when they pulled the heads, they found these indentations in the piston crown.
The filters (air/fuel/oil) were all OK...no dirt, water or plugged elements.
Please notice the impressions on the piston crown... It *looks* to me like the bottom half of a self-tapping sheet metal screw (with pointed tip) and missing the HEAD of the screw.
Ford is denying my warranty, saying it's my fault and they refuse to even disassemble further to find out where the part came from. How they can say it's my fault after 2 previous times of EGR symptoms and refusing to look for the cause, is beyond me.
Btw, there's about 80,000 miles on the engine and there's another cyl besides this one with low compression, but no visible damage. All other cyl. are free from metal transfer/ gouging and abnormal wear on thrust surfaces, so oil supply does not appear to be a cause.
I'd really like to know what that piece of wire in the blowup of the third picture might be.
The intake system was completely closed with air filter intact and this part came from somewhere inside. Any guesses what this might be and where it came from?
Thanks!
