The Blob lives in my intake manifold?

[Etch]

Everyone,

Hello! I just registered here but have been reading posts for some time. Lots of great discussions.

I have a 2005 6.0 4x4 CC with 76K miles. I have had no real trouble with it. They flashed it and put an EGR valve in at about 30K. It has a Trueflow intake filter I put on about a month ago and thats all at this point. (Filter did take me from 13's to 14's 'round town). Change fuel filters about every 15k. Live in sunny south and don't idle it much but use high idle mod if I do.

Anyway, I cleaned my EGR valve yesterday and while it wasn't that bad, the gunk in the intake system is ridiculous! If i put my finger down into the manifold I get this oily black sludge. Do we all have this? Is it a combination of CCV mist and EGR soot? Wow! The turbo seems fine and boost is normal but could that be leaking into the intake? That stuff must be all the way down into the heads themselves. What a mess. Don't get me wrong, the intake is not plugged up with it but its pretty thick on the bottom.

I also cleaned the sensor on the intake manifold. I believe it is a pressure sensor?

Anyway, the truck runs OK. The engine oil stays pretty clean even out to 6K miles since the ULSD became the only fuel. Doesn't smoke or puke or drip (knock on wood). There is some oily residue around intake tubes to intercooler connections.

So. I guess my question is: do all these trucks have this crap in the intake system or should I be running to the dealer screaming?

Thanks in advance!

[OMCUSNR]

Originally Posted by Etch

Everyone,

Hello! I just registered here but have been reading posts for some time. Lots of great discussions.

I have a 2005 6.0 4x4 CC with 76K miles. I have had no real trouble with it. They flashed it and put an EGR valve in at about 30K. It has a Trueflow intake filter I put on about a month ago and thats all at this point. (Filter did take me from 13's to 14's 'round town). Change fuel filters about every 15k. Live in sunny south and don't idle it much but use high idle mod if I do.

Anyway, I cleaned my EGR valve yesterday and while it wasn't that bad, the gunk in the intake system is ridiculous! If i put my finger down into the manifold I get this oily black sludge. Do we all have this? Is it a combination of CCV mist and EGR soot? Wow! The turbo seems fine and boost is normal but could that be leaking into the intake? That stuff must be all the way down into the heads themselves. What a mess. Don't get me wrong, the intake is not plugged up with it but its pretty thick on the bottom.

I also cleaned the sensor on the intake manifold. I believe it is a pressure sensor?

Anyway, the truck runs OK. The engine oil stays pretty clean even out to 6K miles since the ULSD became the only fuel. Doesn't smoke or puke or drip (knock on wood). There is some oily residue around intake tubes to intercooler connections.

So. I guess my question is: do all these trucks have this crap in the intake system or should I be running to the dealer screaming?

Thanks in advance!

Yep, they all have it. Best way to keep it down (but not entirely gone), is to keep the truck at operating temps & in the power band.

Ford Doc is a diesel tech and has a website for techs only, but there are articles available to the general public that are very helpful. Check out his site & cleaning the EGR - its good info.

OMC

[Etch]

Thanks for the reply. I expected to see soot buildup, it was the fact that it was oily that surprised me. Maybe it shouldn't have; given that this has been discussed at length since - well - the 6.0 came out. Maybe one of those crankcase ventilation filters would be in order.

I never see any discussion about the intake manifold itself. One can clean the EGR valve but the rest of the intake track is a different story! I would believe that a reduction in performance proportional to the percentage of intake manifold restriction would be a given.

Seems to me that EGR systems should not have been implemented until after the ULSD was sold at all stations. My guess is that the EGR problems would have been significantly less than they have been. I guess I should see what the guys and gals with newer trucks are saying. Problem for us is we now have trucks contaminated with gunk from the older fuel.

Anyone ever pulled and cleaned the intake manifold? I doubt Ford will do it just because I ask! LOL

[boomboom]

Has anyone else dealt with this ?

[chadc281]

I was under the impression that the soot on the EGR valve should be dry and if it was wet like goo that it was a sign of a leaking EGR cooler. could someone elaborate on this because i've never cleaned my egr valve but i plan on it and want to know what to expect.

[dieselmac]

Wet soot is not necessarily an indication of an EGR cooler failure. Fuel from incomplete combustion can make its way into the intake and cause the soot to look moist.

Best way to check it is, after a drive, park it with the nose pointed down for a while, pull the EGR valve, and check for excess fluid under the valve. If you have a leaking cooler all the coolant will puddle at the front of the intake. As with most DIY tests, it is possible to have a false negative.

[bwalker5]

I see this is a pretty old but there is new interest so I'm going to chime in..
I have an 04 Ex that now has about 98kmi and I'm dealing with this Blob crap now.
I am doing the stud replacement and new oil cooler, without pulling the heads or new head gaskets and was totally surprised by how much crap had built up inside my intake since the last time I had it off.
That was 11/09 at about 56kmi when I replaced the EGR cooler (Bullet Proof) and oil cooler due to clogging and overflowing the degas under boost.
Yes, I still have my EGR functional!!!

That time, I cleaned the intake with 10 cans of carb cleaner followed with a water flush and then a blow dry... looked almost new...
Now here I am, a little shy of 2 years and around 40kmi later and what a mess!
There is black oil sludge that starts mostly at the inlet port and seems to be less towards the back ports. There is a lot of build up right under the inlet port at the EGR passages, almost a 1/4" in some places! The EGR valve actually looks a lot cleaner than the last time I had it out at 56kmi, mostly carbon/soot and no sludge, so I'm pretty sure the oil is from the breather and maybe some fuel blow back from the cylinders. I think that the "black" in the sludge is carbon/soot from the EGR .
I have been using Amsoil about 98% of the time with Delo 400 being the only other oil.
The kicker is that I installed an "oil breather catch can" on the CCV hose not long after I did the coolers... I guess I'm going to have to do some more engineering on that one.... I used a piece of 3" PVC and plumbed it so that the inlet pipe directs the air flow into the side of the "can". It looks like there is still a lot of oil vapor that is not getting knocked out of the air stream...
There was 30ml of oil in the "can" when I opened it this time.
There is still oil in the turbo inlet and at some of the usual places as well.
This Blob crap is really hard to clean to.
There is so much of this crap that I decided to try and dissolve it in a bath of Fleetguard Restore cooling system cleaner and it seems to be working really well.
It says right on the bottle it is a Degreaser!
I found a huge cat litter box at Pet Smart that the manifold will fit in and filled it with 120f tap water with about a pint of Restore. It takes a while but I'm hoping the overnight soak will do it... so far the water is pitch black... a good sign!
I also dropped a submersible pond pump into the soak box and have a piece of hose directed into the inlet port so there is also some circulation...

Other things I tried were Simple Green, spray carb cleaner, and WD40.
The WD worked really well, but makes a huge mess and having to "Finger" the ports, I gave up after 1 entire can.
The carb cleaner is about the same as WD, a little better but same problem.
Simple Green, yeah not much happened with that... it works but not as well as the Restore.
I wasn't brave enough to try the old "carb soak" chemicals...

So to me is seems that the oil is coming mostly from the CCV, through the air inlet and then condensing on the manifold, and then it builds up and cooks there while catching carbon/soot going by that came in from the EGR..., and then turns really black.

The compelling evidence is that the inlet port is very clean at the very front of the manifold where it doesn't see the heat from the cylinder heads or the EGR valve. The Blob stuff starts about 2" from the front of the manifold...getting thicker the closer it gets to the EGR.
This sucks.
I really like my Ex but I'm really not liking the Beta Testing for IH and Ford any more.....

My 2000 Ex with the 7.3 was way less headache than the 6.0..

Manifold looks like another item to put on the 24 month maintenance list!
Blake

[U.P.Builder]

That's a lot of work to clean the intake, I'd just bring it to a machine shop and have them hot tank it. Probably cheaper too not having to buy all the cleaners

[Team Pigeon]

Did you check the intercooler for sludge? It'll have oil in there too from the CCV. I'd be interested in hearing back from ya if you do check it. Keep us posted on your work.