EGR Cooler out twice in 6 months

[rustyed]

I have a friend who has an '04 F-250 with 75000+ miles. His egr cooler went out in March (under 12,000 miles ago), now it has gone out again but now his warranty is up due to the 5 year limit. The dealer (a different one than the one that replaced egr first time, original dealer was out of town) is trying to charge him $4800+ to repair this and the head gaskets, the dealer said they replace the cooler first and if it goes out again then they know something else is wrong. Which they are now saying it to be the head gaskets. They will not honor the warranty because it has expired, but in my mind, the issue happened while it was under warranty and they did not fix it correctly. Does he have any leverage to get this covered under warranty? Please help, he's vehicle less and his truck is waiting in the shop for his decision.

[JW350]

Verify that they are following the attached TSB procedure. If not, then I would find a new dealer/diesel tech. They should have changed the oil cooler with the first EGR cooler. Clogged coolant passages in the oil cooler restrict flow to the EGR cooler causing it to fail. Do a search, there are lots of threads about this.

TSB 08-11-3

[Gofaster23]

About the original failure in March, you said it has been less than 12k miles since then? If so, the EGR cooler is covered under the 12k mile/12 month part warranty. Did they replace the oil cooler at that time also? If they did then the oil cooler (which is most likely the cause of the repeat EGR cooler failure) would be covered under 12/12 also. Head gaskets do not cause EGR cooler failure. If the oil cooler wasn't replaced originally then the dealer could say the oil cooler is the root cause which damaged th EGR cooler, therefore not covered. Post the VIN and the current mileage and I'll see what they did.

[69cj]

I agree with JW350. Most common cause of EGR cooler failure is the oil cooler failure due to casting crap in the cooling system. That is why a coolant filter is a prudent investment for these trucks.

[rustyed]

Well, he went back and checked and actually the first egr was replaced 14,000 miles ago, so both warranties are out. I don't think they replaced the oil cooler but I will double check with him.

[wawrd1]

My 2004 started pukeing last Monday at 81000 and 1 month out of the 100000/5 warranty. I have spoken to the tech at my dealership and he spoke of the bulletin mentioned in this thread. I go in this coming Monday, will let you know of my condition. I had a bad feeling my mostly trouble free truck would not last so I bought the 2year/100000 mile ford warranty on the motor just before the factory warranty expired. I think it will get me through to the new 6.7 Good luck on getting your issues resolved and keep us informed.

[Strokin' 6.0]

My EGR cooler is officially dead, as of yesterday. I took it to the local mod-friendly diesel tech (I have no mods, though), and he is going to install an EGR cooler delete kit. The EGR will still be there, but apparently deleting the cooler eliminates lots of problems.

My fan clutch went out too, so that's getting replaced too, all under warranty. One more thing to add to the list of problems I've had with this illustrious engine.

[69cj]

The basic engine is solid, it's some of the peripheral equipment that they put on the engine.

[rustyed]

OK, here is the latest. He picked up his truck yesterday because he didn't want to spend the $4800+, on his way home, his truck started smoking very bad and then began overheating. He stopped several times to refill the degas bottle, he said the temp gauge was pegged hot. I just drove the truck and it runs horrible and does smoke a lot. I drove it about 50 feet and parked it. My question, do you think the head gaskets are shot, or do you think an oil cooler and egr cooler would fix this. I have offered to help him with the cooler replacements but I'm not sure if I want to tackle the head gaskets.... Let me know your thoughts when you can.

The VIN on the truck is 1FTNW21P94EC12996, his mileage is right around 78,000.

[tiggert6k]

We were coming home from HOliday's last Saturday pulling our 5th wheel with our 2006 F-350 6.0L and the exact same thing happend. Engine started to overheat and gauge was pegged, pulled over immediately and it was smoking white like crazy. Let it cool off, added water and limped to the nearest dealer (about 60km away), we could only drive about 10-15km before we had to stop and fill up with water again and it would smoke like crazy and wasn't running very well.
Dealer said it was the EGR Oil Cooler and replaced everything, including the Oil cooler (all under warranty), and it seems to be fine now. I thought for sure the head gaskets would be blown, but the dealer said they have seen this before and heads should be fine, we'll see.

I switched from a 2006 Duramax to this truck because my Duramax was a lemon, but this truck isn't any better, I've had it in to the shop a few times already. No wonder the North American manufacturers are having trouble keeping their heads above water with the amount they have to spend on warranty work on these pieces of crap! I hopeToyota or Nissan comes out with a full size diesel that is more reliable.

[Gofaster23]

Originally Posted by tiggert6k

I switched from a 2006 Duramax to this truck because my Duramax was a lemon, but this truck isn't any better, I've had it in to the shop a few times already. No wonder the North American manufacturers are having trouble keeping their heads above water with the amount they have to spend on warranty work on these pieces of crap! I hopeToyota or Nissan comes out with a full size diesel that is more reliable.

Ford is doing quite well. Read this article: Chrysler's product lineup struggles in showrooms | detnews.com | The Detroit News. The jist of it is the Ford Fusion outsold the entire Dodge/Chrysler car line up. One model vs. an entire line. Ford gets reimbursed from Navistar for all off the warranty 6.0/6.4 and they are making money off of it. Toyota is too green to come out with a full size diesel truck, plus the only company that would power it would be Navistar (once the Ford contract is up next year) or Isuzu since the D-Max is extinct. And then you would have the same reliability issues as Ford and Chevy did. Don't go on a flame rampage on your first post, sure PSD's aren't perfect but name one full size diesel powered truck that does not have issues. There is a good reason why 95% of contstruction, utility, law enforcement, military, oil, engineering, and ambulances use Ford diesel engines. When they work right which is 90% of the time, they work hard, take excessive customer abuse (lack of maintance) and are supported by a strong dealer network to get them fixed once they break down.

[Strokin' 6.0]

Just got a call from the mechanic....warranty doesn't cover the EGR cooler, because it's not an internal component of the engine.

I'm trading this truck today....I've had it.

[Gofaster23]

Originally Posted by Strokin' 6.0

Just got a call from the mechanic....warranty doesn't cover the EGR cooler, because it's not an internal component of the engine.

I'm trading this truck today....I've had it.

What kind of warranty do you have? Aftermarket? What's the VIN and mileage?

[bismic]

From the manualThe 5 yr / 100k warranty coverage (per the manual, page 7) includes the following:
Engine and these components:
cylinder block
heads and all internal parts
intake and exhaust manifolds
timing gear
harmonic balancer
valve covers
oil pan and pump
water pump
fuel system (excluding fuel line and fuel tank)
high pressure lines
gaskets and seals
glow plugs
turbocharger
PCM
electronic driver unit
injectors
injection pressure sensor
high pressure oil regulator
exhaust backpressure regulator and sensor
camshaft position sensor
accelerator switchFurthermore, (under emissions warranty), you will not be charged for labor, diagnosis, or parts for any emissions control device or system for 100k (ie no $100 deductible):

Air flow sensor
Air Fuel Feedback control System and sensors
Cold start enrichment system
Electronic engine control sensors and switches
EGR system
Exhaust manifold
Fuel Injection System
Intercooler Assembly - Engine Charger
Power Train Control Module
Turbocharger Assembly

Also covered by the two emissions warranties (Emissions defect warranty and Emissions performance warranty):
All emisssions-related bulbs, hoses, brackets, tubes, gaskets, seals, belts, connectors, non-diesel fuel lines and wiring harnesses that are used with components on the list above.

[Strokin' 6.0]

Because I bought it from a Dodge dealership, I got the D/C extended service contract, which doesn't cover all of the known-to-fail engine parts, and this is determined by some towel head in India....had a nice long "chat" with one this afternoon.

I talked with the wife, and we both agreed that we're in no position to get rid of the truck right now, so we're cancelling our vacation to Colorado Springs, in order to get the truck fixed. I went to River City Diesel's website and ordered their EGR full "repair" kit. I'll have my mod-friendly mechanic install it at the beginning of the month, when we have cash.

What makes me mad is the fact that I change the oil every 5,000 miles and the fuel filters every 10,000, external tranny filter every 25,000 (along with 8 qts tranny fluid, drained from the pan), I baby this truck maintenance-wise and tow regularly without beating the heck out of it and it still manures out on me.

The mileage, by the way, is 95,063...the D/C crap extended coverage is still good until 116,000 miles. VIN is 1FTWW33P44EC54872. Wonderful OASIS (which I found out about later...didn't know they existed) report on this POS.

The Ford 5/100,000 warranty expired March 15th of this year, btw.