6.0L Power Stroke Engine and DrivetrainDiscussion of the 6.0L Power Stroke diesel engine and drivetrain in the 2003-Up Super-Duties and Excursions. No gas engine discussion allowed except on transmissions and drivetrain that pertain to all models. Please confine discussion of topics in this forum to those items that are specific to the 6.0L Power Stroke engine.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been smelling coolant on an intermittent level, approximately every 5 minutes just for a moment only with the air vents open. This happens only when the ambient temperature is over 70 degrees and I am pulling a hill or I have just recently accelerated hard. I have replaced the thermostat and replaced the vent cap from Ford. The coolant has been changed with Ford gold coolant. I have not noticed any white smoke or loss of power. I charged the entire system up to 16psi via a pressure tester and could not find any leaks. I have not pulled any loads and only conducted normal driving operations. What could be the culprit? Could it be as simple as a small crack in the plastic canister or the signs of something else hopefully not of the major kind! There have been no codes thrown or any noticeable changes in the engines performance. I would to like to try and eliminate the small stuff 1st due to being furloughed by my Fire Department. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Last edited by Kevin Roberts : 10-28-2009 at 04:46 PM.
my truck was doing the same thing. took it to a dealer they replaced a hose from the tank to the water pump but it still puked. i took off my programmer and still puked. i took it to another dealer because it started throwing out white smoke. bad egr cooler and oil cooler. the first dealer pressure tested it twice and said there were no problems, but then it got worse. good luck with yours.
__________________ ALL BLACK '04 F250, AFE INTAKE, 4" MAGNAFLOW EXHAUST, 4" BDS LIFT, 33" COOPER DISCOVERER TIRES, EDGE WITH ATTITUDE PLATINUM
this sounds like your building pressure in the system from either an egr cooler out in which they will replace the oil cooler at the same time or head gaskets blown. the oil cooler gets plugged with crap from the casting sand and causes the coolant to sit in the egr cooler until it gets hot enough to eat through the tubes. this is very common on the 6.0. if your truck is out of warranty i would suggest doing the head gaskets at the same time as they are already half way to pulling the heads. this aves you roughly 10 hours or so labor.
If you pressurized the system and found no leaks, I would bet on headgaskets. When the engine is off or not under a load, even compromised headgaskets will seal sufficiently to hold 16psi....
__________________ 2003 Toreador Red/Arizona Beige CC, DRW, Lariat, FX4, 6.0 PSD, Torqshift, born early Feb. 03, AIC, MBRP turbo-back exhaust, Tuning by Tony Wildman (Total Diesel Performance), ARP studs & some "other" work done by River City Diesel, AFE PG7, Fumoto valve, B&W hitch, Di-Pricol gauges, Voyager brake controller, DIESELSITE Coolant filter, Timbrens, Rancho RSXs, Michelin XPS Traction's, a whole bunch of "bling", Connex 4300hp, JL Audio 275w amp w/ 12" sub, Alpine door and rear seat speakers.
The smell of hot 6.0l coolant is bunred into my soul, I know it well. After driving around with coolant spraying all over the drivers side of my truck for months with the smallest uphill load, I was hoping "it" wasnt happening to me. Mine was all three, head gaskets oil and egr coolers.
This truck terrorizes me, now I think I smell coolant when there is none.
It happends. Hope you have warranty or its about 4100 bux.
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2004 F-250 Lariat late build 4X4 CC/LB auto,fully loaded with sunroof, power slider and backup sensors , white with 12" lift, flip steering, 38s on 17 10s, stock gears, superlift truspeed, fumoto, floating traction bars, airraid intake with elbow,4" turbo back, studded, powerslots, 55 watt HIDs 6000k heads and fogs,clear corners,7" NAV w/ back up camera, massive stereo, 2 12s behind back seat, amp research steps, sirius, '08 diff cover, redhead steering box,,coolant filter kit,hush panels and door seal mod,
I have an '04 4X4 F250 WITH 69,500 miles on it. Last weekend on the back home from a long drive I noticed the temp guage was spiking and the Check Guages light came on when I started doing city driving. Pulled over to look under the hood and there wasn't a drop of coolant in the tank. Poured in 2 jugs and bought an extra just in case. I stopped an hour down the road to check and coolant had leaked in the driver side wheel well and on the driver side engine bay. Looked like it was coming from the cap; replaced it and still have same problem. No smoke, no power loss and no noise out of the ordinary.
Had the truck 3 weeks and hoping this wasn't a bad buy. Truck is bone stock except for a 4in lift.
My truck has never ran hot and I only loose a very minute amount of coolant thru the reservoir tank. My normal running temperature is at 192. The only time I have a smell of the coolant is when I reach around 200 degrees after pulling a hill. Once the temps come right back down the smell dissipates. I have only had to add less than 1 quart of coolant over the past 3 weeks, if that. Is this a sign of an oil cooler problem, the egr, or the dreaded head gaskets?
The smell of hot 6.0l coolant is bunred into my soul, I know it well. After driving around with coolant spraying all over the drivers side of my truck for months with the smallest uphill load, I was hoping "it" wasnt happening to me. Mine was all three, head gaskets oil and egr coolers.
This truck terrorizes me, now I think I smell coolant when there is none.
It happends. Hope you have warranty or its about 4100 bux.
The pad on the underside of your hood is coated with a coolant film, anytime it gets hot the smell comes back to " HAUNT YOU "
The pad on the underside of your hood is coated with a coolant film, anytime it gets hot the smell comes back to " HAUNT YOU "
I never had one. Ford either quit putting them on late 04s or the dealer removed it to put a stupid bug deflector on.
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2004 F-250 Lariat late build 4X4 CC/LB auto,fully loaded with sunroof, power slider and backup sensors , white with 12" lift, flip steering, 38s on 17 10s, stock gears, superlift truspeed, fumoto, floating traction bars, airraid intake with elbow,4" turbo back, studded, powerslots, 55 watt HIDs 6000k heads and fogs,clear corners,7" NAV w/ back up camera, massive stereo, 2 12s behind back seat, amp research steps, sirius, '08 diff cover, redhead steering box,,coolant filter kit,hush panels and door seal mod,
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, white with 12" lift, flip steering, 38s on 17 10s, stock gears, superlift truspeed, fumoto, floating traction bars, airraid intake with elbow,4" turbo back, studded, powerslots, 55 watt HIDs 6000k heads and fogs,clear corners,7" NAV w/ back up camera, massive stereo, 2 12s behind back seat
, amp research steps, sirius, '08 
,coolant filter kit,hush panels and door seal mod,
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