Cooler Question??? Help! - Diesel Forum

Gerry40 · 11-06-2007, 01:13 AM

What is the small cooler that's bolted to the right side of the inter-cooler?? It has two line running out the bottom of it and it’s approx. 6"x18".

The reason I ask, I hit a deer tonight on the way home from dinner and it took out more then I expected. I was doing approx. 40 mph in a 45 zone because I knew they were out when all of a sudden we saw the deer and she jumped right in front of the truck. I slammed on the brakes and everything on the back seat ended up on the floor and I just barely hit her. I think I got the truck slowed down to approx. 20-25 mph down before I hit the damn thing but the damage was done. I thought for a second I was fine and it only hit the bumper but I was wrong, she took out the reflector inside the driver side headlight, the grill, the inter-cooler because the grill was pushed into it and the smaller cooler on the right side and the inter-cooler. The fluid coming from the smaller cooler looks like radiator fluid but I’m not positive. Either way I’m sure this isn’t going to be cheap because everything’s new. Hell, the truck’s only 6 weeks old.

The deer was tossed into the ditch but got right up and walked into the bush. I hope she’s dead but I doubt it. I will say this, if any of us hit anything with a good deal of force it’s going to hurt and cost a ton of $$$ to fix. Everything is so exposed up front and it won’t take much to do a lot of damage.

Gerry

mountie · 11-06-2007, 02:03 AM

That's terrible man. So sorry to hear that. I believe that cooler is the Diesel fuel cooler.Is it black in color?

Gerry40 · 11-06-2007, 02:39 AM

Thanks Mountie…. As you can imagine I wasn’t a happy camper when I saw what it did. I’ve had the worst luck this year with trucks. This truck actually replaced my old ’95 350 that I totaled back in August when a 16 year old kid pulled out in front of me while I was towing a 26’ enclosed trailer behind me. Needless to say we both lost on that one.

Anyway, the cooler is black and it looks like it was painted after it was bolted to the end of the inter-cooler because the bolts are painted black too. The fluid is a yellow/green color and it’s real slippery feeling. It has two rubber hoses going out the bottom of the cooler but I can’t trace where they go. I went out and took another look at the truck and I think I know what happened to it. When the deer hit the grill and pushed the grill into the inter-cooler it actually bent the inter-cooler on the right side and pushed it back and into what I think is it tranny cooler. The mounting bracket on the lower right side of the tranny cooler punched a hole in the backside of the one that's leaking. The tranny cooler was pushed back a little but it didn’t touch anything so I think it’s fine. It might need a little pull to get it back out and sitting straight but it looks good.

I think the repair bill will include a new grill, lower grill support bracket (metal bar behind the lower part of the grill), grill inserts on the right side, drivers side headligh, inter-cooler and the other cooler that I’m not sure what it is. The bumper on the driver’s side is also pushed in a little but I can live with that if I have too because you can barely notice it.

loft306 · 11-06-2007, 05:37 AM

Yeppers that is the fuel cooler's radiator. if its on the drivers side of the innercooler, and that is just coolant running through it not fuel. The hoses comming off of it goto the actual fuel cooler that sits on top of the turbochargers crossover tube, which is on the drivers side of the top of the engine.

Behind the innercooler on the top is the powersteering fluid cooler and on the bottom is the trainie cooler, behind the powersteering cooler is the A/C condenser and then finnaly the engine coolant radiator.

CMB430 · 11-06-2007, 08:36 AM

I am sorry to here about your truck. I grew up in Western PA and now live west of the Twin Cities. Ever since I bought my new 06 2500HD, I have invested in GO Industries Rancher Grill Guard. It is not all that good looking compared to dealer chrome and it is not stainless, but it weighs 90 lbs and is solid as a rock. I have the black one on my wife's 2500HD and the hammerhead finish on my F350. I payed over $500 each for this reason, because trucks today are plastic up front and I do not like to be stranded. Check out http://www.chromepickup.com...they are priced right and free shipping. If you want pictures of what they look like, my email is operationsguy@gmail.com.

Let us know what the total bill is. I am going deer hunting the rest of this week...but my bullet better hit 'em first!

Gerry40 · 11-06-2007, 02:58 PM

Thanks for the info guys. Now I just need to see if I can get the truck 15 miles to the dealer without loosing all the coolent. I might go ahead and have it towed to be safe.

FWIW... I called the dealer this morning and he's quoting me $1500 for the grill, headlight and the two coolers. The two coolers alone are $579. If I pay for this one myslef he's going to cut me a break and do everything for under a grand.

Black05 · 11-06-2007, 03:24 PM

After you get it fixed, invest in a full replacement bumper (like Ranch Hand or Frontier). Next time, the only thing broken will be the deer.

Stealth03TDI · 11-06-2007, 11:10 PM

Buckstop bumper on mine for that reason, also it's been battle proven in Iraq and Afghanistan traffic against toyota's and nisson's

krieghoff · 11-06-2007, 11:25 PM

Gerry40, I know how you feel. When my 250 was 6 DAYS old, I was on my way to my office one morning. I had purchased a new Ranch Hand Grill Guard a couple of days earlier and one of the painters had it painted to match the gold trim on my truck. It was to be installed that morning. Well, I am doing about 70 when a tractor trailer flew by on my left side and as he was about a pickup length ahead of me, a rock the size of my fist squirted out from the rear rear tandem. That sucker went through the vertical portion of the grill on the driver side and lodged in the fuel cooler. If the grill had been on, well IF is a big word....Anyway it got installed really quick after a grill, cooler etc., and all is well.

Best of luck to ya.

CaptSkup · 11-07-2007, 09:05 AM

While out in Casper recently, I saw many, many trucks with large steel guards mounted on front of their trucks. Talked to one young guy at Flying J's about his, he told me he has already hit three deer(big mules not the little whitetails like we have)with the truck this year. Guess what, no damage to the truck, not even a mark on the guard. Now this was no chromed up cheap bling bling crap junk, but a heavy steel black painted guard. I am still kicking myself for not buying one while I was out there. I believe a local weld shop fabricates them up for customers. I am going to look into what you have, the front of these trucks are venerable, not much to that big chrome bumper but vent holes.

dieselwhisperer · 11-07-2007, 10:20 AM

I think mine is leaking, and I havn't hit anything! My 8 year old grandson noticed a couple of wet spots under the truck last evening and after looking closer, it looks as if one of the 2 hoses was saturated with greenish yellow liquid. We drove about 3 miles to a resturant and ate. When we came out, my grandson went straight to the front of the truck to look for the leak and the ground was dry. I drove about 40 miles home. I looked under the truck this morning and again it was dry. I'm going to crawl under it later and see if there's a clamp that I can tighten up. Sure hope I don't have to take it in for a cab removal or something like that!

dieselwhisperer · 11-07-2007, 03:21 PM

Update, I crawled under the truck with a flashlight earlier (still no wet spots on the ground) but the hose is still wet. It's the hose on the right side if you're standing in front of the truck (the outside one). It's dry coming out of the little black radiator, but about 4 inches down it lays right on top of the frame and it looks like it has a zip tie really tight on it where it crosses over another hose that has the black conduit type stuff on it. The hose in the couduit looks like it has some type of black connector to hold it in place. Anyway, it appears the hose from the little radiator is pinched against that black plastic thingy really tight. It's really difficult to get in there to look or even get more than one finger on it. I think it's rubbed a pinhole in it. I'm going to drop by my dealer tomorrow and let them take a look. Like I said, it's wet but nothing dripping right now.

Gerry40 · 11-07-2007, 05:36 PM

I got the truck to the dealer this morning and it looks like the leading edge of the hood took a shot and is slightly buckled so it needs to be fixed too. The bumper is a little off but just a little so that needs fixing too.

The fuel cooler won't be in for a few days so I have a few other questions.

Can I run the truck with no fluid in the cooler or should I park it until I get the cooler fixed? If I run it with nothing in the cooler is there an electric pump somewhere that I need to pull the fuse on so it doesn't run all the time? Will it hurt anything if the fuel isn’t cooled?

I can fill the cooler each day but within 15 minutes it’s empty.

Thanks,
Gerry

krieghoff · 11-07-2007, 07:53 PM

If it were mine I would park it. If you look at the fuel cooler reservoir from the front of the truck you will see a black hose connecting from the lower left side to the turbo actuator. The turbocharger actuator utilizes this coolant to reduce the temperature of electronics inside the actuator.

It's not worth the risk of screwing something else up. And if you do, I would highly doubt a dealer would warrant that.

Gerry40 · 11-07-2007, 08:18 PM

Diesel Whisperer,

Be careful… it might not be leaking anymore because the holding tank is empty. Look up top for the twist off cap right behind the radiator's holding tank. On the on the front of the tank you'll see a glass window that shows coolant level in the tank. If you can't see the level remove the cap and look inside to make sure it’s full. The dealer told me not to drive the truck more then 10 miles with the tank empty or I could hurt the injectors because the fuel gets too hot.

Funny story about the whole thing….. The first guy I talked to this morning tried to tell me the 6.4’s didn’t have a cooler for the fuel. I somewhat argued with the guy until another tech in the background overheard him and said yes they do, it’s on the front of the truck beside the inter-cooler. I quickly asked to speak with that tech because he knew a little more about the truck. I had the same problem yesterday when I called the parts department. They kept telling me the same thing until they finally looked up my VIN and found it. He was surprised to see it listed and said, “I guess you do learn something new everyday”.

They also wrote the estimate up as a 07 becuase they don't have the 08's loaded in models in their system yet.