Second bad radiator, did it hurt my engine this time? - Diesel Forum

rlhornbeck · 10-26-2007, 04:46 PM

I have had a bad experience with radiators on my 6.4. Two of them have failed in the first 12K miles.

The first one went out while towing a trailer, but luckily I was pulling into my house and was able to shut down fast. The lower weld on cracked and fluid came out quickly; therefore I don’t think I did any damage to the engine.

The second and most resent, was a slower leak that was not noticeable. The way it was found was that there was no heat in the truck this morning, which was the first time I have ever turned on the heat. All the coolant had leaked out of the system so I have been told. There were not any indicator lights that came on telling me I was low on coolant or that my engine got hot. When I asked the dealer about this they said that the temperature sensor was in the coolant line, therefore it was probably reading the air temperature and not the engine temperature. If this is true how can I tell how hot my engine really got? Did it damage the engine, and how can I tell considering it still runs and was not a catastrophic failure?

The dealer told me that the engine seems to be fine so they are going to put another new radiator in the truck and give it back to me. I am very concerned about the long term reliability of the engine now and not sure what to do. Are my concerns valid or should everything be ok?

Thanks
Ryan

yougotme · 10-26-2007, 05:05 PM

I would think that if it didnt throw a light, you should be ok. But I am no expert, so heres a bump for you. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif[/img]

**KINGTUT** · 10-26-2007, 07:08 PM

How long do you think you ran it with no coolant?

rlhornbeck · 10-26-2007, 07:38 PM

I am not sure how long it ran without the coolant. My heat was out for at least 10 minutes of mountain driving and 15-20 minutes of flat driving to the dealer. So around 35 minutes or 20 miles of driving.

exoval · 10-26-2007, 08:58 PM

Do still have a 100G warranty on it. Run it til the engine blows & if it does and make em put a new one in it.
Simple, dont sweat it.

SVTKYLE · 10-27-2007, 09:02 AM

It dident run without coolent it ran with the coolent level below the heater core. If that truck had "no" coolent in the system the gauge would have spiked causing the check engine light to come on etc. Your truck is fine relax

rlchv70 · 10-27-2007, 01:01 PM

The coolant temperature sensor is not in the coolant line. It is in the front module near the water pump. This area will get extremely hot if it is not cooled.

That being said, the EGR coolers are sensitive to coolant loss. If the system is not fully pressurized, they may fail.

That being said, it doesn't sound like you ran it very hard. Therefore, I don't think you damaged anything.

rlhornbeck · 11-01-2007, 08:25 PM

Well time for an update on my truck.

Ford put a new radiator in the truck on Tuesday, and said everything should be fine. I drove the truck about 75 miles on Wednesday with no problems. Today I drove the truck about 45 miles with a 7,000lb trailer, until billows of steam started to roll out from behind the truck. I pulled over and looked at my coolant draining from what looked to be the lower area of the water pump, called road side assistance and got my truck towed back to my dealer.

My service adviser called me this evening saying that yes my water pump had gone out and that they would have to order me one in, great another few days and a weekend with out my truck that I was going to go on a trip with my camper. I asked what they thought the cause was and there response was that when the radiator broke the last time there was no water in the pump therefore the seals dried out.

OK at this point I know everyone here said don't worry about it the truck did not run totally dry or over heat the engine, but for the water pump to now go out? Should I still not worry, this is the third time the truck has been in the shop for a coolant part related issue. I can’t believe it has not hurt something in my engine.

Thanks again for any advice
Ryan

NatesDiesel · 11-01-2007, 10:37 PM

Id imagine seals could go out if NO water was flowing, and they got real hot, but heavens, what about the engine in that case? It would have surely been having big cooling problems at that time, if it were that low.

Does sound kinda fishy, but I suppose it could be possible. I would probably be upset if it were my truck, not knowing if it were internally damaged.

Nate

Jcard · 11-02-2007, 12:22 AM

Cant break it its got warranty.

loft306 · 11-02-2007, 03:34 AM

lol..... that said, if all the water drains out then there is nothing to overheat the coolant sensor and thus set off the colant/overheat light. kinda of a b#$%^ but i've had it happen on many veichles that had a radiator failure/leak.

Berol · 11-02-2007, 11:53 AM

This may sound crass but...

I don't know what worrying is going to do. You'll just have to run it to figure that part out. If you really did hurt something that badly, it will show up soon enough, and under warranty. The odds of the consequences of this issue showing up at mile 100,001 is pretty unlikely. Possible, yes. Likely, no.

Just run it. If it runs good, don't look back. You may be one that needs your truck daily to make money, and if you are, then yes this is a huge pain. But even in that scenario, worrying doesn't help anything.

WhiteDuallyIL · 11-02-2007, 07:18 PM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RyanH</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well time for an update on my truck.

Ford put a new radiator in the truck on Tuesday, and said everything should be fine. I drove the truck about 75 miles on Wednesday with no problems. Today I drove the truck about 45 miles with a 7,000lb trailer, until billows of steam started to roll out from behind the truck. I pulled over and looked at my coolant draining from what looked to be the lower area of the water pump, called road side assistance and got my truck towed back to my dealer.

yep there you go pull the cab to change a water pump good thinking ford and probuly pull the turbos etc...

My service adviser called me this evening saying that yes my water pump had gone out and that they would have to order me one in, great another few days and a weekend with out my truck that I was going to go on a trip with my camper. I asked what they thought the cause was and there response was that when the radiator broke the last time there was no water in the pump therefore the seals dried out.

OK at this point I know everyone here said don't worry about it the truck did not run totally dry or over heat the engine, but for the water pump to now go out? Should I still not worry, this is the third time the truck has been in the shop for a coolant part related issue. I can’t believe it has not hurt something in my engine.

Thanks again for any advice
Ryan
</div></div>

nothin like pulling the cab to change the water pump good thinking wonder if the turbos have to come off as well.....

**KINGTUT** · 11-02-2007, 07:22 PM

I hope Ford has quit installing these junk radiators. I hope whoever has been making them for Ford has corrected the weakness. This issue has shown up enough here that I believe it is widespread.

RockRidge · 11-02-2007, 08:25 PM

Sounds like a bad batch from the radiator manufacturer. Would be interesting to know the build dates for the trucks that have had bad ones so far.