Thought I had a bad EGR Cooler?

[paintballrefjosh]

About 6 months ago I replaced the EGR cooler and oil cooler with new ones because I was blowing some smoke out the exhaust and losing coolant.

The problem seemed to reappear, however, this time there was much more smoke and it would blow out the exhaust all the time, even after the truck was fully warmed up.

I took the EGR cooler back out to install a bypass kit but didn't notice any signs of coolant in the exhaust part of the cooler. Is there a way to test the EGR cooler for leaks while I have it out of the truck?

I'm afraid if this part is not defective then I have a head gasket issue.

Any thoughts?

[Purecetane22]

i am having the same trouble.. i got a 03 6.0 with 44s and it kept stalling at 2200 rpms on the highway. and along with loosing 4 gallons of coolant in less than 2 months i was told its prob my egr valve or cooler... either way it sounds expensive... well tonight i was hauling sum stuf and got to my destination and the entire undercarriage of my drivers side was covered in coolant.. no clue where its comin from or anything... i will see if its my egr valve and let you know what i found out if you do the same.. let me know what ya find out

[miles97]

Dealerships have a pressure test kit that plugs the ends of the cooler. Air is applied(5 psi i think) and cooler is submurged in water looking for bubbles. Have had some that will not leak cold only hot.

Have only seen coolers go bad this fast in standard trans equiped truck that lug the hell out of the engine(get egt's hot)

[ford_cummins83]

Mine did the same, i noticed it leaking coolant and kept putting coolant in and finally got a block off and installed it and it was over after that, goodluck and keep us posted

[paintballrefjosh]

Well I installed the EGR block off kit this weekend but I'm still getting some white-gray smoke out the exhaust. I'm assuming the only other thing this could be is head gaskets, does that sound right?

[miles97]

Head gaskets tend to blow coolant out the degas bottle. Does the exhaust smell like coolant or oil burning? I'm wondering if you are burning oil instead of anti-freeze. Soands like you could have a turbo heading south.;

[paintballrefjosh]

Yeah that's what I was wondering too before I installed the EGR block off kit, if it could be the turbo.

I ran the truck with the pipe from the turbo to the innercooler off, to test if the front half of the turbo was leaking, and it still smoked.

I also tried running with the turbo completely off but the oil line is pressurized and I couldn't funnel it back into the drain tube without it spilling all over the place.

A question I have is: how much play should be in the shaft of the turbo, I can move mine a good 1/4 inch from say "top to bottom" if that makes sense.

Is there another way to test the turbo? or is there a decent priced rebuild kit for them?

[Abrannan19]

depending on how bad the EGR cooler was dumping coolant into the motor, it could take up to 500 miles to burn off all of the coolant in there, and if you have a stock exhaust system, the cat will catch coolant too...

[paintballrefjosh]

Yeah I was wondering that, but it's a full MBRP with cat delete pipe exhaust

[Abrannan19]

there is still a possibility of coolant just burning off, it really does a job of filling the cylinders with coolant..give it some time and miles and report back.