06 F350 with coolant spraying from degas bottle

[doclouns]

Hey all, newbie here. Just bought an '06 F350 PS, mint condition with 30k miles and bone stock. Clean carfax and OASIS. Read extensively here on the boards BEFORE i bought (thanks all!) and pretty sure I know the answer to my question but looking for opinions on timing.
Have put about 1000 miles on it and am now noticing coolant residue around degas bottle (spray.) Dont have any aftermarket gauges but haven't noticed any change in coolant temps-pretty much half way up. Bottle level is actually a little low cold.
From my reading, probably egr cooler/head gasket going, but haven't seen anything odd from the exhaust, yet.
Sooooo, do I get it right in (under warranty) now? Will they just go ahead and start taking it apart with just this issue? Will they check the oil cooler as well? If not, what should I tell them to convince them to look at everything?
Thanks in advance....
Mark

[Chango]

It doesnt need to be blowing white smoke to be official. The test procedure they use is floating around here somewhere but you should be good to go. If you take it in now Ford has a standard test for when they decide to replace the stuff. You do want to make sure they replace both the EGR and the oil cooler

[Snake]

Definitely take it in.

Typically, the test for blown head gaskets is a pressure reading taken off the degas bottle while driving. Anything over 16 psi is a good indicator they've failed.

Another potential cause is a clogged oil cooler. Basic test for this is to compare your engine coolant temp (ECT) to your engine oil temp (EOT). If you're seeing more than a 15* difference, your oil cooler is probably blocked up.

The EGR valve / EGR cooler are the other suspects. Dealership should be able to pull codes to see if these are working like they're supposed to.

[SixStringMadness]

There is an updated ECM program for you truck that will detect the difference in EOT and ECT, and I think throw some code.

Don't be so quick to think Head Gaskets, a stopped up oil cooler is the start of issues, and that causes the EGR cooler to boil the coolant. This happens before the head gaskets blow in most cases. Look at BulletProofDiesel - Darn-Near Bullet Proof Diesel Products for your 6.0. They have a simple test, not very scientific, but somewhat effective test to decide weather you have an EGR cooler issue and/or head gasket. Look in the videos

[Bart_3500]

First off DON'T trust those temp gauges on the dash. They are little more than an idiot light. If you notice they get off the cold line in rocord time (less than a minute or so) AND they stay at the center no matter what, until the end is near. I put a temp gauge for the engine and trans on the "A" pillar post. When towing very heavy up mountain grades the aftermarket gauge moves up to around 240* and the dash gauge is still in the center. Same for the trans. My rig is an 02, but my best friend's rig is also an 06 6.0 and he lost the heads because he was believing the dash gauges while towing across the hot Vegas desert and running A/C. Problem is that the warranty only replaced the warped heads. They didn't deal with the egr cooler that was also contained to. Some time later it went and the engine was puffing out the tail pipe. Look for either the puffing (looks like cold weather exhaust) or look for a black ring around the end of the exhaust tip on the outside of the pipe maybe an1/8" from the edge. That's what friend had with his 6.0 when the egr cooler was going out. John Wood (PSD expert) said that the dealer should have replaced the egr cooler at the same time they fixed the original problem. Good luck

[SixStringMadness]

Actually, you're very close, but the oil cooler is the first issue to arise, causeing the EGR cooler to fail. Coolant flow is resricted in the oil cooler, and is held up in the EGR cooler, and the mini radiator inside the EGR cooler cannot take that kind of heat and pressure. So the oil cooler must always be replaced when doing one of these fixes.

and even though the gauges on the dash are glorified idiot lights, the ECM tracks the temps very accurately. Thus the EDGE Insight and similar products, and the new flash is a goos thing for the newer 6.0's

[doclouns]

Thanks for the input so far.

Hooked up my Superchips programmer and monitored ECT and EOT for about 30 mins around town (around 30 deg outside.) Oil around 190-3 and coolant around 183-5, never more than 9 deg difference. During this, coolant sprayed again, level right at min when I stopped (i cleaned up just before starting.)
Have absolutely no sign of white smoke/steam from tailpipe and doesnt seem to be eating coolant.

No codes in system. And, no, i didnt have the high performance program in, ever. Just the XS mileage and the heavy tow.

Have appointment at dealer thurs...

Anybody know what the "EGR error %" monitor value is?? It varied from 0% with throttle application to 99% just after full lift and then 25-30% coasting.

Mark

[doclouns]

Sooo, EGR cooler toast. But they think head gaskets ok. Wondering how i convince dealer to do HG's now under warranty?? (waiting for parts now) Try and toast them? They are going to do oil cooler as well and then retest HG's.



Anybody know what the "EGR error %" monitor value is?? It varied from 0% with throttle application to 99% just after full lift and then 25-30% coasting.

Any help on the above? Especially interested now since I know the EGR cooler is bad