dark colored coolant and no heat at idle

[jjack010]

I just purchased a 06 f350 ps. 118000 miles. There is oil looking sludge around the filler neck of the coolant resevoir. The heater blows cool air at idle only. Today pressure seemed to be building up in the cooling system while idling. There appeared to be green coolant in the truck when I drained it yestereday to put the coolant flush in it. Also the coolant appears to be very dark in color after I refilled.

Based on my reading on this forum it could be a ruptured oil cooler or blown head gasket. I'm also seeing a lot of EGR cooler issues.

Is there anything else I should be looking for? What should be my next step here?

PS- I have worked on gasoline powered vehicles as a hobby for yrs, but have ZERO experience with diesels. Thanks for your help, in advance.

[dhanna6powerstroke]

First thing I'd do is take it back where you got it. Gonna have to have oil cooler and EGR cooler or delete at minimum.

[southend]

You just bought a truck that someone ran to failure. Could be one or all, oil cooler ruptured, head gaskets blown, egr cooler busted. And green coolant, in general cannot prevent cavitation in diesel engines. This is why a monitor is so important.

Sent from my phone that somebody didn't help me get.

[jjack010]

HMMMM, not what I want to hear but thanks for the feedback. I have no drivability problems yet and I pulled an empty car hauler (2200 lbs) without issue. What do I need to watch for?

The only positive to this news is that I got a very good price on the truck. Like to the point that they discounted $5k for a head gasket job. I called my local consumer affairs office and they said I'm probably stuck with it. So I think my next step is investing in an extended warranty. Any recommendations? I'm going to do some research now....

[southend]

If you are keeping the truck, you need to get a monitor........Write Up: Monitoring the 6.0L PSD.

Sent from my phone that somebody didn't help me get.

[jjack010]

I'll take a look at the thread.

[jjack010]

I just found a used Edge Evo CTS locally. How can I tell if it's VIN locked? He sold his truck already.

[southend]

Originally Posted by jjack010

I just found a used Edge Evo CTS locally. How can I tell if it's VIN locked? He sold his truck already.

I don't believe the monitor can be vin locked, I believe that only applies to tuners. I have used my cts on another vehicle with no problems. A 96 7.3, for that matter.

Sent from my phone that somebody didn't help me get.

[jjack010]

I hooked the programmer up and downloaded a tune before I purchased to make sure it worked. Worked great and I got a great deal. So now I can monitor a few of the sensors. In the meantime, I'll have an extended warranty by the end of the day so as long as it makes it for another 30 days, I feel pretty comfortable. Thanks for the help.

[jjack010]

So I did some reading the fine print on a few of the extended warranty contracts. They will only pay $3000 in engine repairs over the life of the warranty which is 100k miles. That sure doesn't cover much on diesel repairs. So I'm back to the drawing board.

I got some good readings from my Edge tonight. After getting the truck up to normal temp and driving about 10 minutes, I took the readings while going 55mph. EOT stayed around 199. ECT stayed around 190. Oil cooler shot? I've read on another thread that they should 14deg difference with oil being higher. Does this sound right?

Remember I also have dark colored coolant so it sure sounds like I need to start looking for an oil cooler.

Recommendations?

I'll focus on this EGR cooler next.....