Oily water coming out of muffler

[Firemanbill]

I have a 2004 6 liter and it has run great until the last couple of days. It has about 61k miles on it now, I've only owned it for three months though...

About three days ago I noticed a big puff of what looked like steam out of the tail pipe. it did it for a few minutes then cleared up. It did it again yesterday afternoon but persisted a lot longer. It looks like a bluish white smoke but evaporates quickly. Got home and checked oil, water, everything looked fine.

Did it again today but when I got home I noticed a black oily water pouring out of the muffler... The radiator fill tank was low too. put 4 liters of water back into it. So coolant is getting into the exhaust somehow. There is no water in the oil though that I can tell

The truck runs fine. no different than before.

It's off to the shop in the morning to get it looked at.

I'm glad i got that extended warranty!

[todd]

sounds like head gasket to me

[dieseldan2005]

yeah sounds like they are leaking into the cylinders. I think usually when they blow they push hto air into the cooling system on the 6.0's. Which then causes them to overheat or push coolant outta the overflow bottle.

[Firemanbill]

I am thinking the same thing except that usually you get water in your oil with that..

We'll find out tomorrow I reckon.

Once again... Glad I got that warranty!

Thanks for the replies.

[dieseldan2005]

i don't recall ever seeing the 6.0's dump coolant into the oil, kinda like your typical gas engine would do. I think that the weak spot on these is to leak into the chambers and not into the crank case. I'm not a tech, but maybe the coolant passages aren't close to oil passages too, so that would keep that from happening. That is what makes the headgasket problem not quite so bad. Cause if everytime they failed and dumped coolant into the oil, everyone would either be looking at a new engine or at least new bearings.

[todd]

yup dans right it doesnt go to the oil goes right into the cylinder

[Firemanbill]

oh well that makes sense then.

She isn't overheating and is still running llike normal. It seems intermittent too. sometimes she smokes and sometimes she don't.

I'm new to owning a diesel and have never worked on one.

I've been driving them for the last 26 years though in the Fire Service.

[dieseldan2005]

It still could be a sign of failing gaskets, just keep a close eye on it. I think they tend to blow when the engine is under a good load. The head studs are the cause of the whole problem and when the engine is under a good load the studs stretch and then the gasket will move or warp and then wa la, she leaks. if you do end up replacing the h.g. look at a set of ARP head studs. I did hear that Ford was possibly using an "updated" stud that was possibly made by ARP, so the dealer might fix the studs too.

[Firemanbill]

Well that would certainly be cool if they did!


I am sure glad I found this forum. I think I will be spending quite a bit of time here!

[dieseldan2005]

well i'm glad you like it! Let us know if we can help you with anything else and