6.0 Temperature Troubleshooting

[jdp013300]

I bought an '03 F250 in September which needed a pretty fair amount done to it right off the bat. I know all the common problems and steps to bulletproof against them from forum posts. I just purchased electronic monitoring, a livewire ts and took it for a drive this morning. Everything was normal, except engine oil and coolant temps, which is pretty typical for these trucks when the oil cooler is clogged. I don't think I have enough info yet to call out the cooler though. I'm pretty sure the thermostat is stuck open or missing. On level highway the steady state temps were oil at 209F and coolant at 164F. Does this tell me anything about my cooler? I'm planning on replacing the thermostat next weekend.

[dhanna6powerstroke]

Thermostat is stuck open or has a bad sending unit but your oil temps are way high.

[kinnisoj]

So if I understand the "steady state temps" your oils at 209 and coolant at 164 thats a 45 degree diffrence when panic #'s are at 15 so your 3 times over panic...so IMO its time to panic....

[jdp013300]

Looks like you guys were thinking the same thing as me...I knew it was clearly exceeding the 15F threshhold, just didn't know if that was a valid measurement with the thermostat wide open. Any other opinions? It's gonna be tough for me to get the cash together for the oil cooler any time soon, but I guess I need to start figuring it out. On that note, I'm new to Connecticut, anyone know a good shop?

[dhanna6powerstroke]

How handy are you with tools? It's not that bad of a job to do yourself.

[jdp013300]

I'm not worried about replacing the thermostat, that's a very easy job...I'm worried about diving into oil coolers and with a delta as high as it is probably going into the egr cooler, and who knows, probably head gaskets. I'd be willing to do them all myself, just don't know when I'd have the time...

[dhanna6powerstroke]

You gotta pull the intake and EGR cooler to do oil cooler anyway. Would be a good time to do delete. Could do a good coolant flush and install coolant filter as well.

[jdp013300]

That's what it looks like...I was hoping that since I had the '03 my EGR Cooler might still be intact even if the oil cooler clogged, but I think I ruled out that positive possibility tonight. I tried the manometer test shown on the bulletproofdiesel webpage, and when I got the truck up to its steady temperature I had bubbles. I then let the turbo relax (as described in their video) and the rate of bubbling went down significantly. To make a bad day worse, it didn't completely go away, so that seems pretty indicative of needing head gaskets...At least according to BulletproofDiesel.
Anyone have any experience using this test for diagnostics? Am I just in whole hog at this point? I don't have any of the "classic" symptoms of either problem, no real large amount of white smoke from the tail pipe, no big overheating problems, no signs of oil in coolant or vice versa. If I had the money set aside to do the full bulletproofing, which I already planned on doing in the future, I wouldn't be too concerned. But I don't...
So...anyone know any good shops in Connecticut? If I had a garage with a lift I would just plan on doing it myself over Christmas while I'm off from work, but I don't. I don't even have a covered area where I could leave it.