6.4 Overheats, foam in reservoir

[nso123]

My 08 6.4 overheated yesterday, and quickly cooled back down. I checked the coolant, and it was low. I added coolant, and all went well, then today I noticed it heat up again (230*). It does not get hot while idling, or regular driving, but when going up a grade, it happens. I looked in the coolant reservoir, and noticed it had a foam look to it now. I checked the engine oil, and it did not look milky or have a coolant smell. I would think head gasket, but it seems that there would be coolant in the oil, at least that is my experience with my race cars. My next guess would be the egr cooler maybe? I can smell some coolant under the hood, but not at the tailpipe. I also can't see anywhere that coolant is leaking. I have heard people mention these trucks puking coolant, but don't see where it would do that. Thanks for any help.

[Tuscany]

They puke coolant from the degas bottle. What color is the foam and the coolant?

[AllGo'N'Show]

This is a light puking, or it can cover everything in the engine bay

[nso123]

The foam is kind of off white. There is nothing that looks like the picture, the bottle is clean on the outside. Has there been a mod done on the bottle in this pic? The connector that is to the left of the hose clamp is different on my truck. The tube is not connected to anything on my truck.

[Tuscany]

Does it look like there is oil in the coolant? Does the coolant smell like fuel?

[nso123]

It doesn't really look milky like the oil and coolant mixture I have seen in other blown gaskets. Chalky would be a better way to describe it. It was not slick like coolant when I rubbed some between my fingers. I don't recall it smelling like fuel. I will have it back to my house later today and will give it a smell.

[nso123]

It has been raining like crazy today, so I have not been able to look under the hood. I am thinking that what I see in the picture that is not done on my truck is the venturi tee. Is this problem sounding more EGR related or head gasket, or maybe even the radiator? I can smell coolant, just have not found the source of it yet. Also, the fan started howling right before I noticed that the coolant temp was rising.

[04hdfatboy]

Well if you are losing coolant it could be the upper or lower radiator hoses or the radiator. Those are common leak points on a 6.4. If the coolant wasnt properly maintained another thing could be the front cover is cavitated and putting coolant into your oil. Maybe you could send the oil to blackstone for an oil analysis to see if your getting anything in your oil.

[nso123]

I talked to a former Ford tech today, and he said that he would guess it was the egr cooler that has failed. Does that sound like the problem to anyone else?

[nso123]

I had 5 minutes without rain today, and got to look at the degas bottle. There is no evidence of puking. The coolant does not have any odor of fuel or oil. I put Prestone in it when it ran low, so I wonder if that might be the cause of the foam?