Possible to "save" an oil cooler?

[Gearhead2012]

I didn't have money to do the oil cooler at the same time I did my egr delete this past weekend, which sucks, because I was right there at it. I kinda needed to delete the egr now because I just had straight water in it, and with winter coming, I needed to be able to put coolant in it that wouldnt leak back out. Plus, my motor was just about hydrolocked, and didn't want it to be sitting with coolant in the cylinders (even had to change the oil as it was very water conataminated looking.)

Long story short, I've ran the restore through it, and the restore plus through it, and now have straight water (with 4 gallons of ultra elc waiting in the back seat, till I finish flushing the system) I've been keeping a close eye on ect and eot, and I've noticed the more I flush, the smaller the delta (temp difference) gets. I'm wondering if perhaps flushing with the restore and restore plus and then lots and lots of water if I'd be able to kinda "restore" the oil cooler to a usable/sufficient state? Part of me knows I'm hoping against hope, and just being stingy with money... but realistically if my oil temps stay decent...what would it hurt?

Thanks, Jared.

[Gearhead2012]

Oh, and it's an 05, 130k miles. At highway speeds with the restore in (first flush) ect was 188 or so, and eot was 209 or so. After more flushing and the restore plus, it was significantly better: ect-184-188 and eot-199-202... and now with straight water (albeit only a couple highway miles) ect-184-188 and eot 192-196.

That kinda falls into the 15* parameters in the TSB. Just kinda got me thinking, maybe it'll be usable from here on out without the egr and with the ec-1 elc (extended life coolant). Just curious to ya'lls experiance, and ya'lls thoughts. Thanks again, sorry for the wordy lead up. Jared.

[2003kingranch]

your oil temps seem alright. but you coolant temps are low. your t-stat is most likely stuck open.

[Galaxie]

Your oil cooler might have not totaly gone South and was flowing a bit. Do you have a filter on there grabbing the possible crap comming out or are you just flushing?
Keep flushing if it is working! Get a filter. Also, the ELC could possibly help clean as well.

Dont keep that water in there very long man...

[Rotbody]

Your temp shoudl be over 190 on the coolant or you need to get a thermostat. To me your cooler is still working but its getting there. If you do some WOT pulls it might be different but I would be easy on her and you should be alrite.....but your going to need a cooler coming up.

If your using tap water for the VC flush its altire but you need to get distilled in their also when its time to put the coolant in. Drop the block plugs out you woudlnt beleive how much rust and crap comes out of them.

[Gearhead2012]

Yeah, a filter is on the way, I was trying to get all the flushing done on before I put the filter on it. Tap water in there now cuz I'm still working as much water through it as possible. Today I plan on swapping out to distilled, and then flushing that all out really well, and yeah I've been taking the block plugs loose.

And I had wondered about the thermostat, I was going to change it anyway before i put the coolant in it. I was leaving it in there during the flush cuz I have an hour ride to work, and figured it'll eventually open all the way if it isn't stuck there aywa, and that it would concentrate more heat into the block, and correspondingly the oil cooler more so than running without one.

The higher temps of those numbers listed earlier were right after wide open throttle pulls to 80 from almost stopped. Trying to get a wide array of conditions from which to draw data. The part that got me thinking was that after the first flush, the oil temps went back down after a wide open throttle pull, which tells me that at least the cooler is doing something.

Anybody ever have luck 'reviving' their cooler? I'm normally a very big proponent of doing things the right way the first time, and not patching something up (especially a $50k truck)...nor. am I a big believer in all of these chemicals advance and autozone sell proclaiming head gasket fix, or engine restore/zmax. I try to to be naive, nor am I wishing for a miracle, but if the cooler functions properly, then I'm not changing it if I don't have to. Thanks, Jared.

[mmm635]

Originally Posted by Gearhead2012

Anybody ever have luck 'reviving' their cooler? I'm normally a very big proponent of doing things the right way the first time, and not patching something up (especially a $50k truck)...nor. am I a big believer in all of these chemicals advance and autozone sell proclaiming head gasket fix, or engine restore/zmax. I try to to be naive, nor am I wishing for a miracle, but if the cooler functions properly, then I'm not changing it if I don't have to. Thanks, Jared.

I understand your funds situation from the first post, but to do it right and not risk other problems with your motor, an oil cooler replacement or an upgrade to a BPD system should have been done. Your EOT is high and that is because your cooler is clogging up and is on its way out. You will be back in there replacing it very soon or you will be replacing the heads as well. Unfortunately, it is the nature of this motor.

The oil cooler/EGR is the heart of the system with regards to the weakness of the 6.0. If this is taken care of, then you will probably not have any problems with your truck down the road in stock form. You push it, then you risk the chance of other component failure that will pop up down the road.

[Deathrod]

I would guess if the numbers keep coming down then its good to go.....for now that is. As long as you keep an eye on it you should be fine. I just had the same thermostat prob...mine wouldnt get over 176, threw a new one in there and it stays at 190-192.

[Gearhead2012]

Originally Posted by mmm635

I understand your funds situation from the first post, but to do it right and not risk other problems with your motor, an oil cooler replacement or an upgrade to a BPD system should have been done. Your EOT is high and that is because your cooler is clogging up and is on its way out. You will be back in there replacing it very soon or you will be replacing the heads as well. Unfortunately, it is the nature of this motor.

The oil cooler/EGR is the heart of the system with regards to the weakness of the 6.0. If this is taken care of, then you will probably not have any problems with your truck down the road in stock form. You push it, then you risk the chance of other component failure that will pop up down the road.

Think of this as kind of a science project, or experiment. I just wanted to see if anyone else had performed the same experiment, or if everybody just changed their oil cooler, rather than trying to revive it. The work is already done, I'm driving again, with the old cooler it it...keeping a very very close eye on things.

I work at a diesel shop that rebuilds a couple hundred 6.0's a year...im plenty familiar with them. Given the choice, I'd fork out the big bucks for the bpd kit, but even then, might modify it to include a thermostat as a few others on here have. That's my really an option right now - if I have to take it all back appart again later, so be it. So far so good, and my thought process is that after repeated flushed and the.addition of a coolant filter maybe rather being on its way out, and getting more clogged, it'll gradually become less restricted. I dont expect a brand new oil cooler, but if it functions as one, good.

[Brieldo]

In my opinion, the long and the short of it is this:
If you are going to own a 6.0L, you have to accept the costs of doing the proper bulletproofing and maintenance. In the area of oil cooler health, there is really no compromise that can be made once things have reached or crossed a certain threshold.

A replacement oil cooler is only about 200 dollars + whatever labor you incur if you aren't able to do it yourself. Once a proper flush has been done, it's probably the best and cheapest insurance you can provide yourself as a 6.0L owner.