Coolant Filter Needed with EGR Delete?

[steed281]

One of the main reasons for installing a coolant filter is to protect the EGR Cooler correct?

If so, is it worth anything installing a filter kit if the EGR is deleted?

Thanks guys.

[jdalhaus]

Yes it is one of the main reasons, however, another main reason is to protect the oil cooler which can get plugged. If it lets go, it's not pretty. So yes sir, it is still definately worth it to install one.

[steed281]

Excellent point about the Oil Cooler. I'm already scared about that. Pretty sure mine has never been replaced and the truck has 145k miles on her.

I have a scan gauge II and right now the EOT is only a few degrees higher than ECT unless I push the truck over 90 MPH for a while then it creeps up close to 15 degrees higher than ECT.

Do plan on doing a full coolant flush in the next few weeks.

[F250SixOH]

Where can you get higher than 90mph for a while? Let me know! A coolant filter is vital to keeping the oil cooler happy. The small passages are easily clogged by particles in the cooling system. If you take apart your filter or see some photos of others it is truly a scary site. I know I pulled one of these when I saw mine!

[dieselmatt]

Just installing a coolant filter isn't going to solve the EGR issues. Similarly, deleting the EGR cooler isn't going to solve the lack of coolant filter issue. The coolant filter is a good idea either way. As I have discovered from my many months of reading and learning on this forum, the coolant filter will filter out the casting sand left in the block from production. This will slow the possibility of your oil cooler clogging up from the Ford gold coolant, but it will not eliminate it because the root of the problem is the coolant, not the casting sand.

Problem:
- The oil cooler clogs from the silicates in the Ford Gold coolant
- The clogged oil cooler reduces flow in the EGR cooler which creates deposits in the cooler itself. The deposits eventually degrade the metal and you now have coolant leaking into your intake manifold.

Fixes (not in order):
- Change to CAT EC-1 ELC after fully flushing with restore and restore +
- Delete your EGR cooler
- Install a coolant filter
- Rebuild your oil cooler or replace with a BPD oil cooler

[Gearhead2012]

I agree with dieselmatt above, only noting that I think the high heat of the egr cooler is a big factor in the Ford gold coolant breaking down. Without the egr cooler I'd venture to say you'd have less issues with the gold, but i switched to elc anyway. Cat ec-1 is the rating you need, I used rotella ultra elc, which I got from a local international dealership, along with the restore and restore plus chemicals to flush it with. Several people have reported actually clogging their oil cooler after flushing, so if you plan to change the oil cooler, i'd recommend changining it after you flush with the restore and restore poise, then lots of distilled water.

Generally speaking I wouldn't say coolant filters are needed, as in needed like oil filters are, but on 6.0's, I would highly highly recommend them. If I'm not mistaking, I think some of the navistar 6.0's use coolant filters in the medium duty trucks...and i know for a fact that the over the road tractors use coolant filters. I bought the sinister kit, other than being blue, I liked it a lot, great quality.

PS. Look for pgreensvt, read the links in his Sig, lots of good info there, and was the starting point of my research into elc, and Ford gold and the greater six liter cooling system.

[Idahoser]

the filter does nothing especially useful except protect the OIL cooler. The oil cooler getting clogged is the reason for all the other garbage that happens to these trucks, the EGR cooler being the first thing to feel it.

If you had a BPD oil cooler you would probably never care whether your coolant was filtered or what kind of coolant you had. All of that is directed at the OEM oil cooler.

[xjeeper]

Sand and crap in the coolant will also wear the water pump impeller/seals, and gook can also clog parts of the radiator, neither are catastrophic like the oil cooler, but a coolant filter is cheap insurance.