Getting Ready to Flush

[tim5055]

Well, I have a 2004 F-250 (2003 Engine, at least that is what the emissions sticker on the top says) that I purchased new. Currently has 82,500 miles. I use it to tow a pop up camper. OK, it's a big pop up camper, just shy of 4,000 lbs fully loaded. Looking at upgrading to a trailer that clocks in at 9,000 loaded so I thought it was time to look at the truck closer. Just purchased an Edge Insight to get an idea of what was going on under the hood.

Here is what has been done to it:
8,500 miles towed in, replaced FICM
16,050 miles Oil leak at bell housing, no repair as they said it was residue from HPOP cover breather
19,639 miles Replace rear main seal, replace EGR assembly
21,945 replace EGR assembly
27,335 miles Replace Y pipe, Clean EGR, replace ICP sensor assembly
36,288 Trans fluid/filter change
46,969 Miles Replace Turbocharger (remanufacturered)
80,000 miles replaced both batteries

More flashes than I can count

There is still oil on the bell housing. Starts easily, no observed rough running.

Oil change every 5,000 miles (usually Shell Rotella, always Motocraft or International Filters)
Fuel Filter every 10,000 miles (always International Filters)

I took them at their word for 100,000 mile coolant changes and have not done anything with it to date. OK, my bad....

At 82,000 miles the filter minder had never moved, so I gave up and changed the air filter

Baseline numbers from first drive with Insight:
Battery Voltage13.0+
Engine Coolant Temp 192
Engine Oil Temp 205
FICM Voltage 47.0 – 48.0 (one drop to 46.5 during stop & go traffic)
Transmission Temp 190
Turbo Boost WOT got it to 21, speed & traffic got me to back it down

EOT/ECT number were at temperature, 60 - 65 MPH on highway for about 5 minutes.

Plan moving forward:
Coolant flush with Restore and VC-9. Refill with Zerex ELC
Have a new thermostat to replace during flush
Transmission drain/fill with new external filter.
Remove, inspect, clean & replace EGR

What else should I be looking at as I move forward?

Thanks for any help

[turbocharged]

I am new to the forum and to the world of diesel ownership, but from what I have read on here a coolant filter is an extremely wise investment.

I would recommend the IPR high flow coolant filter. The filter is re-usable, just take it out and clean it and then re-install. You can use it as a full flow filter, or a bypass filter. I haven't purchased it yet but plan to do so very soon. You can check it out at Innovative Performance Research

[CREEPERVAN]

First thing I'd do after reading this, EGR DELETE

[wngnt954]

I have 84k miles on my excursion and the reverse flush worked the best for me. I have never used the chemicals to do the flush. I just finished a trip from Houston to Orlando and back pulling a 36' travel trailer and my delta never got over 12.


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

[Tuscany]

Originally Posted by tim5055

Well, I have a 2004 F-250 (2003 Engine, at least that is what the emissions sticker on the top says) that I purchased new. Currently has 82,500 miles. I use it to tow a pop up camper. OK, it's a big pop up camper, just shy of 4,000 lbs fully loaded. Looking at upgrading to a trailer that clocks in at 9,000 loaded so I thought it was time to look at the truck closer. Just purchased an Edge Insight to get an idea of what was going on under the hood.

Here is what has been done to it:
8,500 miles towed in, replaced FICM
16,050 miles Oil leak at bell housing, no repair as they said it was residue from HPOP cover breather
19,639 miles Replace rear main seal, replace EGR assembly
21,945 replace EGR assembly
27,335 miles Replace Y pipe, Clean EGR, replace ICP sensor assembly
36,288 Trans fluid/filter change
46,969 Miles Replace Turbocharger (remanufacturered)
80,000 miles replaced both batteries

More flashes than I can count

There is still oil on the bell housing. Starts easily, no observed rough running.

Oil change every 5,000 miles (usually Shell Rotella, always Motocraft or International Filters)
Fuel Filter every 10,000 miles (always International Filters)

I took them at their word for 100,000 mile coolant changes and have not done anything with it to date. OK, my bad....

At 82,000 miles the filter minder had never moved, so I gave up and changed the air filter

Baseline numbers from first drive with Insight:
Battery Voltage13.0+
Engine Coolant Temp 192
Engine Oil Temp 205
FICM Voltage 47.0 – 48.0 (one drop to 46.5 during stop & go traffic)
Transmission Temp 190
Turbo Boost WOT got it to 21, speed & traffic got me to back it down

EOT/ECT number were at temperature, 60 - 65 MPH on highway for about 5 minutes.

Plan moving forward:
Coolant flush with Restore and VC-9. Refill with Zerex ELC
Have a new thermostat to replace during flush
Transmission drain/fill with new external filter.
Remove, inspect, clean & replace EGR

What else should I be looking at as I move forward?

Thanks for any help

Ok first things first. Good job on getting yourself a monitor for your truck. That said your looking at doing an oil cooler rebuild in the near future. If your going to do a chemical flush then not long afterwards your going to HAVE to rebuild your oil cooler. Because it will clog eventually after a chemical flush.

Second get a good coolant filter kit as already stated the ipr kit is the best out there.

Third being that your going with zerex elc coolant you need to make sure you get the fully formulated not the 50/50 premix part number at napa is zxed-1.

Depending on where you live I would either delete the egr system or bulletproof it with a bulletproof egr cooler.

If your going that far into the motor and haven't experienced head gasket problems I would strongly recommend doing arp studs one at a time but only if you verify 100% that the head gaskets have not been compromised.

Doing the oil cooler swap would be a great time to switch to a full synthetic oil your 6.0 will thank you later with smoother quieter running and better cold starts. Stick with the ford or international oil and fuel filters though. ( good job with that most people will use cheaper filters and compromise the engine doing so )

You don't have to stud the truck but it would be just as good a time as any doing it now one at a time so you don't have to remove the heads and what not if your gaskets aren't blown. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Also if you decide to go with an egr delete kit the best one out is iprs kit as well. It's a little more money than the others but it is the best out there for a delete.

[tim5055]

Thanks for all the reply's so far. Next Saturday should be the day. Anyone with other ideas, keep them coming.

Sitting in the garage I have:
VC-9 X2
Fleetguard Restore
4 gallons Zerex ELC
8 Quarts Trans Fluid
Trans Filter (external)
Thermostat

Picking up the distilled water tomorrow.

Over the next week I should receive:
Futomo for the drivers side
Coolant filter kit

I still hope this helps clear things up as an oil cooler replacement is not in the budget now.

Other than beverages, what else am I missing? The local trash/recycling station accepts coolant, so I guess that will be a good drive while the chemical does it's thing.

[tim5055]

OK, here we are about 3 months later.

If you remember, this is what I started with:
Baseline numbers from first drive with Insight:
Battery Voltage 13.0+
Engine Coolant Temp 192
Engine Oil Temp 205
FICM Voltage 47.0 – 48.0 (one drop to 46.5 during stop & go traffic)
Transmission Temp 190
Turbo Boost WOT got it to 21, speed & traffic got me to back it down

So, after several folks stated that the chemical may break stuff loose and speed up the need for an oil cooler I didn't use the chemicals. I did a full flush only, with the final fill with Zerex ELC.

It still doesn't get driven enough as I have a company car for a daily driver, but I have tried to keep it moving more. We just got back from a trip to Ohio and during the trip I noticed that on flat ground, cruise locked at 65 the ECT was usually mid 180's. EOT would be in the 190 - 192 range. Hills, acceleration or other "work" would push the numbers up, but only once on the trip did I see a delta above 15, and that only was a 17 for a short period of time. If I got the numbers up, just stopping for a couple of minutes (like at a light) would bring them down quickly. Both moved together, which implies to me that the cooler is not too badly plugged and still working. Am I correct in this assumption?

FICM Voltage still holds in the 47.0 – 48.0 range, usually locked on 48 when running on the road.

Turbo Boost at WOT will go to 22, a couple of times 23

So, have I dodged a bullet and have some time before I need to spend big bucks?

[onebadcoastie]

Originally Posted by turbocharged

You can use it as a full flow filter, or a bypass filter. [/url]

You are correct about IPR's filter being awesome but something to understand is, that as long as the filter is receiving coolant from a t-fitting from the heater core hose, it's AWAYS in a bypass configuration. Its' considered full flow because of the dimension of the hose and how much fluid it moves. It's still a great filter and I have one, but it is a bypass filter unless it is run with the IPR coolant manifold which can be purchased separately from the filter or combined from their website.

[cowens677]

Sounds like your oil cooler is clogged. You shouldn't have a delta more than 15 from what I understand and probably switching to elc caused it. I was going to switc to elc but decided otherwise because I noted how many people got clogged oil coolers soon after they switched. The problem about switching and not doing a complete flush is that some of the coolant gold is still remaining in the engine (especially if you didn't drain both sides of the engine block). When the elc and gold mix it ='s clogged cooler. That is why I am sticking with the gold stuff until it clogs on it own, but I am going to do a flush every 35000 miles to keep it fresh and hopefully won't break down. But if it does ever clog then I will for sure switch to the elc.

[onebadcoastie]

Originally Posted by cowens677

Sounds like your oil cooler is clogged. You shouldn't have a delta more than 15 from what I understand and probably switching to elc caused it. I was going to switc to elc but decided otherwise because I noted how many people got clogged oil coolers soon after they switched. The problem about switching and not doing a complete flush is that some of the coolant gold is still remaining in the engine (especially if you didn't drain both sides of the engine block). When the elc and gold mix it ='s clogged cooler. That is why I am sticking with the gold stuff until it clogs on it own, but I am going to do a flush every 35000 miles to keep it fresh and hopefully won't break down. But if it does ever clog then I will for sure switch to the elc.

Usually the clogging comes from the chemical flush. Many people use the restore and restore + and what happens is that you break up the contaminates in the original oil cooler and are then "floating" around the cooling system. When you shut the truck off to drain it, those particles settle and they don't get removed from the system completely. Incidentally, when you put the new cooler in and the system is running, those particles that were previously removed from the old cooler find themselves at home in the new one. That's usually what happens, although that's not always the case. It's also my understanding that when you drain the block (from both ports) and the radiator, you still won't get all the fluid, that's how those contaminates stay in the system, unless you flush and flush and flush and flush and flush....you get the idea...