ELC reason for blown head gaskets

[f350powerstroke]

Originally Posted by blackshadow

So I took my truck to a guy to do a head gasket job and he saw the red coolant and suggested that the cat ELC could be the reason for the blown head gaskets. He said something in the coolant(I don't remember what it was) could have eaten through the gasket material on the head gaskets. He is a well known mechanic and said he recommends the gold coolant or some coastal stuff. I'm very confused. Need input

Take ur truck and GTFO his shop. I had bad gaskets with ford gold, this guy is an idiot.

[Eric@PTP]

Nothing corrosive in that coolant, it would have to be acidic to eat any type of metal which it isn't. He's just misinformed, HG failures are common on 6.0's. Its just a design flaw from 4 bolts per cylinder, to small of a diameter of bolt used, EGR system flash boiling coolant, Oil cooler clogging and so on that cause it. But coolant didn't do it I can tell you that much.

[scha0786]

Like stated before, our motor is an international VT365. The 6.0 motor is in box trucks all over the world. International specs Rotella ELC, ever wonder why these motors haven't got a bad rap?????

granted they are lower on power but still the ford gold coolant was not thought about prior to putting in this motor.

[04cr450]

Actually the head gaskets are not prone to blow... They are prone to blow when the oil cooler fails followed by the egr cooler rupturing and putting coolant in the cylinders.. I dont care if you have space age h11 studs or whatever, they will stretch as well and blow the gaskets again if coolant gets in the cylinders. I have used gold in my truck for about 170,000 miles.. NEVER had an issue with clogged anything.. I change my coolant once a year and mix it with distilled water. Ive only flushed it once with ford vc-9 and it didnt really make a difference. Coolant filter is a must. That being said, i might change over to elc when i get my studs on and performance upgrades soon.

[blackshadow]

I have EGR delete and EOT and ECT have never been more than 9 degrees apart. I always monitor them. Also would I be able to reuse the ARP's that wee installed 2 years ago

[surfmanrescue]

I am looking at HGs right now also...and somewhate close by...what is the longwood shop charging you? (does it include a new oil cooler and checking the heads for flaws?)

As I have been told, the ARP studs are reusable.

[04cr450]

I dont think you can re-use the arp studs.. I think you can only use the H-11 studs(H-11 studs are for high performance engines that are taken down and apart continously)

[Eric@PTP]

You can re use ARP's a couple of times as long as your not way over torquing them.

[04cr450]

I think i have heard that as well. I just figure that with all the work i would want piece of mind that i have untorqued head studs

[kcoyner]

"He said something in the coolant(I don't remember what it was) could have eaten through the gasket material on the head gaskets. He is a well known mechanic and said he recommends the gold coolant or some coastal stuff."


How many of us know truckers with 6.0s who have had blown head gaskets, taken their truck to a Ford Dealership to be repaired then refilled with the gold crap and have them blow again???

I know one who has blown both gaskets 3 times!!! Guess he's stuck on stupid. He's still taking it to the dealer to be worked on.

k