[SJPotter]

I recently purchased a 2004 motor home on a E450 chassis with a 6.0 PSD. I had the 30k service done before departing on a 5k mile summer vacation trip. I read a little bit about the troubles with the 6.0 liter but by no means became an expert. I did draw from the various discussions to buy an edge CS/CTS to monitor my temps while driving. I bought the CTS. First 4,000 miles were without incident. Then outside of Laughlin, NV going up a long grade in 115 degree heat my troubles started. The motor home climbed the grade fine and the temps looked good. ECT would climb to 226, the cooling fan would come on and the ECT would drop to 218 or lower, then the whole cycle would repeat itself, this occurred several times while climbing this very long grade. The engine oil temp would chase the ECT, the max I saw the EOT would be about 236 but it would come down when the ECT cooled. Later, driving around town I noticed my temps climbing. I pulled over and while idling in a parking lot I saw my ECT climb to a max of 246, EOT was about the same or a few degrees higher. The cooling fan was not on but when I ran the RPM to about 3000 it came on and the temps returned instantly to normal. I was worried but not being savvy with the 6.0 liter's problems decided just to watch the temps closely and drive the vehicle straight home (1000 miles to Dallas) Next Morning before leaving Laughlin I checked the coolant level. It was perhaps a bit low (this should have been a warning) but I decided to proceed driving and hawk the temps. Next day driving the temps were fine with engine coolant between 212 and 226 and EOT always within the 15 degree delta. I did however notice a problem with the boost. Where I used to get 24psi WOT I was now only getting about 16. First night after the incident was in Williams AZ I decided to see if the CST recorded any codes. It had, a PO401 (EGR Exhaust gas recirculation flow insufficient detected EGR valve, sensor failure). I looked up the procedure for this code in the Ford Service Manual and it said to clear the code and try to duplicate it. I did this and could not duplicate it. I spent the next 2 days driving home, fat, dumb, happy….and clueless. Vehicle ran fine except the turbo boost, no more codes were thrown.

When I got home I did some more reading on this forum and decided to have another look at my coolant level. The coolant in the plastic bottle was empty.

I assume the EGR cooler has ruptured and that’s why I have no more coolant. I don’t know if the head gasket is blown or not, like I said except for the boost problem the vehicle seems to run fine.

Any advice is greatly appreciated....Thanks.

 

[SJPotter]

Why no responses? Me chopped live??

well? Can no one respond to this question and save me from the Doom?

 

[06kngrnch84]

U should get a response to this in the next few hours. There are a lot of good techs on here to help u out, I am not one of them LOL, but I usually get good responses later in the evening, probably after everybody gets home from work and settled down. Sometimes I don't get responses til 10 or 11 pm central time, but they r usually worth the wait

 

[justa03]

Generally when the EGR cooler ruptures you start to see alot of smoke coming out of the tailpipe, along with some residue in the tailpipe itself. Headgaskets will generally push coolant out the degas bottle and you can see where it has pushed out and dried onto it usually. Does the veh seem like it has full power? Also if the EGR cooler is ruptured the coolant should smell burnt, you will know this smell, you could drain a little bit out of the radiator and smell it and check the condition/color of the coolant. If its still Ford gold it will be a yellow color, and when its burnt generally just gets really dark almost kinda rusty looking if you ask me. Best bet would be to try and pressure test the cooling system and find if you have an external leak or to see if it holds pressure. Just because the EGR coolers are common does not mean it is your issue. Sounds like to me you may have a clutch fan starting to act up, if you can try to monitor the fan rpm data and make sure the PCM is getting this reading if not you will overheat. Im by know means an expert just a Tech at a local Ford shop, and from what ive seen on here there are guys on here with way more knowledge. Just my .02.

 

[SJPotter]

Thanks for the comeback. I have taken it to the Ford Dealer to have the problem evaluated. I am waiting to hear. I am mainly hoping that I did not blow the head gaskets and possibly warp the heads. There was no blow back out of the degas bottle, and it is hard to see the exhaust in the motor home but I didn't notice anything unusual in the tailpipe. I am hopeful that, since it ran good for 1000 miles that it might be something less severe. The turbo boost dropping is curious though, but that might just be a separate but concurrent issue....there are so many with this motor:dunno: