Thats a loaded question
And I often wonder how many have leaky gaskets and live in bliss.since they are clueless
About degass psi and a little coolant loss .
I am fairly certain a large amount of 6.0's leak
Under towing /high boost

Mine spits a little and my psi will hit 16plus a bit towing grades. I know i need to redo my gaskets . but i said screw it for now and towed
Again. Just a little coolant loss.

Now here is my dilemma. A real blown headgasket could put a huge amount of pressure in the cooling system and blow up components like radiators , hoses, ETC

So why do so many 6.0's with apparent bad HG's. Only have enough cooling psi that a little radiator cap can keep up ?

Excuse typos i am on my phune :-

 

I had an excessive amount of pressure for probably 6 months. But I didn't really know it and had no puking because I was constantly chasing coolant leaks and had other things arise. Replaced oil cooler and egr cooler July 2015, a few weeks later thermostat housing began to leak so I replaced it, started leaking again so I replaced the upper hose and clamps, egr cooler hose was leaking a couple months later but I had a difficult time finding the leak. My stc fitting went out so when I had it torn down for that and standpipes and dummy plugs is when I finally found the hose leaking. This was January 2016. A month or so later radiator was pouring coolant out, thought it was the lower hose so I tried to push it back on. There was so much pressure in there that it blew the hose off and I became soaked in coolant, at work, white shirt became red, bad day all around. Replaced the radiator and the cap must have just been the next weak link in the system because it started puking. While trying to educate myself I learned how to test for bag hg's. March of 2016 I replaced the head gaskets. I'm sure they were blown probably before I replaced the oil cooler last year but 1, I was not very educated about it and 2, I constantly had coolant leaks so I never had any puking

 

Ive had high PSI in my cooling system for probably the better part of 6-8 months so far, I dont have the money anywhere to fix it right now so its business as usual. Ill let you know if she quits on me lol. I get some blow by on my cap and a little hum under load, its irritating because my heads/gaskets were done 33k ago and i do not under any circumstances beat this truck. Next time the cab comes off its getting fire ringed heads, and the BPD air to oil cooler with filter relocation. The next time i do this i want to be done with it for 300k miles...

 

For me it's been about a year and I had them done 27K (3 years) ago started leaking around 20K (2 years) and a s**t ton of money was put into it to 100% bulletproof it but it didn't last long. To keep my temps under control with the mishi rad I put the 7.3 fan clutch on.

 

ran my 2004 for almost a year before I had it checked, didn't have the money and only added coolant once then got it fixed and drove it for almost a year before I sold the truck, nothing wrong with it, just moved to smaller vehicle for 2 years and now back in a diesel again lol

 

I had a 99 F250 work truck. I liked that thing, was no race horse but got along ok.


As for the OP lots of trucks go years with blown head gaskets. Like ZMANN said as long as your not blowing out hoses you can go for years. Is it wise......of coarse NOT. Keep up coolant % if you let it rust up bad enough the block will be junk.

 

The engine most likely won't grenade itself immediately after the head gaskets start leaking. I'm not as knowledgeable as a bunch of these guys, but if you know you have a head gasket problem you should fix it at the first opportunity (whether that's that week or a year down the road). The rest of these guys can give you more specifics than I can.

I bought my truck and drove it, knowing the head gaskets were bad, for about 3 months / 5k miles before I got all my ducks in a row and started working on it. I don't know how long the gaskets were leaking because it was like that when I got the truck from the dealership - and the truck had very obviously been neglected for quite a while before I got it. The machinist had to take .008 off the bottom of the heads to get them straight again.

- The longer you go with leaking HGs, the more scalloping you'll have on the bottom of the heads and greater potential for warped / non-repairable heads you'll have.
- The more you run it that way the greater the chance of hydro-locking a cylinder and destroying the whole engine.

It'll still run, but it'll be a little cantankerous and its not something you should ignore for longer than you have to.

Just my 2 cents worth.....

 

Pretty well put. It's not wise running a engine that has a head gasket leak. There is nowhere to go but backwards and potentially more costly.

 

Well I drove one for a LONG way! I can't remember exactly but I could look it up. Probably better than 10K miles. I just cracked the cap, watched what I towed and drove it. Long story short, when it was finally torn down it had a burnt piston and both heads were toast. At that point I decided to go Asheville Engines and haven't looked back.

k

 

For those of you that have had HG done, what kind of coolant pressures are you seeing under loads while towing or climbing grades? I am very curious to hear if "bullet proofed" trucks are still seeing increased pressures while under load..... My guess is yes but I'd like to hear from you that have taken the plunge and had the o ringed heads gaskets etc done. Increased temps, coolant
pressures????

 

I did head gaskets and studs 4 plus years ago.I monitor my coolant pressure through my cts.I tow about 14 k and my pressure gets to about 12-13 psi at the most with coolant temps around low 220s.This would be on a good hill climb with ambient temps in the mid 90s,before the fan comes on.
On flat roads I would see coolant temps hit 208-212 with coolant pressure around 10-11 psi, ambient temp mid to high 90s and high humidity.

 

I don't have a psi reading but I can tell by cracking the cap that it isn't what I used have on stock.

k

 

What about temps towing our climbing grades?

 

Well, Mine will climb in to the 220-230 range on a heavy hard pull. That said, I'm also in the bad Mishi radiator boat. Still nothing earth shattering on temps.

k

 

Thanks for the reply..... So coolant temps and pressure still rise under load.

 

Just thought I would revive this old thread.

I picked up an 05' F250 with 216K miles on it. Runs great, but noticed a few drops of coolant coming out of the cap every now and then. After I took the time and spend the money to do the EGR delete, new oil cooler, stand pipe and dummy plug updates, and STC fitting updates...I decided I should check the pressure in the coolant system. Well...it runs up to 15psi after about 5 minutes of driving.......but still runs great, doesn't run hot, oil/coolant deltas are around 4-6 deg....and other than a drip of coolant every now and then,....no issues.

I'm guessing this thing has had a head gasket issue for a long time....and the previous owner just never knew, or cared.

Can I get this go for a while until I find a better time to do the repair myself, or is this one of those things that you need fix ASAP because it could damage a head and/or cylinder?

Thanks!!

 

Does anyone else know that @iqraceworks has head issues? :rofl:

FWIW most of us will say with that delta and a "few drops" you are overreacting, but hey go for it.

http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/6-0l-problems-forum/1317706-bad-coolant-cap-head-gasket-issue.html

http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/6-...ion/1317930-getting-ready-do-arp-studs-felpro-hgs-what-else-while-im-there.html

 

Yeah...sorry about all the posts.

So you are saying that even though the coolant pressure bits 15-16psi after a few minutes of driving, and long asy deltas are cool and engine isn't running hot....I should just run it? This is a cross country tow rig for when my family and I take out camper out on trips.....that's why I'm trying to get as much info as possible......if it needs new HG's, I want to do it before spring gets here.

Not sure why you would want to keep running the thing if you know it's got a HG issue....

 

I posted in your other thread too... after you've been around turbo cars/trucks you get used to leaks.

 

Is there any black residue in your coolant or the degas bottle? If the gaskets are beginning to fail, you can probably drive it reasonably for quite a while on stock tuning, but if I was towing a camper cross-country, I'd probably want to make sure. I drove mine for probably a year while in denial the gaskets were leaking. I wasn't losing any appreciable amount of coolant, deltas were good, but I did have pressure in the degas bottle. One trip pulling about 8k and a fully loaded truck at 80 mph and she was puking up a storm. They went from slightly leaking under load, to pretty much leaking all of the time.

Have you done a bubble test or are strictly looking at coolant pressure? If your EGR cooler is still in place and functional the pressure could be coming from it.

 

No residue at all in the coolant tank, even before I did the flush it was nice and clean.

I think I'm going to order one of those combustion gas testers and see if there is any gas in the coolant system....that would tell me for 100% if I have a HG leak. But I really can't think of anything else that would get the pressures up to 16psi without towing anything.

 

those test can give you a false negative on the 6.0

really the only way to tell between a EGR cooler and HG is test the cooler or delete it IMO

but the Bubble test is used by some like in BPD video to help differentiate

 

I don't have an EGR cooler. I deleted it a while back when I did all the other work to my truck (SCT fitting, oil cooler).

Is there anything else besides a leaking HG that would increase the pressure in the coolant system up to 16psi where the coolant cap is constantly venting?? Keep in mind.... this is after only a few minutes of driving..not towing anything.

 

no egr cooler then you just need a coolant psi guage and normal coolant temps along with some WOT runs

 

Yes......I hooked the gauge up to it yesterday. Just a few minutes of driving around town, not even getting on the gas very hard, and it's already up to 16psi and venting out the cap a little.

I'm assuming that since I don't have an EGR cooler......a head gasket leak is the only think that would make the pressure get up that high....right?

 

You will get some thermal expansion that will increase pressure, but unless you've got a big air bubble somewhere in the system, I don't think you'd ever get 16 psi.

 

I agree with you Dexter, but I have been wondering about something .......

A stuck turbo can significantly raise EGT's. Coolant at 15 psig will boil at 265*F or so. I am beginning to think that it is possible to flash boil the coolant in places if you have turbo issues, or the water pump is weak, or maybe even if the coolant concentration is low.

I always reserve judgement on the leaking head gaskets until I get it fully up to temperature, CAREFULLY vent the pressure off of the degas bottle, and then drive it awhile to see what max pressure it gets back up to. Of course that is AFTER making sure my coolant concentration is correct and verifying my ECT and EOT sensors.

 

I’m a ford guy all the way and my Harley edition truck was amazing...but to be honest unless I’m hopping into a new 6.7 I’ll prob never go ford again...I got a 2nd gen Cummins and I have to say I love the truck and the the goodies that give it extra cahoonas.......is fix that head gasket leak if that’s what it truly is before any big trips with the family...a shops going to charge big bucks and will prob push to mill the heads flat ...if you can do the head gasket yourself and find a machine shop to mill the heads you ll save some serious dollars...keep us posted on it

 

I think in one of the list of his threads he said he was deleted, so high EGTs shouldn't play a big part in the coolant pressures for him. I do agree that ~1000° heat in the EGR cooler, especially for an extended run, could cause some elevated coolant heat and pressure.

 

You are right on his delete and the EGR system is "ripe" for causing flash boiling. I was actually wondering about elevated combustion temperatures due to a lack of air (sort of like when an injector dumps excess fuel). Couldn't coolant flash boil in the engine cooling passageways? (just thinking out loud)

 

:dunno: I guess it's possible to flash boil in the block and heads, but with the volume of coolant and velocity it's moving, I'd think it would have to get pretty hot.

 

No doubt. I just have wondered about the prevalent cracks in the heads and how well cooling flow was designed. Afterall, the engine was designed to remove a fair amount of heat in the EGR cooler and was designed for lower combustion temps than those we see with EGR deletes (unless we run tunes to account for it).

Well, I am probably just grasping at straws, but I believe that I have seen a change in my degas pressure behavior since replacing the water pump and installing the new turbo. It has me thinking anyway.