There’s 183,700 miles on it. I bought it about a year and a half ago and only put 6258 miles on it. When I bought it the oil was changed along with a coolant flush, new (unknown brand) oil cooler, Xotic head studs, Bulletproof EGR cooler, new injectors from NAPA (I was told), and a replaced piston due to an injector failure. I have no idea what brand/weight oil was used and they used some green universal coolant from O’Reilly auto parts. Again, not my choice…As per a recommendation page of the report, I pulled the oil filter to check for “wear particles” and found some glitter, ugh!!
Thanks for the mileage details. Green coolant...yeah, that would give me pause on the quality of work done. Ford/International oil cooler was updated to include more flow. They should have used it. BP EGR Cooler good quality from what I've heard though. Fuel dilution is similar to what my F-350 is 2.xx% and no concern there. This is my own personal belief on research I did & decided on Nitrate Free Final Charge coolant b/c Nitrites or nitrates? aren't equipped to deal with high heat through the EGR cooler. Result is the antifreeze turning into a goop consistency. Other big thing is if the head was not machined flat it will have a higher chance of blowing again. Do you know if that was done? OEM gaskets? Sorry that this has happened to you. I don't know but I speculate that the coolant would not cause that much wear metals. Lead is high, it's all high,
Is there anyway you can decide to back out of repairing this truck or still want to gamble with a fix? I know these trucks aren't cheap but? Love to hear what you plan or decide.
I don’t understand, the fuel dilution is within normal range. Which new component is on your radar?
I’m sure they cheaped out on the oil cooler as they did on the (what I meant to say)Bulletproof “type” knockoff EGR cooler and the Xotic studs that are in it. I’ve since deleted the EGR cooler when it was in the shop to confirm my head gasket speculation. Also had the turbo cleaned and upgraded with the KC Turbo’s 10 blade balanced shaft assembly. I was told the heads were sent to the machine shop and were “checked”, but no mention of machining. I don’t know which gaskets they used either. I believe they just bandaided the truck as cheaply as possible to move it on. I don’t know where to go from here short of putting a short block in it. And I say that because when I thought it was just a head gasket issue, I bought brand new performance heads, ARP studs, new thermostat, and Odawgs ported intake manifold. With this amount of money in it already, I really can’t afford NOT to fix it.Thanks for the mileage details. Green coolant...yeah, that would give me pause on the quality of work done. Ford/International oil cooler was updated to include more flow. They should have used it. BP EGR Cooler good quality from what I've heard though. Fuel dilution is similar to what my F-350 is 2.xx% and no concern there. This is my own personal belief on research I did & decided on Nitrate Free Final Charge coolant b/c Nitrites or nitrates? aren't equipped to deal with high heat through the EGR cooler. Result is the antifreeze turning into a goop consistency. Other big thing is if the head was not machined flat it will have a higher chance of blowing again. Do you know if that was done? OEM gaskets? Sorry that this has happened to you. I don't know but I speculate that the coolant would not cause that much wear metals. Lead is high, it's all high,
Coolant should be from the bad head gaskets, I believe.
Copper, Tin, Lead, are your bearings like your main engine bearings. Aluminum is most likely coming from pistons & Chromium is piston rings. Iron coming from cylinder, valve's, camshaft etc. I've watched the YT Power Stroke help over the years & saw they were replacing camshafts regularly on higher mileage engines. Yours is not real high mileage but add in the fact it was driven hard will wear it all down quicker. Maybe price out a short block to give you an idea of $$. You've already got the heads etc. Just hate for you to put that all together & still have a worn bottom end. How long would that current bottom end run? No idea but another rebuilt bottom could give you a good start if you need this truck for the long haul. Forums say buy one that's "Bulletproofed" & that's exactly what you did. I suppose the gamble is probably better off "studded" but still. Just thinking out loud. With your high meal readings you will see that in the filter & if you wrap it up in a paper towel it will "wick" dry for you to see the metals more.
I appreciate the input. It’s not an option to keep this bottom end after this. I was planning on a built engine in the future, hence just fixing the head issue, but this “future” came a little sooner than anticipated. I plan to keep this truck until the wheels come off. I love this generation of the Superduty and, though somewhat problematic until you get the kinks out of them, can be strong and reliable. Unfortunately, it gets expensive to get there. I’m in the process of pricing out short locks from various manufacturers that I’ve come across on other forums. Do you have experience with any that you would vouch for? I’m finding that for as many people recommended certain engine builders, just as many bash them making it hard to make an informed decision. Thanks again!
I try not too… My wife and I are together most of the time so we usually just drive her Expedition. But sometimes I have to drive it if we have separate schedules. At least that’s not often and is usually just around town.
Loved watching Mr. Bill (may he RIP)! It’s not a situation of not having a reputable person/shop to work on it. My mechanic is top notch with these trucks and extremely competent. He was the lead diesel tech at my local Ford dealership for years, but chose to open his own shop. He has municipal/county contacts to maintain fleets of trucks and ambulances. Though, I was going to have Bill and his crew work on my last ‘06 (I hate to say “bulletproof”) but I decided to trade it in for a 6.7 at the time.
