Upgraded EGR Cooler - question from a rookie
 

Guess I put this in the wrong forum. Sorry.

Greetings from Texas. I just joined this forum and wanted join in some of the discussions about the Powerstroke 6.0 diesel. I am a REAL diesel novice, and know very little about them. I have a 2004 F350, purchased new, and have never had a problem with it. Until last Friday, that is. We were on our way to Fredericksburg, TX and apparently blew the EGR cooler. Massive white smoke from exhaust. Tow truck towed truck and rig to the campground, then towed truck to local Ford dealer, who confirmed the bad news.

We have a 34Ft 5th wheel and the diesel is the vehicle of choice, or seemed to be, when pulling something like this.

One question...when I asked the dealer about precautions to take to avoid a recurrence, he told me that he installed the upgraded version of the EGR cooler, and that I would probably never have this problem again.

Does anyone have any experience with the "upgraded EGR cooler"? Does that sound reasonable, that I would probably not have a problem again?

Thanks for reading and responding.

Dave

It depends on what the actually problem is a failed EGR cooler can be cause by other parts failing prior to it itself giving out.

The upgraded EGR cooler has a much better interior design than the OEM Ford EGR cooler. Fords EGR coolers a known for failing just like alot of other components for teh 6.0.

Possible causes for the EGR giving out could be a clooged Engine Oil Cooler not allowing the proper flow of coolant to the EGR cooler which in turn causes the Coolant to absorb too much heat from the Exhaust gasses. If this is happening it could over the the inners channels of the EGR cooler causing it to "warp" and if the seals between the coolant and the exhaust gasses fails then coolant enters into the exhaust causing the smoke.

I guess basically what I am trying to say is that it may not have been "just the EGR" look into upgrading your Engine Oil cooler if you are going to be towing it's passeways are a bit larger than the stock and formed differently which prevent debris and other minerals from getting stuck and causing the Engine Oil cooler to restrict the coolant flow.

Hope this helps!:tu:

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here are some helpful links:

Diesel Technician Society (Oil cooler)

Diesel Technician Society (EGR explanation)

Diesel Technician Society (an idea of what happens to EGRs)

Enjoy:pca1:

Typically when replacing an EGR cooler, or when doing head gaskets/headstuds we replace the oil cooler as well. We test each one when we pull them and I want to say probably 1 in 10 doesn't fail. Usually the oil cooler clogs up and causes reduced water flow through the EGR cooler then everything goes down hill from there.

If you want to keep the EGR cooler, we have been installing the Bullet Proof aftermarket EGR coolers. Too early to tell if it is that much more resilient than stock, but it sure looks like it would be.
Otherwise, you can install an EGR Cooler delete and not have to worry about it again, but that will require a tuner like SCT with custom tunes to eliminate the EGR Codes.

If he's got an 04 it won't even turn the CEL on if he unplugs the EGR, depending on the calibration level.

Thanks to all for your very helpful replies.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the "upgraded EGR Cooler" that they installed works when we tow our 5th wheel next year. The Ford folks in Fredericksburg told me that they had had another FIVE (5) EGR cooler failures in the week since ours went out. Seems like Ford (Navistar) could figure out something to eliminate all these problems.

Perhaps Ford's new 6.7 diesel will solve some of these problems.

For one thing, I am not going to go through Austin on the way to Fredericksburg because of the steep inclines on the West side. At the very least, that should reduce some of the stress of towing the 5th wheel.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year.


Dave