We have a 2007 F350 6.0 diesel it has 76,000 miles on it. In April we had to replace the egr cooler and oil cooler kit. Truck was running fine until today. We drove to Wisconsin 2 days ago and around 600 miles. Truck drove fine, no over heating or problems. We were pulling a load. Today my husband started the truck and white smoke is blowing out the tail pipe with a black powder hitting the ground. Almost looks like carbon. The truck had 72,000 miles when the erg cooler and oil cooler were replaced. Is it the head gasket? Or egr again. We pull a horse trailer with the truck.

 

Could be the EGR cooler again. Pull the EGR valve and see if it's wet inside the intake manifold. The black powder is just built up soot in there that is being steam cleaned out of there.

You can try smelling the smoke too, does it smell sweet like coolant or does it have a harsh smell and bother your eyes like raw fuel?

 

I haven't smelled the smoke yet. I called Ford this morning, they are the ones that replaced the egr and oil cooler. They said if it's the erg again we are covered under warranty. My problem is that if this happened already then it will probably happen again. If we put the erg delete kit in will that stop this? I've heard good things about the delete kit. I'm just afraid that the head gasket will blow anyways. The gasket was tested when the egr was replaced back in May and Ford stated it tested out good. I'm very frustrated with this truck, Ford should have taken care of this with a recall. I don't have 5K or more just hanging around to fix this truck all the time.

 

I am not a diesel tech but white smoke can be a sigh of a lean condition which results in incomplete combustion. I would check for water in the fuel filter first.

 

Smell the smoke and let us know what it is. You can pull the EGR valve and see too, if it's wet in there it's a sure sign.

Really, the oil cooler is the root cause of most of these issues. As it clogs, it doesn't allow coolant to pass and superheats it. This leads to blown EGR coolers and headgaskets. I always recommend every 6.0 owner do a full system flush, and add a coolant filter (oil cooler replacement based on data recorded, watching the oil and coolant temps). The EGR cooler is pretty much a problem that wont go away, until you make it go away. You can also put in a bulletproof diesel cooler, MUCH better unit. They make nice EGR coolers and REALLY nice oil cooler setups, but the oil cooler setup is a chunk of change ~$2k.

I'd highly suggest a coolant filter ASAP and something to monitor your truck, like an EDGE CTS, or an SCT livewire TS (I'd go with the SCT personally in case you want to tune down the road, and you can also have tunes written to turn the check engine light off IF you do the EGR delete).

An EGR delete is never a bad idea on these trucks, provided you live in an area where they aren't doing visual inspections for emissions equipment etc.

As for headgaskets... on a stock truck it's pretty rare, but the clogged oil cooler will surely cause it, keep an eye on it with a monitor. If coolant and oil temp differ by more than 15* or so at operating temp, the oil cooler is clogging and needs replacement. You can buy the rebuild kit for $250 or so.

Are you capable of doing any of the work yourself or does it go to the Ford house for everything? Where are you located, we can probably put you in touch with a good diesel shop that actually knows 6.0's very well too.


White is usually coolant or steam of some sort, though on these trucks it can also mean raw fuel (thus why they need to smell it to pinpoint it). As for it being lean... well every diesel runs really lean at idle. Like down as low as 500:1. We control RPM with fuel, low RP = low fuel, lean condition. Incomplete combustion comes from no heat usually. We rely on the heat to burn the fuel properly and most modern diesels are not generating enough heat at idle to burn everything correctly. This is especially an issue with 6.0's. It's called wetstacking. When it's not hot enough to burn the fuel, the fuel washes down the cylinder walls. This is why I recommend the high idle mod to any 6.0 owner who idles a lot.

If water was truly in the fuel, I would think they'd be having larger issues than this, or possibly what has caused it.

Only international/motorcraft fuel filters should be used on a 6.0. A lot of the aftermarket units don't have the water membrane to separate water and fuel too.

 

We are wanting to put the egr delete in. I want to see if ford will cover this first though. My husband has no experience with diesel engines, so we would need to find someone to do it for us. I'm not at home right now to smell the exhuast. Does the egr delete kit fix this problem? We live out in the country and don't get emissions testing yet. I have a few contacts of people that do work in the diesels, so hopefully they can install the delete kit.

 

The delete kit isn't mechanically difficult to put on, but time consuming. Ford wont cover putting a delete in, I'll tell you that.

If it is in fact the egr cooler that is ruptured, yes a delete is a good fix. For the budget minded person... you can also remove the stock cooler, have a local fab shop weld in some stainless plates on each end to "seal" it up, and bolt it back on. It serves the same function, and will still pass a visual emissions test.

 

I smelled the exhaust when we dropped the truck off tonight. It didn't smell sweet, it smelled harsh and your right it did burn my eyes. What does that mean?

 

That means it's diesel fuel, not coolant.

This could be an easier fix. First I want you to have the batteries load tested to ensure they're up to par. Most auto parts stores do this for free. If one battery is bad, replace BOTH. No questions. Next, I want you to test the FICM (fuel injection control module). It's very simple to do, just need two sets of hands. You can find that procedure here: https://www.dieselbombers.com/ford-p...procedure.html I would highly recommend doing the test with the engine stone cold. Repost back here with what you find out with the batts and the FICM. If the FICM voltage is lower than 48V, that's your problem. Do NOT replace with a new unit, let us know if it's bad, there are much cheaper solutions.

It's also quite possible you have an issue with the glow plug system, though not as common. If you plug the truck in, does it start easier and do you still get the smoke?

 

I don't have the truck right now it's at Ford so I will find out the problem today. If it is possibly the glow plug then why is the truck eating coolant. My husband had to add a gallon yesterday? When they call me today to tell my what is wrong I will post, then go from there. Wish me luck