Oil Leak !!! ugh - 05 Excursion w/ 6.0 Powerstroke
 

My rig has 95,000 mi on it and I've been reading & hearing about the oil cooler developing leaks at around this mileage. The oil is dripping from somewhere above the bell housing, pretty much equal on both sides. What kinda history do ya all have out there w/ the 6.0 with this sort of problem? It looks like the whole top of eng has to be removed [turbo, ect] and that looks like a project! I appreciate all feedback, Dave

If your oil cooler ruptured, then you would get oil in your coolant, check the coolant in the degas bottle for oil sludge.


Oil on top of the motor could be several things. You need to clean up the old oil and start looking where the oil may be coming from. Could be from the oil cooler housing, turbo drain tube, turbo feed tube, or oil filter housing.

I have an 05 excursion and every part was stock up to 169,000 miles. The ECM lost 24 volts before I new that it could happen and cost me #2 injector. Until that happened nothing had ever been touched under the hood. I have had what sounds like that same oil leak for 70k or so. Mine leaves a dime size spot where ever you leave her overnight. It originates somewhere over the bellhousing but not quite sure where. As far as your oil cooler goes thats up to you. I started checking my engine oil temperature against my coolant temperature awhile back. I bought a scan gauge II from autozone for $70. It has a X gauge mode that let me add the oil temp. It shows a 15* difference between the two in city driving and 25* hotter oil on the interstate. This by all accounts points me towards replacing the cooler. The only problem is the accuracy... I don't know if the gauge is reading correctly. Everyone says oil should heat up first then coolant. On this electronic gauge the oil has never heated up first. the coolant comes up to 190-195* then the oil climbs above it. The only true way would be to hook up a mechanical never fail gauge to test it.

c-tane... 24 Volts to the ECM? Huh? Do you mean the FICM maybe, and it should be 48V.

Yes, Thank you Mdub... 48 volts to the FICM is correct. I guess I was thinkin 7.3 language for some reason :ouch:

No problem, just wanted to understand myself haha. 7.3 IDM's are even higher I believe.

To the OP, the oil cooler isn't that hard of a job, a little time consuming maybe, but really not that difficult.