Cruising along about 75 mph in Texas when I was enveloped in a cloud of oil smoke, the engine died, I crossed two lanes of traffic leaving a trail of smoke, got to the shoulder, put the 4 ways on. Lifted the hood and saw oil dripping from everything. Got it towed to one of my favorite shops. where they found the oil pressure sending unit on the oil filter base had blown out...took the threads with it. So now waiting for parts. and a pretty hefty bill. The hazards of driving a diesel. This is not one of the usual things that commonly happen in a 6.0L. I hate breaking down on the road. For those in central Texas my favorite shops are : Top Frog Diesel in Harker Heights TX and Texas Discount automotive in Copperas Cove TX. If your ever broke down near FT Cavsos (Ft Hood) on I 14 or Hwy 190

 

Thanks for the shop recommendations.

Attached below is a handy item that helps prevent what happened:

https://www.accuratediesel.com/6-0l-/-6-4l-powerstroke-oil-pressure-/-temperature-thread-repair-adapter.html

 

Thanks, what Im wondering about, why did it blow out and how many PSI does it take for this to happen? Its probably the original sending unit, I've never replaced it. Obviously if there is a repair part for it, it happens enough for them to address it..Why not FMC? Or International?

 

Get a Ford or International switch.

The adapter to give you more threads is nice, but not absolutely necessary - your call.

Those switches are sensitive. They do get bumped when people work on the engine in that area. Failures happen, but I wouldn't say it is an "epidemic, .

 

Talked to a shop today, the sending unit is steel (low grade) the oil filter plate is aluminum (low grade) the truck is an '06 so 18 years old. We know steel and aluminum don't like each other, The steel in the sending unit ate the aluminum threads till it just popped out under pressure. So I'm getting the whole Oil filter Base, Oil cooler and all the seals New oil pressure sending unit, water temp sending unit,figured as long as I was in there. With the long weekend Thanksgiving, I hope to get it all next week. And be back for another 18-20 years. Which @ 67 with bad heart, is longer than I'll be around.

 

Appreciate the followup.

Using the low strength thread locker can protect against a lot of that "galvanic corrosion". If the degas bottle pucks on engine components, that is when you see advanced corrosion with dissimilar metals.